1st real wedding

Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
rocketman122 said:
only the best 3 stars and up. if its a necessary photo, meaning, a regular snapshot dont add it, if its something of an important family member you need to include it.


You did great. all the preparations paid off. lovely photos. I was worried you would have an issue with the backlit lighting. very nice pic above. shooting hard lighting situations on the fly is very difficult. not sure many would be able to hit it properly. you will probably need to recover highlights or shadows in most. just worry about face exposure. dress/suit, sky background is important, but the face is the priority.

but crap I hate WA focal lengths. the 2 girls on the left will not like the picture HAHA, left one, got stretched out and cut. you slimmed her down a bit with the crop. I just hate using anything wider than 28mm with people. just not an aesthetic focal length. sometimes you have no choice because you have no space to go back and get a longer FL.
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Yeah I cut the left one on purpose to slim her down, this is my only real wide angle one that I needed to get and I know she will not mind.

I have finished sorting and got it down to 476 photos, which I think it reasonable. Maryse (the bride) wanted some snap shots so I have added a few good ones.
 
R

rocketman122

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
Yeah I cut the left one on purpose to slim her down, this is my only real wide angle one that I needed to get and I know she will not mind.

I have finished sorting and got it down to 476 photos, which I think it reasonable. Maryse (the bride) wanted some snap shots so I have added a few good ones.
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Good, im happy for you. always intersts me to ask how the pros feel when they shoot under stress. how did it feel for you? were you fumbling with the gear when you needed to take an important shot? did everything work out like you thought, more or less? what parts stressed you? did you miss moments?

oh, with the lenses how did it work out? the 70-200? did you use the 85 or 50? primes are great for unique IQ but on paper its great. being at the wedding and under stress things change really quickl. just being there is stressful with peoples eyes on you. and the primes get shoved in the bag real quick and they go for zooms and comfort as well as the feeling of security that its better to "get the shot" then the highest IQ.

thats when experience kicks in. its something thats a step up that most people dont get too. meaning, most people use the zoom, get proficient but never go that small step to take their IQ higher. for many its the fear of losing a shot and no flexebility with the prime. and im not talking about taking a few of the guests as they come in and you have tons of time to catch the right angles, im talking ceremony, the bouquet toss..stuff like that. critical times.
reminds me of my first heavy motorcycle. it was a ninja 500cc. two cylinder. a little while after I jumped to the ninja 600. just a small step of 100cc between them but a different thing altogether.
 
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Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
fotojack said:
Scott, nice job. Keep the final tally to around a hundred, and they'll be happy. Any more than that and it gets tedious. Then again...depends on how much they're paying you for the shoot. :)
And don't be afraid to crop out parts you don't like! :)
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I did it for free, although they did pay for my flights ($580AUD) and I got a phone call saying that they are taking me out for dinner Thursday when they get back to show their appreciation. In total there are 476 photos, I would normally cull a few more but there are some classics that I know they will laugh at. And seeing as they are friends I would like to offer them some choices, they will go through and pick out the best ones of course. I will be providing them with a few USB sticks (2 or 3) which they said they would reimburse me.

I will be adding them to my website in a week and I will definitely narrow the choice down a lot more.
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
rocketman122 said:
Good, im happy for you. always intersts me to ask how the pros feel when they shoot under stress. how did it feel for you? were you fumbling with the gear when you needed to take an important shot? did everything work out like you thought, more or less? what parts stressed you? did you miss moments?
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The only moment I really missed was him putting her ring on, but it was physically impossible to get in position and shoot it. We discussed this prior and said it could be set up later.
I didn't really stress much at all. I was just going from camera to camera shooting what I liked. The only difference is that I think I would like another camera with the set up of my D800e as going from that to the D600 was challenging at times due to button layout. But I basically had the D600 set to shoot as it was with only minor setting changes.
 
R

rocketman122

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
The only moment I really missed was him putting her ring on, but it was physically impossible to get in position and shoot it. We discussed this prior and said it could be set up later.
I didn't really stress much at all. I was just going from camera to camera shooting what I liked. The only difference is that I think I would like another camera with the set up of my D800e as going from that to the D600 was challenging at times due to button layout. But I basically had the D600 set to shoot as it was with only minor setting changes.
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its hard grabbing one camera then grabbing the other thats different. I use the D3/D600 and when I go for the D600, I have a tiny sigh inside. I just dont like the way the camera feels in my hand. resolving power is better but the slowness kills my flow. always great to have 2 similar cameras but not always great. when I was shooting F5's (3 in every wedding) I had to look in the back to see the film I was using because they were all the same. if you use 2 different bodies then you can shoot one with one specific picture control mode and the other with something else. and you can remember easily just by the feel of what youre holding. I also like the U1 U2 they have. lets you switch settings on the fly for indoors, outdoors for instance.

always best to get it important shots on the first go becuse you can shoot with the other family members and capture emotions as well. but a lot of times we have to deal with the situation we have. no place to move, means no place to move. you cant fly and hover around to get the shot. you always try to do the best you can.

your comment about the assistant is very true. I was shooting weddings with 600+ people and it was only me. an assistant photog can also capture shots to back u up. photogs I work for dont send one photog to weddings anymore. you must have 2. and if that photog uses nikon gear, pshhh, youre set. you can swap gear and if one fails you have backup.
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
I was told a few times to put my camera away and join in on the dance which I did but not before having a play with slow shutter speeds etc.

Not sure if you guys like the blurring but I do as I think it adds movement to the image, and seeing as this was not a must do I could play with my settings :) I wanted to keep the atmosphere of the dance floor with out killing it with alot of light (ceiling was silver foil).

D60_1899.jpg

D60_2016.jpg
 
R

rocketman122

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
I was told a few times to put my camera away and join in on the dance which I did but not before having a play with slow shutter speeds etc.

Not sure if you guys like the blurring but I do as I think it adds movement to the image, and seeing as this was not a must do I could play with my settings :) I wanted to keep the atmosphere of the dance floor with out killing it with alot of light (ceiling was silver foil).
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the 2nd one really is unique. gives the energy of the situation. nice pics. were proud of you! yep, the place was dark like I thought. 2 flashes with slaves and gelled lightly, would bring you images like the 2nd pic and you could have used a faster shutter speed all night. you would have much lit and those in the back would also have some lighting, adding to the depth. I highly recommend it for next weddings. did you do some shots with the 85 at f2/2.8 with no flash and high iso for isolation shots?

just buy cheap manual flashes (yongnuo 560II $75 shipped, or even 565 with battery packs $145 total shipped), put them on the outside area of the dance floor and either bounce it off the ceiling (do I see glass roof there?) or lift the stands up high and aim it downwards 30º into the dance floor. gives the images a different feel altogether. direct flash and those off camera gelled flashed mixed in would give highlighted color and would give a great feel of dancing to the images. because the lighting changes every second, you cant rely on them for all your shots. thats when your off camera flashes come in.
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
rocketman122 said:
the 2nd one really is unique. gives the energy of the situation. nice pics. were proud of you! yep, the place was dark like I thought. 2 flashes with slaves and gelled lightly, would bring you images like the 2nd pic and you could have used a faster shutter speed all night. you would have much lit and those in the back would also have some lighting, adding to the depth. I highly recommend it for next weddings. did you do some shots with the 85 at f2/2.8 with no flash and high iso for isolation shots?

just buy cheap manual flashes (yongnuo 560II $75 shipped, or even 565 with battery packs $145 total shipped), put them on the outside area of the dance floor and either bounce it off the ceiling (do I see glass roof there?) or lift the stands up high and aim it downwards 30º into the dance floor. gives the images a different feel altogether. direct flash and those off camera gelled flashed mixed in would give highlighted color and would give a great feel of dancing to the images. because the lighting changes every second, you cant rely on them for all your shots. thats when your off camera flashes come in.
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I didn't end up using the 85 just the 50mm as it was a more appropriate length due to the space. I darkened most photos to reduce the depth and make the main subjects stand out. I got plenty of depth and with Silver/foil ceiling ​it was easy to bounce light where ever. Even adding too much at times.
 
wud

wud

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
I was told a few times to put my camera away and join in on the dance which I did but not before having a play with slow shutter speeds etc.

Not sure if you guys like the blurring but I do as I think it adds movement to the image, and seeing as this was not a must do I could play with my settings :) I wanted to keep the atmosphere of the dance floor with out killing it with alot of light (ceiling was silver foil).

View attachment 74078
View attachment 74077
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Love the blur!
Would maybe be good if your lightened the couple some in pp, in the first image.
 
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