My first paid wedding!!

... Well I guess I'll be the only one critiquing the photos and not JaySpecs critique, eh?

For a first time I thought these were nice. Some of the WB was off here and there, but all in all, I'd say your heading in the right direction. Compositions were fairly nice, lighting was nice, didn't see any blown stuff that stood out.

Only thing I noticed and if I was to be overly critical would be to watch for the little details (Always hard to do on such a fast-paced day, but still) - Snow on the chair.. Snow on black shoes.. Little things like that.

Other than that. Just keep at it. If the couple was happy, that is all that matters!

yuriyo

For a first wedding I will say nice job. While I do agree with some of the critiques here will help you improve I have to question a couple of them

1 Several have comented on the snow on bench.....Big whoop really what does that matter. There is snow everywhere for petes sake, why not on the bench as well. Sorry that doesn't bother me one bit and would almost expect to see it there.

2 Ken, you stated you would trash #2 why? I really don't think it is that bad. It is a moment between the bride and the little girl (relationship unkown to us) In this day and age of photojournalism shots. I have see plenty of these types shots posted all the time. So curious why trash it. Is it because they are not looking at each other? I really am trying to understand cause I would present this one to the bride as well. Thanks


Greg

Congrats on your first wedding shoot. Nice work.

g-money wrote in post #7192104
yuriyo

For a first wedding I will say nice job. While I do agree with some of the critiques here will help you improve I have to question a couple of them

1 Several have comented on the snow on bench.....Big whoop really what does that matter. There is snow everywhere for petes sake, why not on the bench as well. Sorry that doesn't bother me one bit and would almost expect to see it there.

2 Ken, you stated you would trash #2 why? I really don't think it is that bad. It is a moment between the bride and the little girl (relationship unkown to us) In this day and age of photojournalism shots. I have see plenty of these types shots posted all the time. So curious why trash it. Is it because they are not looking at each other? I really am trying to understand cause I would present this one to the bride as well. Thanks

Greg

Thanks Gregg,

I can see why people dont like the snow on the bench or shoes. I guess next time I'll be looking for bench full of snow or no snow at all. I can see how just a little bit of snow would make it distracting. But to me or to most other people (including B&G in this case) it doesn't matter, it's natural.

I do like #2, WB might be a bit off but it's an ok shot.

Thanks everyone for your comments... I can see the difference in how I think and consider each shot from when I started helping out my bro some time ago and now... I'm only getting better.

I like number 8 the best...old time feel

collierportraits wrote in post #7171865
Kajuah, I'm sorry but when you state that everyone should ignore 80% of his advice, that's offensive. Saying you don't mean to doesn't excuse the rudeness. What WOULD excuse the rudeness is to explain why his comments need to be ignored. Which is what he asked you for and you haven't yet answered that?

If you don't agree with him, that' not only fine, but welcomed in a forum like this. However, you simply need to state WHY you disagree with him. Don't mail it in with a simple remark like you did. Tell me why. I'm willing to listen and he could be wrong about a lot of things but unless you explain, I'll never know...

Actually they are quite write from a sociological, psychological, and English point of view. Sorry man. English was what is said is not to mean offense and as stated the interpretation is up tot he reader which implies the sociological POV which is that this is not an argument but more a debate which is meant to be kept civil and it was. The party being "offended" is the one in control of turning it into an argument which they partially did. As for psychological, the rebuttal after taking offense to comments as the OP may have to Jay's int he first place shows where he stands and what his view is. A test to prove this is for Jay to post something that he is quite proud of and people stop ripping him apart for what he thinks maybe minute details but still, "it's in the details."

As for me...I'm with Jay. Spot on for the most part and I'll assume the quality is due to the downsizing of the files? Most look OOF or missed focus or...just lacking some sharpness and more like a the DLSR was used as a P&S.

But ya know what? So was my first wedding. That was my first ever. So...yeah.

Oh, no offense anyone.

I hate to flame or put anyone on the spot but after reading 3 threads. every single one of them Jayspec has offered his input but all have been negative.

on top of that, the forum has turned into a pissing match between other members and jay rather than helping the original poster.

yet he has failed to produce any of his work for us to critique on.

anyways, sorry. pics look pretty good for the first time.

^Well, what I noticed was that it's not his first time. This is their nth time but 1st as the main photographer which really puts things into a different perspective. Also, you didn't really help and contradicted yourself by pissing with Jay and not saying much else.

Is the WB off int he 2nd shot?

_aravena wrote in post #7201139
^Well, what I noticed was that it's not his first time. This is their nth time but 1st as the main photographer which really puts things into a different perspective. Also, you didn't really help and contradicted yourself by pissing with Jay and not saying much else.

Is the WB off int he 2nd shot?

i know, i realized i was just contributing to the problem after i hit submit. oh well. i apologize to the original author.

just some general comments, and some of this is subjective:

- open your aperture more. some of the backgrounds could use some "cleaning up" via shallow DOF.

- i like the grain, i don't like the slight-desat look to a couple. like jay said, it looks sickly.

- WB is a touch off on them all.

- good moment on #1, i just wish the b+w was a little more contrasty and tonally thorough.

good on ya, though, it's fun getting through your first wedding! this is decidedly better than a lot of first efforts.

tommyqh wrote in post #7201055
I hate to flame or put anyone on the spot but after reading 3 threads. every single one of them Jayspec has offered his input but all have been negative.

I think negative CC is better CC. It makes you think why you did that and you will keep that in mind next time your shooting.

Personaly I don't care if Jay has never taken a picture in his life, he has an eye for detail and sees thing that alot of others miss, maybe even a little too much sometimes.

g-money wrote in post #7192104
2 Ken, you stated you would trash #2 why? I really don't think it is that bad. It is a moment between the bride and the little girl (relationship unkown to us) In this day and age of photojournalism shots. I have see plenty of these types shots posted all the time. So curious why trash it. Is it because they are not looking at each other? I really am trying to understand cause I would present this one to the bride as well. Thanks


Greg

Greg, and to the OP as well. My apologies if I didn't explain well why this would be a culled shot for me. I don't give my brides and grooms 800 photos to look through. To me, showing work that isn't your best is simply lack of confidence. They hired YOU and that includes your eye. And vision. So, although it sometimes makes me uncomfortable to cull shots that are 'almost' there, most of the time I do. (Key being most of the time... )

But, hey, I don't mean to tell the OP to cull it. OP, if you love this shot, please DON'T cull it. I think that you need to show shots that speak to you. If you continually do that and you are continually honest with it, then you WILL have a style that will begin to emerge and people will be drawn to you because of THAT look. I think we sometimes make the mistake of liking images because we've seen other photographers shoot them and so we 'adopt' some style that isn't really us. Be real, be frightfully honest in your work and I think you'll grow faster. (And this advice is to me as well. I'm guilty of all that I mentioned here...)

p.s. I reread my post and realized that I still may not have explained myself well. It's hard for me to put in words, but the image seems helter-skelter. Bride is trying to pull the girl to her (maybe so 'tog can get a shot), girl is completely uninterested and wanting to run away. But maybe I'm being too picky? I guess it doesn't move me? That's the best I can do explaining, sorry.

And this needs to be emphasized: Yuri, GREAT job on your first wedding! I mean it. We're picking you to death, but I promise that these are really good images overall for a first wedding...

I don’t mind being picked on, as long as it helps me get better.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that B&G like their photos and in this case they already said they like them. They might not like every photo, but I guess overall they like it. As I improve and get better, I'll have more and better pics to choose from and some pics won’t see the light of day, like someone said. For now I'll take the good and the average and that's what B&G will get.

But they know that getting in, they knew it was my first wedding alone and they paid accordingly.

collierportraits wrote in post #7205095
p.s. I reread my post and realized that I still may not have explained myself well. It's hard for me to put in words, but the image seems helter-skelter. Bride is trying to pull the girl to her (maybe so 'tog can get a shot), girl is completely uninterested and wanting to run away. But maybe I'm being too picky? I guess it doesn't move me? That's the best I can do explaining, sorry.

And this needs to be emphasized: Yuri, GREAT job on your first wedding! I mean it. We're picking you to death, but I promise that these are really good images overall for a first wedding...

LOL. Ken, I see what you are saying. I guess my view and being new to the game I am learning and may not know any better, is that not all images are award winning and the client does not always look for the things in an image we as photographers do.

Case in point. A couple wedding ago I failed to omit an image I did not want to include and accidently uploaded it. Being lazy I decided I would just leave it there. Well, to my surprise, that image was purchased by most everyone that placed a print order. Why I still don't know.

Culling images is really hard for me cause I find just because I don't think much of a photo the client may love it. I read where many Senior photogs give their clients maybe 25 poses or less to choose from. My last Senior shoot a couple weekends ago I gave the client nearly 100 and had to work to get down to that number...Is that to many? Maybe, but what I keep finding is the images I love is not always the ones the client likes. I constantly see this. I think she ordered maybe two of my favorite ones in her initial order and a couple she ordered were shots I damn near deleted, not cause they were technically wrong I just didn't like the angle or expression etc.

Anyway, that is why I was asking. I really stuggle with throwing out an image unless it is OFF or just a really bad capture that I don't want anyone to see. So thanks for the explanation.

Greg