Shooting a Wedding New Years Eve, The Results here

01/11/2012 07:16:56 AM · #1

As in a earlier thread I got the opportunity to shoot my very first wedding. This was most definitely a learning process. The church was VERY dark, I was pushing 1600-2000 iso wide open on 2.8 and my shutter was still dragging around 1/100th and was still underexposing about half a stop, well actually I was properly exposing for the dress in camera and the rest of the scene was 1/2-1 stop under. The ambient light was mostly coming in from the brides side through colored stained glass (small) windows. But I made do, thank heavens for RAW. I also found out I only had at most 30 minutes for all the formals, so i took standard boring cross lighting with a typical pose for everyone except the B&G and their kids. Anyways here is a sampling of my shots.

You can also view a slide show here.

Feel free to leave any comments you like.

01/11/2012 08:30:24 AM · #2

Weird site issues today, posted this inadvertently 5 times and it won't show up on the front page of forum posts, seeing if this bump will move it there.

01/11/2012 11:49:44 AM · #3

bumping from site issues

Jon_H

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/11/2012 12:42:54 PM · #4

You certainly can't tell that was your first go at a wedding they are of excellent quality and you seem to have captured the spirit of the day. Had those been for my wedding you would have had no complaints.

jagar

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+

Sony Sonnar FE 2.8 35mm ZA

01/11/2012 12:49:10 PM · #5

Pretty awesome for your first wedding, better than I'd do, well done.

EL-ROI

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

01/11/2012 12:55:58 PM · #6

Awesome job!! You were at the right spot at the right time for every important moment! Hope you get a refferal for more!! Congrats on your success!!

PS. Love the lensbaby action!!

Message edited by author 2012-01-11 12:56:46.

Tiny

Apple iPad mini 4

01/11/2012 12:58:09 PM · #7

Yea I like them too,I have never done a wedding and never would ( not that anyone would ask me ) but I think these are very good and they should be well pleased.
No doubt you should be able to get more work in this line if you wish. Congrats to you.

Message edited by author 2012-01-11 12:58:47.

cgino

Nikon D810

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 G ED

01/11/2012 01:00:55 PM · #8

Very nice, Joshua! All the more so since this was your first wedding. I bet it won't be your last :-)

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/11/2012 01:27:14 PM · #9

You done good. The LensBaby details are particularly sweet. Gonna get one of your own now?

R.

MattO

Nikon D4

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

01/11/2012 01:28:17 PM · #10

These are very nice, for what it's worth, I see 5 or 6 of this same post on the community page.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

01/11/2012 01:50:06 PM · #11

Thank you all for the kind words.

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

You done good. The LensBaby details are particularly sweet. Gonna get one of your own now?

R.

It is on my wish list :) Got a few things I gotta take care of first but that and a 24-70 are two that I would like to have. Until that point there is always lens rentals.

Originally posted by MattO:

These are very nice, for what it's worth, I see 5 or 6 of this same post on the community page.

Yes I was having issues posting this morning and kept getting errors so on. I have a ticket in to remove the other posts.

pamb

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

01/11/2012 06:37:58 PM · #12

Hey Joshua, well done! These are waaaaaaaaaaay better than the photos I have of my OWN wedding!

My favourite is the b/w of the bride sitting on her own.

The b/w of her standing by the window - I tried cropping off about half of the negative space above her and I liked the composition more, but that's just my opinion.

You've done a fantastic job with exposure in what had to have been highly difficult conditions.

Yup, to echo Bear, you definitely done good.

rooum

01/11/2012 06:59:31 PM · #13

Great photos Joshua. I like number 10 and the one of the bride in the window. Also, the detail shots of the cake and ring are excellent. They are all very good though.

Neat

Canon Canon 1d x Mark II

01/11/2012 07:05:47 PM · #14

I just gave you a PM about your wedding photo, well now you don't have to reply. Thanks for posting, I'll be doing this soon at my brothers wedding, I need all the tips I can get. If anyone else has wedding photos please post for more ideas.

01/11/2012 07:09:58 PM · #15

Originally posted by pamb:

Thank you so much. I agree with the composition, I kept everything in the camera aspect ratio but if they were to order a print I would crop accordingly. I also designed a KISS wedding book which I will be ordering tomorrow and of course pics will follow once it arrives.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

01/11/2012 07:10:09 PM · #16

Originally posted by Neat:

sent you a reply :)

Purple_Girl

Canon EOS-1100D

01/11/2012 07:25:08 PM · #17

I love the downward angle cake shot! :-)

Simms

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

01/12/2012 04:20:25 AM · #18

Not bad - I`m not overly keen on the images where you have faked the shallow DOF - also the processing seems to change from shot to shot - pick a style and stick with it (excluding a few B&W shots). Compositionally they are very nice and you did well in a darkened church. Good work!

Art Roflmao

Canon EOS-6D Mark II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

01/12/2012 05:07:46 AM · #19

Color me impressed. Thumbs up, Josh. I agree with Simms on the varying processing styles though. Still, your results are very impressive and should help establish you in the biz.

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/12/2012 06:25:11 AM · #20

practice, passion, commitment...keep it up, joshua, you are well on your way to getting where you want to be! nicely done!!

while i'll agree with simms and art about settling on a style, i think the key is to pick the appropriate style for the job you are delivering - essentially, maintain consistency within a collection so that no particular images look out of place. keep on working and experimenting until you are happy with what you can do in any given situation.

MikeO

Fujifilm x100

01/12/2012 07:17:02 AM · #21

Weddings are hard work but for your first effort you have done a decent job, well done !

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

01/12/2012 11:39:22 AM · #22

Thanks guys. I see what you mean by consistency, I tried to keep everything else consistent and even kept all of the shots in the camera aspect ratio but I didn't really think about the editing styles. I suppose I was using this as an excuse to experiment around a bit but keeping it consistent makes perfect sense, especially in the groups as Skip mentioned. Thanks again.

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

01/12/2012 03:29:46 PM · #23

just to be a little more clear on what i posted earlier, different lighting situations and setups will produce results that lend them to particular styles of processing. the key is to have an idea as to what you envision the end result being and approach the shoot accordingly. sometimes you'll have control over it and sometimes you won't. i've defined different picture styles that i'll use for different situations - and that really cuts down on post-processing time, letting the camera do the heavy lifting. (you just have to remember to set the style back to standard when you get home, just so you don't screw up the next shoot if a different style is required.) you can keep on experimenting and share your results and outtakes while making sure your clients are getting the right stuff.