PHOTOS: My first FREE Wedding Support

You should be very happy and proud of these images. They may have some technical "inadequacies" here or there but they are great all in all. I am not throwing stones here but sometimes we jump in and start rattling off what could be improved but the bottom line is - they are not snapshots. They are good images!!! Keep up the good work!!

The bride is stunning BTW

Thanks for feedback all! Trust me, I am not feeling terrible with the feedback. Only makes me work harder at taking better images! Ok - So that Wacom Tablet, I did a search, but, what PROGRAM is used to make that image as sharp as it was after it was Post processed by EDIK. I thought Adobe CS3 was the Program of all Programs for making images pop. But EDIKs post processing is killing me, so please, what program do I need to invest in?

As the "Second photographer" I was most often LIMITED in the location I could choose for photos, but clicked away when I could. Most of my images were offset due to the respect of the Photographer who was hired. I did NOT want to even remotely get close to impeeding his ground. (Even though I had permission from the Father of the Bride, who paid close to half my yearly salary for the entire wedding).

With the EOS 50D on the horizon, I am hoping this will improve my photographic abilities. Again, some suggested programs that can help me edit like EDIK did to my image is greatly appreciated.

These are really nice....

hehehe, first of all thanks guys for the compliments. it isn't 30 sec plugin job but also not an hour paint job took me about 10 min (wacom saves tons of time when brushing)
I guess I can record a short tutorial & post it online sometime today or tomorrow.

but in few words all is done in CS3 PS, here's a quick verbal tuturial:
1. open image in PS, create 2 duplicate layers (crl+j)
2. adjust Curves on both of them, one layers to the way u want shadows to look like and another lights.
3. mask both layers (by clicking mask icon at the bottom of the layer pallet and filling it in with black paint bucket tool)
4. At this point u should see ur original image (since both dark & light shadows are masked) now get a white paint brush and choose dark layer and start brushing the mask so darks become visible, once done do same to the lights layer. of course u need some common sense thinking when brushing, what u are trying to get is more of a 3d feel, it's kind of like sculpturing..
5. once done, copy merged and paste on top your final result than go to smart sharpenning mess with it untill u're happy with the way u want ur sharp things to look like. do same thing click mask and fill it in with black paint bucket, now use white brush to reveal sharp areas where u need them...

hope that helps, if u didn't understand just wait a bit and i'll record a video tutorial

Apshiso wrote in post #6182868
we jump in and start rattling off what could be improved but the bottom line is - they are not snapshots. They are good images!!! Keep up the good work!!

I always debated this as well. Should I beat around the bush and look for praise? Or should I be direct when the photos clearly don't look polished enough.

I think in a forum there's a balance of encouragement and critiques. I for one love when people tell me what I did wrong or how to improve my shot. I'd rather have someone take their time and tell me you need to do this this and that. Rather than just say "BEAUTIFUL" and leave it at that.

I don't think anyone maliciously critiques any poster here, we're all trying to help one another.

edik wrote in post #6187683
hehehe, first of all thanks guys for the compliments. it isn't 30 sec plugin job but also not an hour paint job took me about 10 min (wacom saves tons of time when brushing)
I guess I can record a short tutorial & post it online sometime today or tomorrow.

but in few words all is done in CS3 PS, here's a quick verbal tuturial:
1. open image in PS, create 2 duplicate layers (crl+j)
2. adjust Curves on both of them, one layers to the way u want shadows to look like and another lights.
3. mask both layers (by clicking mask icon at the bottom of the layer pallet and filling it in with black paint bucket tool)
4. At this point u should see ur original image (since both dark & light shadows are masked) now get a white paint brush and choose dark layer and start brushing the mask so darks become visible, once done do same to the lights layer. of course u need some common sense thinking when brushing, what u are trying to get is more of a 3d feel, it's kind of like sculpturing..
5. once done, copy merged and paste on top your final result than go to smart sharpenning mess with it untill u're happy with the way u want ur sharp things to look like. do same thing click mask and fill it in with black paint bucket, now use white brush to reveal sharp areas where u need them...

hope that helps, if u didn't understand just wait a bit and i'll record a video tutorial

EDIK - You da man! Thanks buddy, and I knew about 85% of what you said. I never had any classes on CS3, but learned by playing around in it. I know about 80% of what you described, and I have an idea about the other 15%, but haven't done it before...So, I guess I will be learning something new soon enough! Thanks for taking the time to explain, and wow, th evideo tutorial is above and beyond...Now THAT"S what I am talking about! Share your knowledge so others learn from it. (Well, I know I will learn....)

Thanks again, have a great day!!!

pixelharmony wrote in post #6188646
I always debated this as well. Should I beat around the bush and look for praise? Or should I be direct when the photos clearly don't look polished enough.

I think in a forum there's a balance of encouragement and critiques. I for one love when people tell me what I did wrong or how to improve my shot. I'd rather have someone take their time and tell me you need to do this this and that. Rather than just say "BEAUTIFUL" and leave it at that.

I don't think anyone maliciously critiques any poster here, we're all trying to help one another.

PIXEL - Thanks for your feedback. I did not get any full length images of teh Bridge in her dress, let alone with the groom. The positioning I was limited to (so as to not interfere with the paid photographer) limited my areas of operation and well, it was just difficult. Not to mention a little awkward to ask the bride and groom to pose here or there, this way or that way, when the photographer had them wrapped up for the most part. So, I was trying to be respectful while taking as many as possible of what i could. Sometimes, lighting wasn't th ebest, background was even worse, and composition was off. Even if I had the couple dead center of the front patio of the mansion they wer ein, the street behin dthem was a nicely filled car lot across the street. So, only a very shallow depth of field would eliminate that. And as for other pics, I just didn't want to walk behind the photographer and capitalize on his work. It was out of respect, even though I had the golden pass from the Father.

Hey, I know my shots were tight, but for those images, that is what I was purposely looking for to eliminate the crappy backgrounds. So, although too tight, it was for a specifc reason. But if I had a chance i would have got some portraits with full gown....I just never got the chance.....

Thanks for all the comments and critiques. I appreciate all of them!

(Good, bad, indifferent)

hey Maxxum5... not the best quality but this should give u a good idea of how I did it:
http://v5design.com/tu​torials/

Edik - You make it seem so easy! I understan dthe general concept of what you are doing, but I never worked with masks etc. I will hav eto watch that again, maybe a few more times to get the jist of what you are doing. But I understand the concept. Thank you so much for posting and showing us "How to do it".....

Thank you for sharing your time and experience with this tutorial....

G

i thought i'd give it a go with some PP too

i just opened your file as a camera RAW file in photoshop and adjusted some sliders. when i was done, added a curves layer and some smart sharpen.

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I had to have a little go.. too nice a picture to miss up the oportunity....

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Looks great to me!!!

edik wrote in post #6194953
hey Maxxum5... not the best quality but this should give u a good idea of how I did it:
http://v5design.com/tu​torials/

I had to respond to thank you for your very informative tutorial. It's not everyone who would be willing to share their knowledge.

Take care

I am not sure why that would even be a consideration, I mean, we are all here to learn, right?

Maxxum5, Steph123 you're welcome, hope that helped you guys out a bit!