# My first wedding... *gulp*



## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

Here we go. This was my first wedding. The setting was HORRIBLE-a local dinner hall with 8 foot drop ceilings. Absolutely evil thing to do to your photographer. Basically, bounce flash and pray. I did what I could... Please be gentle but offer some critique here. These are all I have done at the moment, so perhaps if anyone has some advice for editing these I can rescue some other photos.




IMG_6685 by Michael Long, on Flickr




IMG_6713 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Cut the groom's shoe off. Oops.




IMG_6741 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Shot in the parking lot.




IMG_6757 by Michael Long, on Flickr

I did everything I could not to nuke the dress. Please tell me these aren't the worst thing you've ever seen...


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## Vtec44 (Oct 27, 2015)

Do they like the photos?


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

I don't know yet. I haven't delivered them yet-waiting on some feedback so I can improve them and salvage what I can.


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## Derrel (Oct 27, 2015)

They appear sharp and clear and with pretty good, pleasing color. MUCH higher quality than smartphone images, which they will probably be receiving from friends and family via text, e-mail, and Facebook over the next week or so. The shot of the groom and the three ladies looks just a wee bit too bright, due to the generous exposure, in which the blacks look like they were hit with a lot of flash power.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

That's something I can easily change. Thanks Derrel.


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## Dillard (Oct 27, 2015)

I agree with Derrel, the second image is a bit bright.

While I don't see anything technically wrong with them, they seem just a little dull. They lack emotion, detail, or anything else that truly grabs my eye I guess. I don't mean to be negative or harsh, yet simply provide honest feedback.

Edit: I do like the emotion in the last image, yet the guy in the blue shirt really grabs my attention. I understand there isn't much you can do about that, but more of an unfortunate placement.


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## tirediron (Oct 27, 2015)

Not bad at all; I've seen a LOT worse from paid "professionals".  It looks like a tough venue to work, and aside from the first couple being ever so slightly off level, I don't see any serious issues.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

Yeah, blue shirt guy's presence pissed me off. The fact he's drinking something (I think it's a Coors) just irritates me to no end.

There didn't seem to be a lot of emotion with the group photos period. Those were actually taken BEFORE the ceremony, before all the actual emotions seemed to flow, and that may have something to do with it. Or maybe I need to learn how to get people to create that emotion.


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## JacaRanda (Oct 27, 2015)

I think once we learn a little bit about photography, we tend to be harsh on ourselves.  Rightfully so if we want to improve - I think??
Certainly not the worse I've seen (no expert here needless to say).  Maybe bring down the highlights a wee bit in the first one so hopefully you can start seeing some detail in her dress in #2.

Were you the 2nd shooter?

Oh.  #1 crop or clown out the light fixture and the plant stem coming out of the ladies head (2nd from the right).


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## zulu42 (Oct 27, 2015)

Rank amateur comments:

#1 level. Is there anything you could do to tone down those lights on the back wall?

#2 There is a distracting spot or artifact on the wall by the head of the lady on the left. Maybe clone that out.

#3 I would crop out some of the extra space on the top and left, balancing the image. Maybe see what a slight vignette looks like.

#4 I would see what a tight crop on the heads and torsos looks like. A good capture of the emotion, I think it would benefit from losing a lot of the distractions. Perhaps even a heavy vignette to cover the ceiling and the other guests. Maybe even clone that guy out above her left shoulder.


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## beckylynne (Oct 27, 2015)

The trick to shooting the not so cool weddings is to pretend they are 100 thousand dollar weddings and shoot them as such.  Who controlled the day....you or them?  As a wedding photographer you also need to be part wedding planner and really control the situation....without controlling the situation.  It's an art that will come with a TON of practice.  If the lighting was rough inside....why did you chose to do the group type photos indoors?  I always drag people outside unless it's raining.  Did you take any detail shots?  Your images need to tell a story and the best way to do that is with all the detail shots you can get.  I'm sure they will like their images....especially if you saved them money by not charging $5,000 since it's your first wedding.


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## Designer (Oct 27, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeah, blue shirt guy's presence pissed me off. The fact he's drinking something ..


No, he's not drinking.

That's a spit can.


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## wyogirl (Oct 27, 2015)

Others have hit on most points... please level the first photo... its leaning to the right.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

I leveled the first shot. That's easy enough.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Next time I will make sure I'm a part of the planning process. I was barely a thought in this one, and didn't have much choice. It was already planned (just found out they wanted me as a photographer all of two weeks ago), so honestly, I was flying by the seat of my pants. On my first time. Oh joy.

I did try to crop the father and bride down to the faces, but my god was it noisy. I needed to shoot at 800 because my flash just plain wasn't powerful enough.

As for being hard on myself, you're right. I am pretty harsh with myself. I want to accomplish the best, but feel like my skills just aren't quite there when it comes to what's in front of the camera. I can talk about menus, TTL, ISOs, lens specs, etc all day, but posing and shooting in the moment I feel like I just don't get yet, so I get frustrated.


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## gsgary (Oct 27, 2015)

They recorded the event


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

I flubbed the ring shot, but my wife got several with her macro lens that are MUCH better. She was GOING to be my second shooter, but just took maybe 4 photos of the ring.


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## gsgary (Oct 27, 2015)

She only took 4 photos at the wedding ?


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

Yeah, it's a long story. She wasn't able to go to the ceremony.


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## Derrel (Oct 27, 2015)

Designer said:
			
		

> minicoop said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That is EXACTLY what it looks like to me as well...that he's chewing tobacco, and using the can as his spitter. I grew up in a logging/farming/ranching area, and believe me...I've seen this more than once or twice...


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

Even better! Wow, I need to do something with that shot.




IMG_6767 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Here's the background for the ceremony. It's so terrible.


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## Granddad (Oct 27, 2015)

You did your best with what you were given. You can't do more than that. Well done for shooting it in the circumstances. 
Personally I try to avoid weddings, they scare the heck out of me.

Like many others here have said, I've seen MUCH, much worse. 

Anyway, it's the marriage that's important, not the wedding.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

I appreciate hearing that you guys have seen worse. It actually makes me feel much more confident about this. I'm on the calendar for another next year, so this has been a good experience overall.


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## Derrel (Oct 27, 2015)

Chin up, man! Take a look at this Pinterest board, with some absolutely egregious blunders and utterly ridiculous wedding pics!

https://www.pinterest.com/gohendotcom/wedding-fails/

While this venue might not have been all that, I will NEVER forget the wedding album I was shown some years ago, of a wedding that took place with on-site reception in an Elks lodge....OMG...there was a mounted elk head every 15 feet or so on the walls, as well as loads of plaques and old photos of old, dead Elks lodge members...the place was like a taxidermist's showroom....full-head mounts, one FULL body mounted elk, elk horns on plaques, omg....elk mounts, elk horns, yeeeesh...and the glares from all the nameplates on the wall plaques....god, it was so,so tacky!


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 27, 2015)

I really didn't think it could get WORSE... There's an Elk's Lodge behind my house. I can imagine how horrible THAT was. Wow.

Also, oh Russia.


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## FITBMX (Oct 27, 2015)

Derrel said:


> They appear sharp and clear and with pretty good, pleasing color. *MUCH higher quality than smartphone images*, which they will probably be receiving from friends and family via text, e-mail, and Facebook over the next week or so. The shot of the groom and the three ladies looks just a wee bit too bright, due to the generous exposure, in which the blacks look like they were hit with a lot of flash power.



My sister had a friend shoot their whole wedding with a iPhone!

So these are much better, and you should be able to make them look real nice after some edit work.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 28, 2015)

An iPhone? That's just awful.

Thanks, I think I've got them about as good as they can possibly be now after doing some tweaking to just about all of them, unfortunately, which isn't great.


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## vintagesnaps (Oct 28, 2015)

I don't know if he's drinkin' or spittin' but he looks happy enough! But he's got to go... lol

They look good, considering well, everything (low/lousy lighting, available backgrounds, etc.). With the first one along with straightening I'd crop out the brown thing and outlet to the right, and the edge of the lights overhead.

With the one coming up the aisle, I think I'd minimize the other people - probably crop from the left of the beer can/spittoon(?!), and some of the bottom edge (get rid of the shoe/whatever to the lower right, which might be gone cropping that side); then the top from the bottom of the lights, and the left side from just to the left of the chair (that guy being close to the camera made his arm take up a lot of the photo). (Or I guess I could've just showed you... lol).

If you're going to do more weddings, what might get you some practice with at least part of it might be to take pictures at say, seasonal events where you're allowed to take pictures, and frame some shots as things are happening. I think lots and lots of practice helped me doing sports and events.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 28, 2015)

Thanks, Sharon. I did exactly that, actually. Got rid of Mr. Spittoon. Cloned out the power cord in the first kiss photo. Used a different image than the first one (ladies had flowers) where the door isn't showing and made sure it was straight. Made a large number of little tweaks.

As for capturing an event, I've done a fair amount of race track shooting. Gotta be ready or you lose your shot. I think I did pretty well with covering the action from the rest of the event, like the cake cutting, ring exchange, grand march, etc. Are they ridiculously creative, artistic shots with perfect lighting and composition? Um... no.


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## The_Traveler (Oct 28, 2015)

These are really nice and sharp and with a little effort (and more care than I spent) you could actually tighten up the first one quite a bit to lose some of that empty space.


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## vintagesnaps (Oct 28, 2015)

I think that cleaned it up nicely Lew. Didn't realize Michael that you'd already done some editing etc.; for some reason I got the impression you hadn't particularly done much in the way of events.

Well, I hope Mr. Drink 'n Spit had fun at least! since he wasn't exactly helping the background much there.


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 28, 2015)

Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...

Lew, I didn't put nearly that much effort into that photo because I had another with flowers, but I definitely appreciate it.. In fact, here it is:




IMG_6690 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Sharon, I can see why you would get that impression...  I've done events and stuff. My first one was a charity event called Drive for a Cure. In fact most of my events have been charity events. Christmas dinner, a bowl a thon, some other stuff... but this was my first wedding.

Edit: Dunno why it looks like I nuked the dress. It doesn't look like that in Lightroom.


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## Fatalit14 (Oct 28, 2015)

Good work!


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## gsgary (Oct 29, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...
> 
> Lew, I didn't put nearly that much effort into that photo because I had another with flowers, but I definitely appreciate it.. In fact, here it is:
> 
> ...


The chap next to the groom looks like he has come straight from work with his steel toecap boots on, it's hard to make people look good when they dress so bad


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 29, 2015)

Exactly. Not much I could really do with that. Oh well. I'll be delivering the photos tonight, hoping all goes well... This was a paid gig at least.


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## Dillard (Oct 30, 2015)

I'm sure they will love them! You had an incredibly tough environment to work in, and you made the best of it. We've all been there!


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## SquarePeg (Oct 30, 2015)

I think you did a great job considering the location and lighting.  

Purple shirts?????  Eek!  This is the 2nd or 3rd wedding shoot I've seen recently where the groomsmen had on colored shirts instead of suits.  Is this some horrible new trend sweeping the country?

(Can't stop looking at the decorative tree branches between the bridesmaids on the right.)


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## minicoop1985 (Oct 30, 2015)

Yeah, the purple shirts is the new thing. This was a rather informal ceremony, so it makes sense.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I really appreciate it. I've been roped into another in the spring, so at least I'll have the experience.


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## W.Y.Photo (Nov 1, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> I leveled the first shot. That's easy enough.
> 
> Thanks for all the advice, guys. Next time I will make sure I'm a part of the planning process. I was barely a thought in this one, and didn't have much choice. It was already planned (just found out they wanted me as a photographer all of two weeks ago), so honestly, I was flying by the seat of my pants. On my first time. Oh joy.
> 
> ...



       Sounds like a terrible environment to work in. What's good is that you recognized what caused the issues you faced that you can actually do something about, and that you now have a bad wedding under your belt and the experience that comes with it. Next time you have a bad location or group it won't hit you as hard and you'll know what needs to be done to make things work with the hand you are dealt.

       As everyone has been saying, for the circumstances you faced you came out with some excellent technically sound images; that's a feat in and of itself. (and one that I'm sure will make your clients happy.) Knowing that you can do that in a chaotic environment only serves to ensure you that you've got room to now be more open and creative when you have more opportunity to plan and aren't struggling just to make sure you get the right shots.

       Good job. I'm excited to see what you come up with for your next one!!


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## gsgary (Nov 2, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeah, the purple shirts is the new thing. This was a rather informal ceremony, so it makes sense.
> 
> Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I really appreciate it. I've been roped into another in the spring, so at least I'll have the experience.


Purple shirts and coloured shirts needs to stop as soon as possible it looks naff and very cheap


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## Braineack (Nov 2, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...



what about a creative crop?






converted to B&W to make the noise appear as grain.  I'd do some clean up and clone out the hand on the left as well as bluring that area as well.


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## minicoop1985 (Nov 2, 2015)

Thank you, WY. I'm so glad it's out of the way too.


I agree, Gary. Just doing colored shirts is kinda tacky, but for a rather informal wedding, it works.

Now the next one is going to be a proper wedding with actual tuxedos and the like, and I believe it's going to be in a church. Gotta get a flash bracket before that one.

Braineack, I hadn't thought of that. I guess I wasn't as creative as you when it comes to cropping. Too focused on just getting the shot.


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## gsgary (Nov 2, 2015)

Mine was very informal but I had a bespoke suit made because I wanted to look and feel good


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## astroNikon (Nov 2, 2015)

Braineack said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> > Ugh, he pisses me off to no end. The guy was a crass, belligerent, cantankerous asshole. And of course he had to be in one of the most important shots...
> ...


and clone out the 3/4 face above the ladies left shoulder who oddly looks like Braineack.   lol


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## Braineack (Nov 2, 2015)

minicoop1985 said:


> Braineack, I hadn't thought of that. I guess I wasn't as creative as you when it comes to cropping. Too focused on just getting the shot.



Have MP, will Crop.


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## minicoop1985 (Nov 2, 2015)

Nothing like a good heaping load of megapickles.


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## Braineack (Nov 2, 2015)

Mmmmm megafrickles

using tapatalk.


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## crimbfighter (Nov 2, 2015)

Hmmm, all I saw is a guy in a nice green shirt who was going to wipe the tears from his face because he was so fraught with emotion! 

I thought you did a great job given the circumstances! I would only be repetitive to mention what has already been mentioned.

I was also able to apply quite a bit of NR to the image without losing much detail. I brought the highlights down a tad and set the black point and white point. I adjusted the WB a tad, added a slight vignette, and added a very small GND filter to the left side of the frame. I also made a slight adjustment to the horizontal perspective, then re-leveled the lines with a slight crop.


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## minicoop1985 (Nov 3, 2015)

GENIUS. I had NOT thought about that. I'll show you what I came up with on my own here in a moment.


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## minicoop1985 (Nov 3, 2015)

IMG_6757 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Keep in mind this edit was previous to all the suggestions of cloning and B&W.


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## crimbfighter (Nov 4, 2015)

Have you heard back from the client yet?


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## minicoop1985 (Nov 5, 2015)

I have. She loved them, actually. I'm quite happy about that.


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