Got my feet wet, friends wedding this past weekend

I've been REALLY nervous about posting A N Y T H I N G in this part of the forum. I had that opportunity come up that most photographers do, friend getting married, backyard setting, low cost, all friends helping out, she was going to just give her guests disposable cams for the day, etc... As a present to her I said I would shoot her wedding as it was only 3 hours away... even tho the idea of it scared me to death... I hated MY OWN wedding photos & *I* have been filling my portfolio more with Newborn, babies, children, families, etc etc... you know... & besides the fact I havent the equipment... but she loves my photography so I research and make sure I do my best.

Blah blah blah... get on with it girl you are rambling...

It was a VERY sunny and hot day, I'm ecstatic and nervous having never had time to test out the 70-200 2.8 L I rented I'm set to go.

I took 400+, she'll be getting 200+ in the end, I'm still in the process of PP, before I send her the disc with the photos I'll be printing up several random photos through mpix to make sure they come out ok, then send her the photos and the disc and tell her to make any orders through mpix... having never done this before, seems the best way to do it.

ramble ramble... like I said, I'm not done with the PP, so these are not my best or my worst, just 7 or so that I picked to share

Just me, my 30D my 28-135 & the 70-200 2.8 L I rented.

#1

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I just thought this was a 'cute' photo. It was the DJ
#6

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You did a good job, but it looks like you didnt use a flash. Next time when shooting a wedding, use a flash. You dont get the motion blur that i see one of the photos has a little, and you get brighter pictures.

chrisisonfire23 wrote in post #8180100
You did a good job, but it looks like you didnt use a flash. Next time when shooting a wedding, use a flash. You dont get the motion blur that i see one of the photos has a little, and you get brighter pictures.

Definitely.
She 'was' going to be getting married 'on' my birthday July 18th... at which time I'll be getting myself a 580exII so it was going to be no biggie...

... she moved the wedding up.

( would have been nice for my birthday I plan to get an 85 1.8 too ) that would have been fun ) BOTH would have been useful... especially when they decided to do the garter & garter toss at 9:30pm!

i must ask, what's the story behind the kitten?

Ferris Wheel wrote in post #8180187
i must ask, what's the story behind the kitten?

lol, the wedding was in the backyard of a friend of hers. On the property her friend had some dogs and there was 2 cats, one of the cats had kittens. A little girl had brought a kitten out to the DJ for him to see.

very nice overall.

So how did you like the 70-200 since you just rented and didnt have a chance to test it before? I did the same thing and went out and bought one before a wedding (smaller venue) and felt restricted by it. probably not the best time to test on my part. did you use it much or drop back on your other lens more?

I like the fortune cookies, we did the same thing at ours.

Only thing on that shot (i know its hot to do the blur) since its so colorful I kinda wish it was all crisp in focus, with the b/g soft or maybe even a touch of the cookie soft along the crest ... instead of the fortune being blurred since that is a focal point.

InnerSong wrote in post #8180314
very nice overall.

So how did you like the 70-200 since you just rented and didnt have a chance to test it before? I did the same thing and went out and bought one before a wedding (smaller venue) and felt restricted by it. probably not the best time to test on my part. did you use it much or drop back on your other lens more?

Oh I found it VERY restricting, ... Which I found odd... because I 'thought' I would love it as generally when I shoot outdoors I am on the long end of my 28-135... so I thought... hey, this will be GREAT! ... I had to keep backing up to get shots I wanted @ 70

I SHOULD have went with a 24-70 which I 'almost' did... but I 'felt' with it being a wedding, I 'needed' to have the IS & with my 28-135 when I generally shoot I almost NEVER am at the 28 end because of where I stand and how I shoot, my style etc... so the 17-55 IS does not even interest me...

Although what I DID LOVE and notice between the photos taken w/ the 70-200 2.8 IS L & the ones that were not... the photos that were taken with the rental needed VERY little if any PP... those images were almost like I had a new camera... the ones with my existing lens... take the usual amount of work to get them up to par.

Needless to say that alone made it hard to send it back

It was GREAT for candids & for when I had to get out of the way of the videographer... if I were to do it again... & could pick out of my wishlist which is on my desktop

Desktop Wishlist:

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8
Canon 24-70mm 2.8
Canon 85mm F1.8
Canon 50mm F1.4 or Sigma 30 1.4
Canon 70-200 F4 IS L
Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM

Canon Speedlite 580EX II

I would have the 24-70 2.8 & 70-200 f4 ISL & 85 1.8 w/ 580ex II ( a 2nd camera would be great too changing lenses was a PITA ... )

Great job! I think the first one would look better if it had a shorter crop, just below where her right hand comes back to her body. I don't think the bottom half of the image adds to it.
#4 crop out all of that blown out white on the bottom.
#5 this one is adorable and clean. I agree it would have been better but the rings, but you will be prepared next time to ask!