Cousins wedding (shot as a guest)

I'm specifically requesting C&C because I am a bit of a funk with my shooting. I personally think I am improving but my expectations are rising at an equal, if not greater pace, thus I often think I might be overly critical of my own work.

Again, as the title says, these are from my cousin's wedding, I was not the hired photographer, just a guest. But, I'd like to get some input on the results.

1

It looks as if you took a photo when they were all posed for somebody else., nobody is looking at your camera.

You have already pointed out that you were, as a guest, not able to pose the subjects - that puts you at a severe disadvantage, of course. For example, it does no good to tell you that the two little girls are badly posed and have terrible expressions. However, the exposure is excellent, as is the lighting.

Etc.

Personally, I think is pretty useless to try to get posed shots as a guest shooter. At best, as Robert pointed out, everybody is looking at the pro's camera. At worst, my presence draws some of the eyes; so everybody (including the pro) gets a shot where half the people are looking in a different direction from the other half. Note the groomsman on the right in #3 and left in #4. He seemed to have trouble coordinating his eyes with everybody else's. As a guest, I'm more interested in getting second shooter type stuff. That way, I don't make enemies of the pro. So I would be looking for a shot like the one that Robert didn't like of the flower girls in an unguarded moment.

As for the umbrella shot, am I the only one who thinks this kind of posed artificiality is anything but the essence of lame? If I were the groom, the umbrella would be up a certain part of the photographer's anatomy if he asked me to pose for this shot. Or the photographer and his gear would be in the lake.

Thanks, I agree that the group shots where people are looking at the pro aren't great for exactly that reason.

The flower girls are my daughters and that shot was intentional. When I saw them fading, I knew I had to get a shot, when the younger one yawned, it was perfect.

Just FYI regarding the umbrella, it was raining pretty good at that point.

i'm a mum of 4 I loved the photo of the girls

The second shot is a great candid amongst all the formal poses.