Wedding Shot

Dear Folks: back after a long absence. I intend to do more photography for money this year, and am retuning myself for weddings. Here's a shot (film) from a wedding three years ago. Any comments would be helpful.

Anyone Out There?

Not much feedback going on. Getting discouraged with this website.

D

Hi Doug,

I'm no wedding photographer, but as a 'bride getting ready shot' I really like this image, seems to have captured a certain atmosphere.

A lot of wedding shots seem to go for the narrow DOF approach, but I like the fact that you can see everything going on in this shot.

The image does look a little soft to me, but this could easily just be the web-sized jpeg that you've posted. If I was being picky the extractor fan on the wall is a bit off-putting.


Cheers,

Doug

Asher asked me to peek in here.

The shot is well composed but the focus is off. The exposure is tungsten light and a bit underexposed. I would probably use it with adjustments in a small detail in an album.

Hi Doug

I think I would try this in b & w, and crop about 1.5cm from the top, clone out the extractor. Hope this helps....

I'm not sure where to start--what kinds of comments are you looking for? On anything and everything?

The composition is just OK. The light is terrible, exposure is saved by film latitude, and the colour is worse. You have good light coming in from the windows but unfortunately the bride is illuminated by a bulb. You need to add light here in an interesting way.

I could live with all that, but where's the story? IMO, it wouldn't make the cut for me--because the bride's expression is so-so too.

doug anderson said:

Dear Folks: back after a long absence. I intend to do more photography for money this year, and am retuning myself for weddings. Here's a shot (film) from a wedding three years ago. Any comments would be helpful.

Click to expand...

Hi Doug never be discouraged! look you got some replies… sometimes one post gets thru the others without being seen, without any logical explanation, they simply need a "bump!". That is.

As far as I'm concerned your picture is not visible, if I dig a bit with the URL I got this message from smugmug:

The site you are trying to access is hosted by SmugMug.

We're having some temporary technical difficulties. We're working on them at the moment, and expect service to return shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Click to expand...

If I may suggest, this is not acceptable service for a professional photog (willing to earn money from his photos). Spend some bucks and get a real good web server!

James Roberts said:

I'm not sure where to start--what kinds of comments are you looking for? On anything and everything?

The composition is just OK. The light is terrible, exposure is saved by film latitude, and the colour is worse. You have good light coming in from the windows but unfortunately the bride is illuminated by a bulb. You need to add light here in an interesting way.

I could live with all that, but where's the story? IMO, it wouldn't make the cut for me--because the bride's expression is so-so too.

Click to expand...

Hi Doug,

I waited for a professional opinion before my own comments as mine are based on only a dozen weddings. I am just someone who shoots at weddings. Sometimes, my pictures were the ones used, but that was not the intent.

Still I am confident enough to add to James' more informed reactions.

Let me say how I approach such an informal shot. First my own beliefs as to what this photography effort is all about.

What's the goal? To me the wedding album is a record for the parents of all the effort they put in to raising their kids to the point of marriage. It's especially treasured by the mothers to show of their success and joy to friends. It's actually a created mirage of how beautiful the couple are and how heavenly their match is. The job of the photographer, unless specified otherwise is to create from whatever is there, "magic".

Getting Ready: This picture is part of the more informal part of the wedding: getting ready. Here the photographer is invited into the dressing room of the bride to document the preparations of the family especially the bride, her bridesmaids, the ring bearer, flower girl and more. Although this seems informal, there are a list of "standard" expected shots. Bows being tied, the shoes, the veil being adjusted.

These shots, even though they are supposed to look "spontanious" these require preparation. James mentioned light. Window light is wonderful to use. This requires planning as there's a lot going on. There may be only enough light for just the bride. One can light her face from the side, she can pear through the window or be silhouetted with light grazing through the veil and locks of her hair.

Your pictures are highly saturated and some like this. It works well for slides. However, here, I find it's better to get a more neutral background arranged or else just desaturate the strong green walls.

I'd bring lights and in general I have a light shooting at the ceiling and another on the camera. However, here with the green walls, the light should be large to overwhelm any taint from the walls.

Use B&W to advantage: The value of B&W rendering of wedding pictures is that it removes such major distractions when color gives it's own message more a powerful than the brides beauty!

So we should look to this as a solution to this almost universal problem in public events where colors are unnatural and clash!

Coverage: Then we need enough pictures so that the faces show smiles and happiness. We need more than that. There should be unlimited radiance of beauty, joy and happiness. So we should take time and use our skills to get these shots despite the reality that the dresses might not fit well, all the bridesmaids are not there at the same time, the toilet is down the corridor and so on. I visit the location beforehand to check the lighting and surfaces. I assume that some faces might even have to be retouched because someone scoffed a doughnut or the mascara smudged.

Dress Rehearsal: All this makes the "dress rehearsal" for at least the bridesmaids and the bride, not a bad idea. If one can get a lot of great pictures done with before hand without tension, then the actual day will go easier. We are not just recording the truth, rather we are making a magic album.

I can't underestimate the advantage of meeting with both families and the location folk and getting expectations clear and also having a family contact person to get all the shots included in one's "must take" list.

Asher

Hi Doug,

Here's two versions to show the directions I'd go for. Try to keep the walls vertical, desaturate garrish colors and bring out the dresses and hair and then feature the bride by adjust the light and contrast locally. The tools to use are the shadow-highlight feature of PS Image/Adjust/Shadow Highlight and then doge and burn. The bride has to be illuminated apart from the other girls. All of them separately from the background. The bride can be selectively sharpened and to some extent the hair and brocade on the other girls gowns.






I've not cropped, but this is just to demonstrate the direction of suggested rendering.

Asher

Hi Doug,

Now, there being no smiling head to swop, here's my cropped derivation of your picture. There's more work to be done on the lips, eye and shading of the face, but for now, this is what I'd give them not a highly saturated picture that's not orthogonal. Interesting that some cameras, even the Ricoh digicams, now have levels. I use a level when I can. At least I try my best. Correcting afterwards means we must not elongate the faces!



I hope this serves to answer your request for feedback and is a help for your future work.

Asher

Doug,

and now the brides face with a 3 minute retouch for shadows, lips and eyes. I like,sometimes to blur everything but the bride just a tiny tad and then the background much more and even darken slightly too. However, here there's no blur, just selective sharpening:



I must admit, that I do take some effort to present a bride's pictures with the light optimized. That's why it's always worth the effort of bring at least one large light at the shoot, so that the amount of work in post is minimized or obviated entirely.

So, after this, would you be happy presenting the picture in B&W or would you want to go back to the color and get that right?

Composition of "Getting Dressed" Shots: The next issue is composition. A lot depends on experience and talent of the photographer and the spontaneity of the girls. So perhaps you might show more images. My general comment would be to get some help from one of the girls in staging the group. Or else I'd ask, "May I move you the way I want?" Likely, without direction, one cannot get 5-6 women forming an agreeable grouping without some intervention. The question of touching should be clarified in advance and then re-asked to remind them.

Asher

Thank You

Thanks, folks, for the comments. I'll be sending another picture soon.

D

Asher: I'm going to work with the black and white a little. It would certainly solve the color problem.

D

Here's Another One

I really love the intimacy of this shot
I can feel it!

Charlotte-

Thanks, Charlotte.

D

The bride is looking left, but from the center of the photo which unbalances the whole thing. A hefty crop to stick her over to the right is what's needed IMO.

Right, erm...... there have been a lot of supportive comments about both the first shot (bridesmaids helping the bride) and this latter one.

This is my first post here, so I'm going to tell it the way I see it, whilst still trying to remain constructive.

The first shot should just be binned not tried to be rescued or corrected, its a non starter due to several reasons, not least, its very poorly lit, the colour is bad its out of focus and there is movement that doesnt add to the shot. There isn't a "moment" there to cover up for everything else wrong. However, I cant see what was in that corner behind the group but that where you should have been and you should have had the bride face the other way as all that was going on. You had two windows which would have lit that group well and probably produced some good shots. As it happened, you haven't been looking for where the light is and have put it effectively behind the group.

If you had no option but to stand where you were and likewise with the group, you could possibly have placed a reflector to bounce some of that light from the windows back in, or.... placed a bare bulb flash off camera, high some way behind and above you, probably in one of the corners to your rear.

The second shot is way underexposed, too wide a crop and..... there might have been some nice moments to be caught around then but I think you have missed out this time. Next time, try a higher ISO and perhaps crop in closer, keep an eye out for perhaps when more of at least one face is not hidden. After saying that about the second shot, these kind of things are often hit and miss but sometimes you get some masterpieces, if you are around when that "moment" happens next time, make sure you have everything else in place to make the most of it (correct exposure etc.). It looks like a reflector wouldnt have been an option as it looks like the ambient is going into darkness.... or have you used flash and underexposed the ambient outside by mistake?

John

http://johnprendergastphotography.co.uk

John Prendergast said:

........You had two windows which would have lit that group well and probably produced some good shots. As it happened, you haven't been looking for where the light is and have put it effectively behind the group.

If you had no option but to stand where you were and likewise with the group, you could possibly have placed a reflector to bounce some of that light from the windows back in, or.... placed a bare bulb flash off camera, high some way behind and above you, probably in one of the corners to your rear.

Click to expand...

John,

These are two principal points you have made and I think they are worth underlining.

1. One must be more aware of light. Where is it and how must it be under my command. Use available light, decrease it, supplement it or overwhelm it. Have a spare of the lighting and an assistant if possible. 2. What is interesting?

I suggest one has an agreement with the bride that you might quickly interrupt their frolicking and they must just glide to that new position maintaining a carefree disposition, since this has to be fun. When the idea is in the wrong direction for the light, or you need to move them to your already lit "set", be ready with an immediate, "Time out ladies, we have to have you all face the window with the bride", pointing to the new place, "here!" They will respond if this has been prearranged to have you tell them what to do. When one is declarative instruction, it works.

Asher Kelman said:

{snipped}I suggest one has an agreement with the bride that you might quickly interrupt their frolicking and they must just glide to that new position maintaining a carefree disposition, since this has to be fun. When the idea is in the wrong direction for the light, or you need to move them to your already lit "set", be ready with an immediate, "Time out ladies, we have to have you all face the window with the bride", pointing to the new place, "here!" They will respond if this has been prearranged to have you tell them what to do. When one is declarative instruction, it works.

Click to expand...

And I suggest not doing this at all until you are doing formal posed shots, and that doesn't mean necessarily waiting for a venue, etc....

But if you're a PJ shooter, and this is a real moment at the event, then this is just the wrong advice IMO.

If you need good light and don't have it, add it or subtract the bad stuff. If you need a better position, move.



YMMV. And neither shots are keepers IMO, though the second has a great moment, you missed the position.

James Roberts said:

And I suggest not doing this at all until you are doing formal posed shots, and that doesn't mean necessarily waiting for a venue, etc....

But if you're a PJ shooter, and this is a real moment at the event, then this is just the wrong advice IMO.

If you need good light and don't have it, add it or subtract the bad stuff. If you need a better position, move.

Click to expand...

There's an in between to formal and PJ and that's fun. Playing off each other, the bride and her ladies will move against the photographer if ther'es rapport, like a dance, otherwise, no chance.

Asher