DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> All Hail to wedding photographers!!!
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 25 of 30, (reverse)
AuthorThread
10/09/2006 08:21:02 AM · #1
I would just like to tip my hat to all wedding photographers. I did my first wedding on saturday and it was SO much harder than I imagined! I really planned a lot and thought I knew what I was going to do, but, as it turned out, there is only so much you can do when the groom's eyes are shut on every single pic!!!
10/09/2006 09:03:04 AM · #2
Congrats on the wedding! Ya, (for me) weddings are a PITA, I prefer slower-paced stuff, but you can make some decent money at them. Eye blink complaints are common especially in group shots, followed closely by "I wasn't smiling here" on some of the candids, like it's your fault they didn't see you 5 feet away with a camera pointed right at them with infared beams shooting everywhere.

It's best to take more photos than you think you need, especially posed group shots, because somebody will inevitably blink, not smile, or point to the camera while yelling at the ring bearer/flower girl. -I cringe every time that one happens and I just feel like smacking the parent (but I refrain of course). :-)

Happy editing!
10/09/2006 09:07:54 AM · #3
Thanks, Marc. Yip, now to the editing. I'm so glad I decided to shoot in RAW, the tone adjustments are going quite quickly.
10/09/2006 12:15:10 PM · #4
Yep, big respect from me for wedding photographers. I don't shoot weddings, but I've DJ'ed a couple hundred of them over the years. I enjoy talking to the photogs, and I can certainly appreciate how hard it is to do what they do. I won't be doing it any time soon (I'll stick to playing the music), but wedding photography is NOT an easy task to pull off!
My hat's off to you guys and gals...
10/09/2006 01:00:49 PM · #5
I've only shot a couple of really small weddings (I average about 1/2 of one a year :P) but I've also found that the photographer is expected to know everything!

Questions I've been asked --

Which side does the bride need to be on?
Do we cut the cake now?
How do we hold the glasses for the toast?

One wedding I did, we shot bride and party pictures and groom and party pictures before the wedding. Only during processing did we realize that the bride did not have her bouquet (and it was indeed a thing of beauty) in any of them. (She left it in the dressing room).

Sooooooo, we "cut" a bouquet out of one of the after-wedding shots and "pasted" it into all the pre-wedding shots. No one noticed. (And yes, I told the bride. She was amused and impressed).
10/09/2006 01:27:03 PM · #6

10/09/2006 01:33:09 PM · #7
lol good one laurie

I also did my first wedding about a month or so ago... hmm I enjoyed doing it I shot everything in RAW. Worked out to be great you can do so much in RAW and save bad photos also. As I mentioned before I liked shooting the wedding it was fun, you never get to sit down or take a breather you always see some type of photo to take. Luckly here I learned alot about shooting weddings and looking at wedding photos here. The wedding I shot was long got up early and drived to the groom, then from there the bride, than the wedding, from there the reception..

The only things is awww the processing of all the RAW files you took

Message edited by author 2006-10-09 13:34:18.
10/09/2006 01:37:14 PM · #8
I thrive on the fast paced action during a wedding. I shot a wedding last night, after dark outside and had to figure out lighting on the fly, it was a pain in th a** for sure, but nothing like changing enviroments to keep you on your toes!

Hope the photos came out perfectly!

E
10/09/2006 02:02:08 PM · #9
Regarding closed eyes/no smiles/broccoli in the teeth...the joy of shooting digital is that all you need is one photo with open eyes, then ALL your photos can have open eyes :) Much of the time I spend processing is fixing model error, not photographer error. Unfortunately most of that work goes un-noticed. After seeing the photos, the couple usually gets a big smile and tells me how impressed they are with themselves for having a perfect smile and open eyes in all the photos.

In the middle of the last wedding I shot, I had a 2 hour break while the family went for dinner before the cocktail/appetizer reception. I ran home and quickly scanned the photos, edited and printed a half dozen 8x10s, then took them back to the reception and placed them on the appetizer stations. I got about 20 referrals that evening as a result, where normally I'd get 2 or 3...not that i have time to do anymore weddings as it is.

Weddings can be a riot, but if you do too many of them (as I did this year) they lose their appeal pretty quickly. Next year I've limited to a more managable number so I can go back to having fun at it.
10/09/2006 02:37:01 PM · #10
oen way to eliminate those closed eye pics is to shot multiframes per shot.in doing so, your second can be the money picture, also youll get a sharper image of the two.
10/09/2006 03:01:25 PM · #11
Originally posted by laurielblack:



ROFLMAO!!!!!!
10/09/2006 03:15:32 PM · #12
Originally posted by Pedro:

<<snip>>
Weddings can be a riot, but if you do too many of them (as I did this year) they lose their appeal pretty quickly. Next year I've limited to a more managable number so I can go back to having fun at it.


So what is a managable number?
10/09/2006 03:31:17 PM · #13
Originally posted by dleach:

Originally posted by Pedro:

<<snip>>
Weddings can be a riot, but if you do too many of them (as I did this year) they lose their appeal pretty quickly. Next year I've limited to a more managable number so I can go back to having fun at it.


So what is a managable number?


If I were a dedicated full-time fotog, I could handle one per weekend - maybe two. But I work a 40-50 hour week at my real job as well. Post-processing a wedding for me from start to finish takes about 40 hours. Uploading, sorting, editing (individually - no batch processing for me), creating a web gallery, web slideshow, and burning the pics to DVD is an arduous process. So next year I've placed a self-imposed limit of 2 per month.

Then I doubled my prices to compensate for the lost income :D
10/09/2006 03:42:01 PM · #14
Originally posted by karmat:

Questions I've been asked --

Which side does the bride need to be on?
Do we cut the cake now?
How do we hold the glasses for the toast?


I find that quite often I end up being the "director", telling them what to do or how to do it, and often announcing to the guests that the B&G are about to cut the cake, or that she's going to throw the bouquet, etc. It's not a position I want or ask for ... they just look at me and ask "what do we do next?". And since I want pictures of the guests as well, I call them over.


10/09/2006 03:50:52 PM · #15
The only reason I have done the 2 weddings I've been asked to is because I need the money lol :).. Its very stressful, specially because when I try to direct ppl no one listens :P..probably because of my age lol ... but I don't really mind taking the photos, its all the editing afterwords that kills me.

10/09/2006 04:02:16 PM · #16
I took one photo with the groom's eyes closed, and put the eyes from a different photo on it ;-D
10/10/2006 12:17:58 AM · #17
Originally posted by dwterry:

Originally posted by karmat:

Questions I've been asked --

Which side does the bride need to be on?
Do we cut the cake now?
How do we hold the glasses for the toast?


I find that quite often I end up being the "director", telling them what to do or how to do it, and often announcing to the guests that the B&G are about to cut the cake, or that she's going to throw the bouquet, etc. It's not a position I want or ask for ... they just look at me and ask "what do we do next?". And since I want pictures of the guests as well, I call them over.


This is funny because at my wedding our photographer (who was very very good) turned into the director as well. She ordered everyone around to the point that the guy doing the flowers complained about her... I was just glad that someone took control. We ended up be a great customer because after looking at the proof book we couldn't figure out which to get small and which to get large so we bought all the pictures large (8x10). Something like 50 or 60 pictures... that was 19 years ago come the 17th of this month.
10/10/2006 12:20:04 AM · #18
I am doing my first pro (paid for wedding) on Saturday ... say prayers ... I have 3 assistants too though so it should help???? I'm stressing but ready!!
10/10/2006 12:32:32 AM · #19
Originally posted by mystopia:

I am doing my first pro (paid for wedding) on Saturday ... say prayers ... I have 3 assistants too though so it should help???? I'm stressing but ready!!


from directing the aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, his side, her side, the last thing I want at a wedding is assistants! Three more people to direct? I say no thanks.

The thing that kills me about weddings is the "fairy tale" factor. Some of these girls have been looking forward (and their moms for sure) for decades - and there's very seldom a second take.

So the whole time I'm praying that my CF cards hold up, that my flash batteries will run out at just the right time to change them between the action, etc.

It's fun working with all those happy people, but my expectations are pretty high, and shooting on the fly rarely meets those expectations.

I do them cause my wife tells me too - she's the planner - but I only like them a little.
10/10/2006 01:10:46 AM · #20
Originally posted by Telehubbie:



It's best to take more photos than you think you need, especially posed group shots, because somebody will inevitably blink, not smile, or point to the camera while yelling at the ring bearer/flower girl. -I cringe every time that one happens and I just feel like smacking the parent (but I refrain of course). :-)

Happy editing!


ARe you supposed to refrain from smacking your clients?? i didn't think there was anything wrong with that!

Ok not really...yes they are hard to shoot! they are almost as hard as taking family portraits!!!
10/10/2006 01:59:27 AM · #21
Originally posted by laurielblack:




10/10/2006 02:39:49 AM · #22
The group shots are easily the toughest for me. The best way I've found is to shoot the from largest to smallest. Usually the bride and groom and close family won't be as anxious to go eat or whatever happens to be next.

Some of my issues with posed group shots might be that I just don't enjoy them personally.

I like to think of weddings on the same level as sports. You'll never get a do over, and it has to look like a fantasy at the same time.

I have some shots on my site under the wedding section. Weddings
10/10/2006 02:47:21 AM · #23


There is a trick to group shots....make sure you do something fancy that makes you far enough away from them that people blinking doesn't matter. And when they look into big lights at the same time...ya still can't see the shut eyes...hehehehe!

Method to my madness!
10/10/2006 02:52:52 AM · #24
Originally posted by Judi:



There is a trick to group shots....make sure you do something fancy that makes you far enough away from them that people blinking doesn't matter. And when they look into big lights at the same time...ya still can't see the shut eyes...hehehehe!

Method to my madness!


I have to say, I've never seen that before. Great shot.
10/10/2006 05:14:14 AM · #25
What lenses do you guys use? I was using the Nikon 18-200 VR with a Fong Light-Sphere II. I would have liked a little less DOF on my portraits.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:08:51 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 05:08:51 AM EDT.