newbie C&C please

Photographing weddings scare me to death. I don't want to be a wedding photographer and I respect all of you that are so much! Having said that, a friend of mine asked me to photograph his wedding because he liked my photos that I have taken and he is looking to do his wedding on the cheap. After I lowered his expectations appropriately, I agreed. The wedding is at the end of this month. Then, my wifes cousin asks me the same thing. Again, I foolishly agreed. Her wedding is in September.

So, I took the opportunity at a wedding a couple weeks ago to snap away and try and get at least a little experience. I was not the main photog in these and I was trying to stay out of his way. I think if I was able to get out there and be in the right spots at the right times I would have got better ones but this is as good as they got.

I'm not particularly pleased with them. Please let me know any feedback that you can give me. I want to improve so I can provide my very best to the two couples later this summer.

On a side note, I'll be shooting with the T1i, and 50mm 1.8. I'll be renting the canon 10-20mm and the canon 24-70mm lenses and my sister will be joining me shooting with a 50d, canon 70-200mm f4 and a canon 17-40mm and a 30mm 1.4 sigma.

1.

5 - 8 looks like they are sufferring from motion blur. I personally like #1 & #3 the best. I agree if you would have been primary you probably would have got better shots.

jase1125 wrote in post #10527868
5 - 8 looks like they are sufferring from motion blur. I personally like #1 & #3 the best. I agree if you would have been primary you probably would have got better shots.

5 & 6 do have motion blur. I was trying to get creative with a slow shutter speed and flash to show movement on the dance floor but the flash to try and freeze the people a bit.

7 & 8 are probably just mistakes as far as the motion blur goes. I was holding the camera over my head and shooting. Probably should have bumped the iso and upped the shutter speed

Looks like you'll be fine for the specific job you described.
#5 to #8 seem blurry, but otherwise I think you'll be fine.

I really like #3. Wouldn't mind seeing a color version of that.

Ahtz wrote in post #10527883
5 & 6 do have motion blur. I was trying to get creative with a slow shutter speed and flash to show movement on the dance floor but the flash to try and freeze the people a bit.

7 & 8 are probably just mistakes as far as the motion blur goes. I was holding the camera over my head and shooting. Probably should have bumped the iso and upped the shutter speed

IMO,while I understand what you were trying to do, I just don't think the B/W conversion works well with these. They just end of looking blurry. Can you post up color versions?

In the last shot, the hired gun with the Tupperware looks like he has fireworks going on above his head.

I think a solid job overall but I agree the shutter drag ones aren't quite on the money. Can you tell us your settings for the photos and also are you using rear curtain sync on your flash? That makes a big difference.

auroraskye wrote in post #10527942
I think a solid job overall but I agree the shutter drag ones aren't quite on the money. Can you tell us your settings for the photos and also are you using rear curtain sync on your flash? That makes a big difference.

5. f/9 - 1/4 shutter - iso 400 - rear curtain sync flash bounced off ceiling
6. f/9 - 1/8 shutter - iso 400 - rear curtain sync flash bounced on ceiling

maybe there just wasn't enough flash power bouncing off the ceiling. I can get up some color versions of these but i'll have to get them later off my computer at home. I changed them to black and white because I thought the colors looked bad and couldn't figure out how to correct it. It didn't seem to be just a white balance thing.

#3 is devine!! I think everyone else gave you a lot of great tips!

I really like #3. And the last one would've been good without the photographer in the shot. But waddya gonna do.

Ahtz wrote in post #10528444
5. f/9 - 1/4 shutter - iso 400 - rear curtain sync flash bounced off ceiling
6. f/9 - 1/8 shutter - iso 400 - rear curtain sync flash bounced on ceiling

maybe there just wasn't enough flash power bouncing off the ceiling. I can get up some color versions of these but i'll have to get them later off my computer at home. I changed them to black and white because I thought the colors looked bad and couldn't figure out how to correct it. It didn't seem to be just a white balance thing.

I think that is probably the problem.. since you were so far away.. I find that the shutter drag generally works better when you're closer to the subject - which you will be comfortable doing as the primary photographer. Also, personally, I don't generally go higher than f/4.5, because I want to leave a little to blur in the background.. so I might shoot at f/4.5 at 1/10 or something like that. That's just me.. but once you are closer to them, it'll help. You might also consider something like a Demb Flip It that puts more light straight forward onto the subject without being too harsh and helps freeze the motion more.

auroraskye wrote in post #10530177
You might also consider something like a Demb Flip It that puts more light straight forward onto the subject without being too harsh and helps freeze the motion more.

I made one of these. I wanted to use it but not being the primary photographer I was too embarrassed to throw this huge thing on top of my flash during the reception for fear of people thinking, "who the heck does that guy think he is?!?"

A request for the color version of the ceremony location:
This does not have all of the same post processing but most of it