# I don't do weddings...



## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

...but a friend convinced me to do one for friends of his. It was done as a favour, no payment, and had I not been there they would have not had any photos at all (barring the mobile phone shots by some of the guests). So, here we go...

The groom



2-8-2012 Phil - Groom by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

The Bride



2-8-2012 Carol - Bride v2 by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

The registry office (which was TINY!)



2-8-2012 Just wed with bridesmaids, best man, and usher by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

Best Man (and bride's son)



2-8-2012 Ben the Best Man by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

A small group (with other son looking at a mobile phone camera!)



2-8-2012 BandG, BM, U, BM, FG by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

The Happy Couple



2-8-2012 Just married v2 by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

So, honest critique. Bear in mind that I will NOT be setting myself up as a budget wedding tog any time soon, but I would be interested in how you think I did with what I had. 

Cheers


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## Jaemie (Aug 3, 2012)

I think you did quite well. Far better than many wedding professionals, frankly. Nice, solid compositions. Good exposures. You did a fine job of capturing the happiness and warmth of the day. I'd say it's a success!


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## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

Jaemie said:


> I think you did quite well. Far better than many wedding professionals, frankly. Nice, solid compositions. Good exposures. You did a fine job of capturing the happiness and warmth of the day. I'd say it's a success!



Thank you. 

I messed up a bit at the start with the flash, but worked it out in the end (as in positioning, bouncing light, etc.)

Cheers


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## Forkie (Aug 3, 2012)

I see the groom is doing his bit to keep up Britain's reputation for great oral hygiene!


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## Kazooie (Aug 3, 2012)

Looks like a redneck wedding.


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## amolitor (Aug 3, 2012)

The light's not great and these are NOT photogenic people at all, although they're fantastically interesting.

I think the photograph of the best man is flirting with greatness. The light isn't all that, but he's well placed in the frame, and you nailed a fantastic instant in time with his hands and expression. The rest are quite good given the on-camera flash, which is always going to look terrible.

A little light processing makes these better, I think. Healing brush to tone down some of the blemishes, just a hair, desaturate a little to take out some of the red blotchiness in the skin without screwing the color balance, lighten up her teeth a bit, and push contrast into the mid-tones (with curves, this will also darken the darks and lighten the lights). Put a strong vignette on some of them where the background is awful -- better a cheap gimmick like a vignette than a horrible background!


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## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

Kazooie said:


> Looks like a redneck wedding.





amolitor said:


> The light's not great and these are NOT photogenic people at all, although they're fantastically interesting.
> 
> I think the photograph of the best man is flirting with greatness. The light isn't all that, but he's well placed in the frame, and you nailed a fantastic instant in time with his hands and expression. The rest are quite good given the on-camera flash, which is always going to look terrible.
> 
> ...



Not sure it's fair to criticise the people in the photos. 

Thanks for the tips on how the do such things again, I will take them into account next time. I had proper flash (Canon 430 E) but at the start I hadn't got the angle etc. seet correctly so some are a little flashed. and then the colour in the building was terrible. But anyway, I tried, and I did it for nowt, so there we go.


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## shefjr (Aug 3, 2012)

I don't do wedding photography either so I don't comment. However, when I saw the best man I couldn't help but laugh a little. You just know he's thinking, "yeah, I'm a pimp!" or "I'm getting my swagger on!" or "Bond, James Bond!"


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## manaheim (Aug 3, 2012)

Can I suggest we skip further commentary on the subjects unless it factors into choices made with the camera?


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## amolitor (Aug 3, 2012)

I apologize, I didn't intend to criticize the people but I see that I wound up doing just that.

What I meant to say was more complicated. These are not traditionally beautiful young brides and grooms. They're older. They're stouter. I am pretty sure they'd be ok with that -- I am older and stouter too, and while I wish I was young and thing, I'm not. It happens to everyone, if you just wait long enough!

The POINT is that you're simply not going to be able to produce traditionally beautiful wedding photographs. Which is kind of a stupid thing to have said, since it's pretty obvious.

When I said they were fantastically interesting, I was also reaching for a photographic point, which is this: While you're not going to produce the cliched "here's is the dewy young bride in her gown surrounded by her bridesmaids in their horrid dresses" you can (and did) do some wonderful photographic work. These people are visual delights, they have the marks of life on them, there are stories in every line of their faces and every imperfection. They look joyful, they look nervous, they look excited.

You did a freakin' great job, all things considered, and you should be pleased with yourself. I think they'll be pleased with the results.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Aug 3, 2012)

Nice pics.  Pic 1, I usually have the subject close their lips if they may have braces or teeth issues. If they're minor i may touch up with photochop. Who knows, the family may enjoy that pic of him more one day when they remember him and I'd have taken a lessor pic =)


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 3, 2012)

My comments are in red.



Bend The Light said:


> ...but a friend convinced me to do one for friends of his. It was done as a favour, no payment, and had I not been there they would have not had any photos at all (barring the mobile phone shots by some of the guests). So, here we go...
> 
> The groom
> 
> ...


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## rexbobcat (Aug 3, 2012)

Those teeth.....

I think the biggest issue is the use of flash. It's all very flat and direct. There is no depth to the scene.


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## jwbryson1 (Aug 3, 2012)

Kazooie said:


> Looks like a redneck wedding.



I ALMOST went there but opted out at the last minute....:mrgreen:


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 3, 2012)

I guarantee you that some talented photographers can shoot this wedding and low budget/redneck would not pop in your mind when you see the results.  They are that GOOD!


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## pixmedic (Aug 3, 2012)

awe...couldn't have been THAT redneck. I didn't see any banjos, OR Burt Reynolds popping out of a stream with a compound bow.


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## pgriz (Aug 3, 2012)

I'm not a wedding photographer, but I've been to enough weddings, and shot enough (both young and old) to say that I'd be pretty happy to have shot these. Under the circumstances, there's usually very little time to work out the technicalities, and you go with what seems to work. Swettylens may have valid points, but it's always easier to critique after the fact. I know in the weddings I've shot as a family member, each wedding is different, and I've had to adapt to the situation with the equipment I had with me. Usually takes a few tries before the images start coming out decent. But that's me. Your photography in the studio and the shows reveal a pretty good understanding of light. Here the difference was the on-camera flash. Perhaps in the ideal world they could be improved on, but we don't know the environment, so what you could have done differently is speculation on our part.

"The Groom" - technically, the flash is a bit too hot. Focus is good (maybe too good for this particular shot), and you've caught his eyes smiling and him looking happy. 
"The Bride" - good exposure, but somewhat flat. She's happy. Focus is bang on. If you had some control over the posing, I'd have suggested a 45-degree bend to her body, with her looking at the camera with her head slightly extended and slightly tilted upwards - that would give a clean neckline. 
"The registry office" - from the shadows, I can see that you bounced the light above and behind you. Good exposure, and good image under the conditions.
"Best Man" - here I think the direct flash works very well, separating him from the background. The image looks tilted slightly to the left (tree in background, his posture). Cropping some from the right and a bit more from left (square format) could be considered. He has a slightly impish almost-smile on his face.
"Small Group" - good lighting. Like the way the leaves above frame them. Looks like the flower girl had an accident earlier, but participated anyway - a trooper! Groom looks like his eyes are closed, but I know people like him who always have their eyes almost always mostly closed, and it is difficult to get them to open wider.
"The couple" - good lighting, separation from background. In terms of posing, I'd have asked them to rotate their bodies inwards a bit, towards each other. The groom seems slightly shorter than the bride, and perhaps shooting a bit more to his left, and from shoulder level (not eye level) would have made the two more equal in height.

Overall, I think you did very well, and contributed to the occasion. I'm sure they will be very happy with the images they get from you. Contratulations.


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## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

amolitor said:


> I apologize, I didn't intend to criticize the people but I see that I wound up doing just that.
> 
> What I meant to say was more complicated. These are not traditionally beautiful young brides and grooms. They're older. They're stouter. I am pretty sure they'd be ok with that -- I am older and stouter too, and while I wish I was young and thing, I'm not. It happens to everyone, if you just wait long enough!
> 
> ...



Thanks for taking the time to come back and reply. I appreciate the points you make. Hell, I ain't the best looking character there is but someone made a photo of me win a competition once upon a time, so there you go! I take your point about how the wedding will never look like the dewy young bride you mentioned (crikey, it was her third time!)...but as you say...these are the people, and this is their life, and their wedding. 



2WheelPhoto said:


> Nice pics.  Pic 1, I usually have the subject close their lips if they may have braces or teeth issues. If they're minor i may touch up with photochop. Who knows, the family may enjoy that pic of him more one day when they remember him and I'd have taken a lessor pic =)



Well, he wasn't that bothered by it, I don't think. He was flashing that smile around all day. It's just him, I suppose. I would have ended up with very few pictures of him had I omitted the ones with teeth (or lack of0. More to the point, this is one of the few where he doesn't have his eyes almost closed tight...he seemed to do that every time he smiled...his eyes were open, but only just.



Schwettylens said:


> My comments are in red.
> 
> My comments are in Dim Grey.
> 
> ...





rexbobcat said:


> Those teeth.....
> 
> I think the biggest issue is the use of flash. It's all very flat and direct. There is no depth to the scene.



Yeah, flash newbie. I already covered the teeth. 



jwbryson1 said:


> Kazooie said:
> 
> 
> > Looks like a redneck wedding.
> ...



Glad you didn't. It's rude to criticise the people in a photo.



Schwettylens said:


> I guarantee you that some talented photographers can shoot this wedding and low budget/redneck would not pop in your mind when you see the results.  They are that GOOD!



Unlike me. I can make pretty people look really ugly.



pixmedic said:


> awe...couldn't have been THAT redneck. I didn't see any banjos, OR Burt Reynolds popping out of a stream with a compound bow.



That would be just you guys over the water. We don't have that sort of thing over here. Thanks.



pgriz said:


> I'm not a wedding photographer, but I've been to enough weddings, and shot enough (both young and old) to say that I'd be pretty happy to have shot these. Under the circumstances, there's usually very little time to work out the technicalities, and you go with what seems to work. Swettylens may have valid points, but it's always easier to critique after the fact. I know in the weddings I've shot as a family member, each wedding is different, and I've had to adapt to the situation with the equipment I had with me. Usually takes a few tries before the images start coming out decent. But that's me. Your photography in the studio and the shows reveal a pretty good understanding of light. Here the difference was the on-camera flash. (actually a Canon 430EX on the hotshoe, but in my hands, pretty much an on-camera flash, at least in the beginning) Perhaps in the ideal world they could be improved on, but we don't know the environment, so what you could have done differently is speculation on our part.
> 
> "The Groom" - technically, the flash is a bit too hot. Focus is good (maybe too good for this particular shot), and you've caught his eyes smiling and him looking happy.
> Yes, direct flash. But yes, you get it. His eyes are smiling, and his whole face is smiling...he was happy and he was about to get married. The teeth don't matter.
> ...



I am certain they will like them...and even more so as they were free, and to get them some pictures they wouldn't have got at all had I not done it.


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 3, 2012)

sorry.. i am just trying to make a point about people's comment about looking like a red neck.  I am sorry, it is not even close to a red neck wedding.  Not because they are from England.  Because he is wearing a nice suit and tie, she is wearing a nice dress, the bridesmaid are wearing matching classy dress.  The groomsmen are wearing black and white suit.  Flower girls are cute.  No redneck here!


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## MLeeK (Aug 3, 2012)

Yeah, there are some major errors, but overall they are not bad. You can only work with what you have at this point, so go forward. A little skin help and some basic adjustments will make these beyond what the bride and groom imagine
This is a 5 minute edit and it's dirty, but you get the idea.


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## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

Schwettylens said:


> sorry.. i am just trying to make a point about people's comment about looking like a red neck.  I am sorry, it is not even close to a red neck wedding.  Not because they are from England.  Because he is wearing a nice suit and tie, she is wearing a nice dress, the bridesmaid are wearing matching classy dress.  The groomsmen are wearing black and white suit.  Flower girls are cute.  No redneck here!



No problem. These are just people...and nice people actually. Not full of airs and graces...just themselves. I appreciated the comments about the photography, and have taken all of that into account for next time (not that I plan on being a wedding photographer at all!


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## Bend The Light (Aug 3, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> Yeah, there are some major errors, but overall they are not bad. You can only work with what you have at this point, so go forward. A little skin help and some basic adjustments will make these beyond what the bride and groom imagine
> This is a 5 minute edit and it's dirty, but you get the idea.
> View attachment 15712



I do get the idea...very good. I would like to learn how to do that.

In this case, I don't think I would be doing that, however, it was a freebie and not intended to take up a whole lot of my time. But the processing ideas you have would most definitely help in my other work.

Thanks.


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## MLeeK (Aug 3, 2012)

That was done by "cheating." I opened the image in adobe camera raw, opened it to PS as a smart object.
Create a new smart object via copy
On the bottom layer double click to take it back to ACR.
Because this was so small my settings won't do you any good, but I decreased the clarity a good amount, pushed up the noise removal for both luminance and color and I used the adjustment brush to darken the background a fair amount. I also removed a bit of the color saturation in the background, decreased the sharpness and clarity. 
Opened back to PS
On the top layer mask through all of the background and the skin areas up to the fine details you don't want to use. 
I merged all of that and adjusted the levels to get a pop on her. Created a whole new layer of everything I had done and used the burn brush on her neck a bit to give her less of a double chin. 


If I were editing these in full size and all that I probably would have used another layer and cloned a bit at about 20-30% opacity to ease up the eyes and wrinkles about them. Then mask back any that goes onto the eye or where you don't want it.


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## Bend The Light (Aug 4, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> That was done by "cheating." I opened the image in adobe camera raw, opened it to PS as a smart object.
> Create a new smart object via copy
> On the bottom layer double click to take it back to ACR.
> Because this was so small my settings won't do you any good, but I decreased the clarity a good amount, pushed up the noise removal for both luminance and color and I used the adjustment brush to darken the background a fair amount. I also removed a bit of the color saturation in the background, decreased the sharpness and clarity.
> ...



Thank you. I haven't yet used Smart-Objects in this way, but will have to try. One to play with on my holidays, that one.

Cheers


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## Granddad (Aug 4, 2012)

Number 1 is a classic - teeth included. As you say, he's happy to flash his smile around so why make him close his lips? From my experience this is a cultural issue. Teeth are not a big deal in 90% of the world but for many (not all) in the USA they seem to be. I have slightly crooked teeth. A childhood fall was the cause and in the UK at that time braces were something that kept your trousers up. I'd never had an issue with my teeth or been remotely embarrassed by them until I was living in the States (married to my lovely American wife, now of 33 years) and my mother in law said to me: "Mark, have you ever considered having your teeth straightened?" ** !!????????!!** How do you respond to that?

It's a Hollywood thing, shallow, Austin Powers, stereotypes and discrimination based on looks. Unfortunately it's come over here, too but isn't yet _quite_ so widespread.


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## Derrel (Aug 4, 2012)

The bridesmaids dresses are actually quite stylish AND attractive! I think the shots speak for themselves. I have seen better,and I have seen much,much,much,MUCH worse wedding photography. A lot of "spirit" comes through in these images. I think as staiight-forward documentation, these succeed on most all levels.


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## Rick58 (Aug 4, 2012)

I agree with the compliments above. You stated from the start that you aren't a wedding photographer. These are MUCH better then the family would have had if you weren't there. You did a great job and an irreplaceable favor for a freind. nice job. 
Not every photograph has to be a $1000 photograph. Sometimes it can just be what photography started out as, a recorded image of a moment in time that will never be able to be revisited. You achived this and more.

EDIT: First my apologies to BTL. My intention is not to hijack your thread, but I need to get this off my chest.

Ya know, I left this thread but had to come back. I started thinking about some of history's great photographer's and I wondered how many Civil War photograph's would have never been recorded if the photographer was worried about proper lighting, distracting background, DOF and Bokeh (whatever the hell that is). Whatever happened to images that simply record a moment in time or images that just plain old don't hurt the eyes to look at. I was embarrassed for all of us after reading some of the early posts on this thread. Rant over


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## vtf (Aug 4, 2012)

Very good attempt! I actually like the first one, your friend is open and fun to be around and shows in the image. All the images show what I imagine to be a fun time and great people. Good images of good people and good times can't be beat!


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## 3bayjunkie (Aug 4, 2012)

You really shouldnt have used the flash out doors. It made the backgrounds seem too dark. And the faces became flatly lit.


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## Netskimmer (Aug 5, 2012)

Our regional VP where I work is a redneck, he worked IN a coal mine for most of his younger years. He makes 6 figures and his wedding would put some royal families to shame. Not even gonna comment on the whole 'shallow Americans' thing. What say we move past the culture bashing and stereotypes and get back to the discussion at hand.


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## bunny99123 (Aug 6, 2012)

You did a good job.  I am a Redneck, but hey we are all something.  Depends where you live.  I know families that events including weddings is out of control.  A Pro could not do any better, because once the Pro started telling people where to stand and pose, one of them would tell him where to go put his C*****.  I know I have attened weddings where thousands have been spent, and seen this happen several times.  Even seen a few photographers grap their gear and flee.  Some people just don't care if the picture is what photographers would consider professional.  They want it their way or the highway, period.  I know I have shot a few of these types of events. You do the best you can and accept it.  Use software to soften some skin, improve hair position...etc.  Call it the best you could do.


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## Hobbytog (Aug 6, 2012)

Forkie said:


> I see the groom is doing his bit to keep up Britain's reputation for great oral hygiene!



Is that what you call 'central 'eating'!


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## DiskoJoe (Aug 8, 2012)

**** me! There isnt much you can do when handed a lump of **** to begin with. I would have passed on this one.


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 8, 2012)

DiskoJoe said:


> **** me! There isnt much you can do when handed a lump of **** to begin with. I would have passed on this one.





Wow... Just wow.


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## JAC526 (Aug 8, 2012)

DiskoJoe said:


> **** me! There isnt much you can do when handed a lump of **** to begin with. I would have passed on this one.




Did you even read the thread?  Or the original post?


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## Rick58 (Aug 8, 2012)

Meh


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## MLeeK (Aug 8, 2012)

Hobbytog said:


> Forkie said:
> 
> 
> > I see the groom is doing  his bit to keep up Britain's reputation for great oral hygiene!
> ...





DiskoJoe said:


> **** me! There isnt much you can do when handed a lump of **** to begin with. I would have passed on this one.



WTF, people?


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## Rick58 (Aug 8, 2012)

Please someone get a gun and shot this thread between the eye.


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