A few wedding shots for C&C

Ideo

Hey!

I took these of/for a friend the other day. They had an official photographer for the ceremoney but not the meal so I was asked to take a few photos of the day. Anyway here are a few that I'd appreciate some C&C on. I shot RAW so I have a fair bit of scope for PSing them so I'd appreciate what you have to say and I'll definitely take it all on board. So, go on, don't hold back!

deegs

looks like camera flash and center weighted metering. I guess the wedding couple got what they paid for. At least you can make them out! Would be nice if they were lit from some other light sources.

Borderfox

Stick them in black and white and fix the red eyes in the last one. They arent too bad, you could make something nice with some ps.

mathias

What did you use ,

you have some nasty shadows , flash must have been direct with no diffuser , was it on board flash ,

Ideally , a low light lens with no flash would be best , but thats expensive gear , failing that , an external flash , bounced instead of directly at the subject , with a diffuser , would have cut out the red eye and eliminated the shadows.

mikeanywhere

Well done for getting some shots that the main photographer didnt even with the odd little mishap or two.

However, its already been said, a little messing about in PS/Elements will work wanders!!

Ideo

Perhaps I should have mentioned they were all shot with a D50 and Kit lens, on board flash too!

Anyway I have a few ideas of what i want to do, like blur the background in numbers 3 and 4, reduce red eyes obviously, and i had converted 3 to black and white too so a step in teh right direction i guess.

I appreciate the constructive feedback borderfox and mike so thanks!

As for

deegs wrote: »

I guess the wedding couple got what they paid for

I didn't get paid! That was my friend getting married, and they had a pro who took many shots including 'mock' shots of the cake cutting so its no major loss if my shots aren't going to be framed!!

Anybody any specific advice? I was thinking bout cutting out a bit of top space in the first pic. What do you think? I guess, if these were your shots what exactly would you do to them in PS? If you have the time to answer that, then I would be really appreciative!

AnCatDubh

In general;

we all go through it - that darn shadow caused by direct flash/on camera flash. Previous posts re; diffuse / bounce are very worthwhile. This will also reduce some of the red eye issues - but obviously red eye isn't the end of the world - there can be great recoveries and corrected eyes which you wouldn't distinguish from natural eyes. Backgrounds aren't wonderful but to be fair they are candids rather than portrait poses so you hadn't control. As previously suggested B/W may work well for some shots as the sample you've provided haven't a great range of natural colour or contrast. Perhaps play with the levels in PS to see the impact. This in the future can be assisted by gaining control over the lighting situations you shoot in if possible.

Some specifics;

no 1 - great expression caught - yeah as you are thinking it already i'd get rid of the top space (does nothing for it) but also drop the bottom table space (also imho does very little). Perhaps try a square format crop but be careful - the left hand side is crop'd very tight already).

no 2 - i like the perspective of the take - its obviously a candid rather than a formal pose and you are not afraid to stand on the table to get the shot! bottom right is a little bright (darn flash again!)

no 3 - i like the capture generally but eek that direct flash flippin shadow caught you again. I'm not gone on his expression and crop is a little tight on right hand side (if cropped then you may be able to correct - if out of camera then you'd be stuck on this one). I don't know but put the call out here if anyone has a way to successfully deal with those shadows. Background is a bit dodgy however it was again a capture in the moment of things so you wouldn't have had time.

no 4 - a little sharpening and a little brightness. may not be the best vantage point for the shot. the guests in the mid right hand section are quite distracting.

no 5 - like number one; try a square crop perhaps... grrrrr at that darn shadow (me pet hate and i'm a long time sufferer of it too ;o)

hope the above is generally helpful to you - I'm not a photoshop user so no specific advice other than the above.

Cheers.

deegs

Ideo wrote: »

!
As for I didn't get paid! That was my friend getting married, and they had a pro who took many shots including 'mock' shots of the cake cutting so its no major loss if my shots aren't going to be framed!!

That was my point, no pressure. You have fine pics and no doubt your friend will be happy, i took practically the same shots at my sis wedding... but i knew no amount of PS was gonna make them great, better yes but great no.

Ideo

Thanks for taking the time to reply, AnCatDubh!