First wedding nerves.

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BraindG

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Name
Barry
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Hi all,

On Sat just past I was coerced into taking photos at my wife’s cousins wedding, I agreed. Unfortunately I wasn't clear on exactly what I should be doing, i was told candid shots are the theme - Turns out they were expecting allot more from me! - I kept being referred to as "the" photographer and I was mentioned in speeches and given a gift, which has added a bit of pressure to delivering a decent set of images.

FYI, this isn’t my job and I only take photos as a hobby, mainly of family and friends/club cars – Also I only just got my 5D3, learning curve was very steep.

I've really been kicking myself the last couple days whilst doing PP on the photos, If I'd have know I’d would have been more forceful, got the shots I wanted and let them carry on – I would most likely have used my 50 fixed for the indoor photos

Anyways, the reason I’ve posted – A few questions if I may.

  • I’m having a huge confidence issue now, not all of the photos are “crystal clear”, they look ok when you aren’t zoomed in but when you do you can see it’s slightly OOF – Any suggestions on how I can deal with that on a personal level?
  • Any tips or suggestions on how to decide on a colour/theme? – I seem to have settled on 3, normal, lighted and b&w.
  • If you have an image which captures a special moment or a joke but it’s a little fuzzy, for example one of their arms moving and blurred – What do you do?
  • At the registry office I was told to stand at the wall, which meant I had windows on the other side of the couple to contend with – I did my best to expose correctly but in quite a lot of those shots it’s a little whishy washy, I can’t seem to get natural light on it. Suggestions what to do?

Ultimately I was ill prepared with regards to my role, moving forwards I won’t let that happen and will be a bit more vocal about wanting a shot, i.e. get people to pose :)

Picture examples, with notes

#1 Wishy Washy Exposure.
(wrong exposure, should have used spot metering, possibly ok in B&W? - I have a few key images like this.... :bonk: - I'd really want it to look like #2, but that ain't going to happen.. )


I DO - Mr & Mrs Lloyd - 29-09-2012 by braindg, on Flickr

#2 Blurry OOF.
(am I just being pedantic?)


I DO - Mr & Mrs Lloyd - 29-09-2012 by braindg, on Flickr

#3 Spot light on head!
(Off camera flash and LED Light down low facing up - not enough light here tbh)


I DO - Mr & Mrs Lloyd - 29-09-2012 by braindg, on Flickr

#4 Zoom out, crop at home.
(Really liked this but i cut of her bow.. )


I DO - Mr & Mrs Lloyd - 29-09-2012 by braindg, on Flickr

#5 Profile shot
(I liked this one, how to improve for next time?)


I DO - Mr & Mrs Lloyd - 29-09-2012 by braindg, on Flickr

I generally have the above issues throughout my photo's, tips on how to deal with the above will help me no end and I would appreciate any feedback both on a photographic level but also a personal physiological level as I am really nervous about presenting the images to the couple and family.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond,

Thanks
Barry

Few notes to self that I “learnt”, was a crash course of panic and chaos for me :P

  • I found it quite a challenge to change settings on camera in the changing light conditions, outside, on bus, in registry office, wedding reception and everything in between.
  • I should have used the nifty fifty indoors.
  • Get people to pose for a few seconds to captures shots, as well as the candid’s.
  • Take all photos further out, you can crop into a picture but not out!
  • I used off camera flash for the speeches, need to take special care that there’s nothing between the flash and the subject!
  • Don’t worry about getting in front of people for a few seconds whilst taking photos at either reception or speeches for example, I’ll only be in their way for a few seconds, the photos last a lifetime.
  • Make sure no-one has a spot light on their head when taking group photos!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Just a quick reply as I'm about to leave work and wont have time to answer in detail but...

I've seen friends of friends do pics as a favour and the results are always rubbish! Your's aren't... ok maybe a few slight technical issues and things I'd say you could do better with, but if the pics are a true example of the overall set then you did a pretty good job so stop beating yourself up!

Weddings are tricky and you have to be forceful but nice about it... I got good at this pretty quickly but the first time? I think I could have done a lot better at directing things!

With regards out of focus slightly... shallow DOF used by a wide aperture I'd imagine... not much I can advise other than nailing the focus in future and realising there's little room for error... oh and even then they'll probably move slightly just as you press the shutter and so even then you're screwed lol! As long as they aren't way out of focus I wouldn't worry too much. You could try sharpening in PP but if shot at a high ISO it'll add more noise so only do this at sub 800 ISO.

Erm ok I ran out of time... hope that helps :)
 
You'll be amazed how much you can get away with with the average person who isn't massively into photography. Most won't notice a very slight oof or a bit of movement blur. Just present what you have as well as you can and be done with it I'm assuming you didn't promise the earth and charge the moon and stars so by my rekoning they will have got more than they paid for and much much better than worst case scenario.
 
Got to say Brian, it looks like you've made a pretty decent stab of things if these are the ones you're not happy with!

#1 almost looks like a white balance issue to me. Have you tried playing around with the wb and maybe adding a touch of contrast? I'm guessing there was back lighting coming straight at the camera but I bet you can get it looking pretty good with a bit of tweakery.

#2 I think you are being pedantic. Yes, it's not technically perfect but it's still a great shot and highly presentable.

#3 Not a lot wrong that I can see

#4 Lovely, who cares if she's slightly cropped. You can't take it again and it's still a great image to my eyes.

#5 Another great one.

I think you need to be easier on yourself and give yourself a big pat on the back.

Here's something to cheer you up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2162695/Happy-memories-big-day-The-wedding-photos-been.html
 
Have to agree with most of the comments above. You are knocking yourself out for nothing. Are they perfect ? No, but they are not disastrous and Alex is right, they will be more than happy with them. If you were being paid a 4 figure sum for your days work that would be a different matter altogether because expectations would (and should) be higher.

Out of curiosity did you shoot in Jpeg and Raw ? If you did most of the exposure /colour balance issues can be fixed no problem and to a certain degree you can pull back an amazing amount of sharpness/noise correction in software Post Processing on the RAW files. As an example if you shot in Raw it would be quite a simple job to get No.1 looking similar to No.2
 
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