First solo wedding shoot

[john185k]

Evening guys, Thought i would post a few pics from a wedding I shot on Saturday at Melville Castle, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Massive learning experience however one i really enjoyed!

Here are a few shots I have edited, got about 2500 from the day so will update it during the week.

Thanks for looking

[andy-xr]

Well taken and I'm guessing there's a sigh of relief? They are looking quite dark though, I can tell from the composition that they're not your traditional wedding portraits, but might be worth a little play in Curves?

[crmcatee]

Nice but my only comment about them is it looks like the bride and groom aren't talking to each other.

Not one of them facing each other ?

[Simpo Two]

john185k said:

Here are a few shots I have edited, got about 2500 from the day

They do look a bit gloomy but style is a personal thing - last one is nice.

[Fordo]

I like them, - not your generic looking wedding photos- theyve got some real feel to them.

I like how contrasty they are, but as mentioned, might be worth a play to see if you can get the detail out of his suit?

may i ask what equipment you used?

[john185k]

Cheers for your feedback guys. I agree about the darkness, I will have a play with the shot this evening. As for them slightly being detached, they are the only shots out of the bunch really where they are looking away..

As for the equipment I used a 400d with a nifty fifty and a 1 d mk2 with a sigma 10-20mm

[beano500]

I am a big fan of your style, John. The second is my favourite, but they all have a good combination of the people and the setting. I suppose that fashions change and they may look a little dated dated in future, but you can never predict for certain!

I am sure that anyone else that likes your landscapes will love the treatment you've given these - and good on you, you're all brave people shooting weddings and events!

[Simpo Two]

You sure they're not divorce photos?



(Sorry! It's interesting to see landscape styles applied to people)

[john185k]

Lol. I'm sure I will get there... Good fun learning though!

[4hero]

Nice set John! I too agree about the darkness, still cool shots though How did you find the 1D?

[john185k]

Cheers Neil, I have lifted the lightness on them and the details are noticeably enhanced.

Loved using the 1D! Pity I have to give it back this week Gave me a taste of what i actually need (WANT!!)

Here is a snap of them, to show they actually like each other!

[andy-xr]

FWIW, see if you can add more colour as well, I know you have a style but that last one seems to struggle for a focal point to me, it's the backdrop taking over the photo.

The groom appears to have a stump for a right leg in a couple, and there's some rogue rockery and dock leaves creeping in

All IMVHO of course

[john185k]

Cheers andy

[Andy M]

Your landscape photography is some of the finest I've seen on this forum, but as has been said, the post-processing you apply to those type of shots may not necessarily be the best for wedding shots etc.

I'm not a fan of the saccharin-sweet ultra saturated shots many American photographers seem to love, but I do think these could do with more colour and possibly less contrast. The B&W's are great, but for the colour shots I'd open them up a little more and go for more of a vibrant look.

Did you do any reportage style shots?

[john185k]

Andy, cheers for taking the time to comment. I should have mentioned at the beginning, I have punchy colour versions of every shot also.

I will be supplying the couple between 700-800 shots, they can keep them all. I am a fan of the american style, which I suppose is portrayed on the shots I have posted. Here are another few

This is the first time I have ever used flash apart from taking shots of my car, and only my third ever time taking shots of people (which is a bit of a joke tbh) so I'm still 'honing' my style.

This one has a little too much saturation

[Fetchez la vache]

They look wonderful - I'd be chuffed to have those (not with someone else's wife, obviously)
I take it you also did the standard shots too? Only when we got the photos back from our wedding did we realise the photographer didn't take a shot of the wifes side of the family at all... ooops!

[bramley]

2,500 pics, how long were you there?

Wow - I overshot my last wedding (was a friend, and an all dayer) and came home with 1,400 pics. I generally take about a 1,000 these days.

So the pics, they're not bad at all. In fact I can think of worse from local photographers here. However, I think they're over-processed personally, and too dark. Also the other ones you've posted, I find over-saturated. Don't fall into the trap of letting the processing take over, or indeed 'making' the image i.e. if you stripped away the processing would it still be nice?

I too admire your landscapes John, I would just say you're overcooking these a bit

Do you make it clear to the B&G that this sort of processing is 'your thing' i.e. will they be expecting it? If they are, fine, and in fact I think it's a style that will sell, provided that's how you position yourself and what you do. My issue with heavy processing on wedding shots is that if you do it, you kinda have to do it to all of them, or the whole set won't gel together, and after a while it looks like it's all trying just a little too hard.

Probably not explaining myself very well lol. Anyhow, a very good effort for a first solo wedding

[bramley]

john185k said:

I will be supplying the couple between 700-800 shots

I'd suggest you cap it at 300. Seriously, 700-800 is a bad idea.

I aim for 250 ish, but no more than 300. Better to have 300 really good pics than stloads of iffy ones. You must be brutal when you edit your shots down John, trust me. For instance above you posted two similar shots of the B&G. You don't need both of those, just give them the best. From the B&G's perspective, I strongly believe they would find 700-800 shots a PITA to deal with.

When I started out I was pretty bad at editing down my pics, viewing each one as an opportunity to crop and process to make it useable, spotting the tiniest of redeeming features in the shot and wanting to keep it. I'm much better at that these days, and am more ruthless. If I take 5-10 frames of more or less the same shot, I'd only give them one of them, they don't need more than that, and it makes your final selection look even better.

Simpo etc - please back me up on this! John it's for the best!

You could probably put your shots together in a kind of time-lapse video, you must have taken one every 3 seconds

[Simpo Two]

bramley said:

Simpo etc - please back me up on this!

Well (as you ask) I supply all the images that pass my technical standards. The final number varies but a full day usually yields 400-500. That's because it seems a shame to throw away hundreds of perfectly good photos before the customer even gets to see them - and their likes may well be different from mine. So I say 'here, have them all, pick and choose as you wish'. I don't pretend that they're all worth framing - that would be unreasonable - but at least they have them and if there are some they don't use, it doesn't matter.

But we all do our stuff in different ways, and different people like different things. Compared to the old '30 prints for £850' etc, value for money has certainly rocketed in recent years.

[john185k]

Cheers again for the feedback guys, really helpful!!! The b&g did want processed pictures however I agree they are maybe a bit much.

300 it is. I got a bit carried away with the 1d's frames per second rate compared to my 400d. I believe the shots are goo enough to stand on their own without the processing... however I need to think outside what I necessarily want