My first wedding, how did I do?

[losfp]

Well, I've been to many weddings, and I've taken photos at many weddings, but this was the first one where I made a conscious effort to capture parts of the day. It's not quite the first wedding I've taken my D70s to, but the other wedding I took it to before, I only took about 5-10 photos all day. This was a 350+ shots day. More than the official photographer, but I bet he got a lot more keepers

It was a great learning experience though. My #1 job for the day was to capture most of it on video, but I found the still photo-taking much more interesting So, I started the day at the groom's house - he and I, along with most of the groomsmen and the driver all went to school together. Then went along to the church, then tagged along to the photo-shoot. I stayed out of the official photographer's way, and just floated around the outside, taking candids.

Here are a couple of the better ones, and I'd love some comments. I apologise if the colours etc are off, I photoshopped them on my home monitor that had undergone some basic colour calibration by eye (OS X's built-in calibration). They are way too dark on my work PC, but that one is a load of rubbish anyway, so I hope these turn up alright for most people.



The best man having his corsage fixed up by the mother of the groom. 18-70 @ 18mm. 1/30 @ f/5.6, ISO200, SB-800, LSPJ



The bride & her maid of honour. You really shouldn't take portraits with an ultra-wide angle lens.. but I love this one anyway something a little different. Layered in photoshop, 2 different exposures from the same RAW file, blended in with a layer mask. Tokina 12-24 @ 12mm, 1/60 @ f/4. ISO 400, SB-800



Wedding Dance. I took lots of lousy photos during the dance, this one turned out the least bad. 18-70 @ 70mm. 1/30 @ f/4.5, SB-800. Grainy as hell, but I think that isn't necessarily a bad thing for this photo. Discovered that it's REALLY hard to get good flash photos at a distance.

Full album below for those interested.

http://thesystemisdown.com/gallery/thum ... p?album=27

[owen]

The second one is a stand-out for me. I think you have captured a great moment there and I'm sure they would be extremely happy with it.

[PiroStitch]

Love the 2nd pic - can you try and reduce the vignetting a bit though? It doesn't look very natural and detracts from a great photo.

Did you apply contrast or sharpening to the last pic? The couple seem embossed in the pic...

[losfp]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

piro - I did add just a touch of vignetting in photoshop for #2 (you can see it in the top right corner), but most of it is just the natural endarkenation of the sky. I'll have a play with it though, I have about a week before they are back from the honeymoon. Yeah, I sharpened the third image, but probably a bit too much (I did the resize/sharpen/colourspace etc operations as a batch action). I'll fix it for them before they get back

[shutterbug]

I love the first two images. Colours are film like

[nito]

Nicely done, the bride and gromm will be happy with the results. I really like the colours of the sky in the second shot.

[marcotrov]

The second shot is certainly a keeper. Love the colour in the sky. It really complements the portrait.
cheers
marco

[wmaburnett]

I think you did well, it captures the feeling in the images very well!

[losfp]

Thanks all for the kinds words

I got a few of the photos printed out at lunchtime (just wanted to see how they print, will give them to the B&G next week as a little bonus), and #2 comes out a treat on paper.

[Jonas]

I like the first - a great moment between mother and son. Shame about the fan and pipes in the background, but I don't think they detract from the image.

[Alex]

Like all of them, especially no. 2.

Alex