Wedding pictures\opinions

How are you focusing? Some of your shots look like they aren't focused on the bride and groom (such as the tree shot). You seem a bit too far away and are blurry. Do you have any shots of the bride during the ceremony? She is the most important. Trust me. The sky is overexposed in many of them. There are some good ones, but others need work!

Not bad though.
 
This is going to be my honest opinion.

You're trying too hard to be 'artsy' and get different shots. The main focus of the day are the bride and groom, not the hanging flowers, not the ferns, etc. Yeah it's nice to get detail shots of other things but it looks like that distracted you. There are times when you shoot stuff like that, and it's when the bride and groom aren't around. Or if you want to include those types of shots for the client, get a second shooter and let them do that kind of work. That's kind of what they are there for.

On the same idea, you need to focus better. I understand it's 'artsy' and whatever to use shallow DOF or not focus on anything in particular (ex: Tara Whitney) but it has to be done PERFECTLY and with 110% purpose, otherwise it looks like shit. There are a few pictures of the bride holding the bouquet, which is a traditional shot you should be getting, BUT nothing is in focus. Literally nothing. Like I said, use it with purpose otherwise it just looks like a fuck up. I feel like people think in portrait photography that everything has to be shot at 2.8. It's NOT TRUE! Haha. Please get out of that mindset.

Next you need to work on lighting. Bottom line is that they are all way too underexposed. Some by a few stops. Crank that ISO if you don't want to use an external flash. You should be using a flash in a lot of these, and you can bounce it so it looks natural. If you really really don't want to use flash, which is understandable, you should save some money to pick up a 5dmkII and 50 1.2. Then you can call yourself Jessica Claire and make bank! Just kidding, love you Jessica.

Biggest thing with lighting is lighting the bride and groom. THIS picture for instance,

tumblr_ltcoiucrIA1r55er8o1_500.jpg


I understand what you were going for being all far away and getting the surroundings, but you gotta light it properly. Also, the horizon is crooked but whatever that's another issue. If you were going for the silhouette look, okay you almost got it. But this is the ONLY picture you posted where the bride and groom are together and you can't see their faces. You need to have shots where you can see their faces, bottom line. In a situation like this you have some amazing lighting that can produce awesome results with minimal effort! Looks like late afternoon, you're getting some golden light, aww yeah, jizz in my pants. You need to back light them, and literally all you do is put their back to the sun and overexpose by say.. 2 stops, and you've got yourself some magic right there. Literally all you do is overexpose until you blow out the background but you have the perfect exposure for their faces. This is where 2.8 comes in handy!

Lastly, be aware of your surroundings. The brides pictures by herself look like she's in a high school parking lot. You have to go scouting locations before the actual wedding to get a feel for where you are going to shoot formals. Use WALLS! Unless you live in like socal and have the best outdoorsey looking locations, you should really utilize walls to your advantage. You can make the shittiest brick wall an amazing backdrop. And then that juxtaposition between the formal bride and the shitty wall, omg, art! People love that shit.

So yeah, check out a bunch of wedding photographers if you want to continue shooting weddings. Like follow their shit everyday. Take their lighting ideas, take their posing ideas. Literally steal certain poses and use it when you go out and shoot. Here are some for reference..

www.jessicaclaire.net

www.jasminestarblog.com

www.danodayphotoblog.com

jonathancanlasphotography.com/wedding.html

Use your friends for portrait practice. Wedding photography is some of the hardest photography out there, you only have one shot to make the shot so it better be perfect. There are no second go's. It's documentary, portraiture, fine art, editorial, all in one. Practice, location scout, and research as much as you can.

Disclaimer: You shoot awesome action photography and this is a totally different style so it's definitely going to be hard for you in the beginning. I didn't type this all out to be an asshole and tear you to shreds. If i posted my action 'photography' if I could even call it that, you could tear me a new asshole. Haha.
 
Alright.

First off thank you very much for giving your advice. This is the kind of feedback Im looking for because this is only my second wedding.

Now, As you seem to know. At a wedding you take around 2k pictures in a day. How many pictures are on my little webpage ? about 25 ? Yes, correct. That doesn't mean I don't have any traditional pictures .

Sometimes you want to criticize someones work, but you were not there. So its hard to know what really is there.

I wasn't trying too hard to be artsy. When you are bored and waiting on the bride to come down the isle because she just went to the bathroom, you take pictures of the surroundings. Its also a good time to take pictures of the groom.

When they contacted me, they were really specific about how they dont like to pause, that they understood that its a need for certain pictures but they wanted me to take more pictures.

The shot of the bouquet and the bride; I have around 40 shots of that same picture. Different focus. I just though that shot looked very cool. And I never asked her to pause during that time neither, she was simply fixing her bouquet.

I do own a 5d Mark II thanks for the heads up. And a 50 1.2 at a wedding is a really bad idea . You need a all around lens, or 2 cameras with 2 different lenses if not. Because you need to get upclose very often. The shot of the bride and groom coming in wasnt something that was planned. I didnt ask them to come in , so I would have time to put a flash in front of them. You dont have time to do that at a wedding. And if youve seen some of my previous work, I dont use flash that much except in studio shoot or commercial shooting.

The picture of the groom and the bride; This is simply a very cool picture out of 500 of the series I got of them . I have some with them light-up, some of them in shadow like this. I have shots of them a the right exposure and some of them underexposed with an exposed background. This was at 3 . Bright sunny, not the best light to work with I must say. Very harsh light and not my style. I like when its gray, its more natural .

Alright, now with that last comment you really think Im an idiot. Im a commercial photography graduate. I def scouted the area before going. Again, this is a snap shot photo. I didnt ask the bride to pause. She was receiving the from her family while I took this. You do your best with what you have. And I really dont think that this little brick outshines how beautiful she is. You see, this smile she has on her face, compared to those I have of her pausing where I wanted her to stand and what not is much nicer. Thats the beauty of snap shot pictures.

This is also a little website I made for my work.

I know about flash, I just dont think its natural to use it at a wedding, specially when its outdoors but everyone has got their own style. http://www.wix.com/gstphotography/photography#!works

I am def still very insecure about my style in weddings. I looked at a lot of work from other people . I guess its just a question of time. Its only my second wedding

 
ha, so defensive. You'll never make it in a career with any creative capacity if you don't get thicker skin. Everyone always has something to say, they don't want your opinion of their opinion, take it or leave it, don't argue.
 
I totally agree with you. I am being very defensive. But its natural to protect your work.

I still believe that there is some very nice shots in there and you when you criticize someones work and you know its harsh you should try and be a little more positive instead of telling them their work is just shit.
 
You should reread what I posted after you calm down. I pointed out blatant technical problems (or choices, as you put it) and gave you constructive criticisms along with solutions to fix it.

You asked for our opinions.
 
I am very calm.

I agree that I am very defensive about my work but that doesnt mean I didnt take the criticism into positive stuff that I need to correct.

1: I think I should use a flash for some of the couple pictures, You are rite.

2: The way I displayed my work on the website is probably not the best because a lot of people mentioned that they were missing some faces.

3: Dont go too crazy with the focus. I know I tend to do that because I just love what my 24-105 can do.

But like I said, these are choices you make as a photographer. Taking from photographers is sometimes good, sometimes bad, Just because its not your style.

Now its funny how you didnt like any of the pictures. I think theres some good ones in there.

 
I understand that you naturally feel defensive of your work (trust me, I have a terrible time accepting criticism), but Michelle actually posted a very respectful, insightful, and helpful critique in my opinion. I know it can be frustrating when it feels like somebody is almost talking down to you in their critique, but that's just what happens sometimes. Doesn't necessarily mean they think you're stupid and don't know what you're doing.

She also complimented your work!
 
that was right on the ball! solid response and got pretty much everything there needed to be said. you said it very well michelle!

and about the whole flash ordeal... like using it or not, you need a fucking flash for weddings. You may not like harsh light but when mother nature gives you bright afteernoon light, you better be equiped to work with it. I would be pissed as fuck if I hired someone, and my pictures have my face too dark or hard ass shadows because using a flash isnt her style.

Maybee you do have more solid pictures and thats fine, if you do... consider this a critic of your selections instead of your photography as a whole.
 
I am in no way a pro, or better at this than you, so just some things that I remarked on which you might improve.

- Lots of artsy fartsy shots compared to actual bride & groom shots.

- In some shots nothing is in focus.

- Maybe your lens needs some autofocus fine tuning, there seems to be a consistent front-focussing issue.

- You set an interesting mood with these pictures, but the mood is a bit creepy, not necessarily happy or joyous.

The biggest issue is the focus really. Some examples:

- The second and third photo have nothing in focus.

- The bouquet & the rings... the rings should really be in focus, not one of three flowers.

- The bouquet at the window... those flowers should be in focus.

- The stairs foto is not in focus.

- The little girl and the bride: nothing in focus again.

- Another bouquet and ring out of focus.

- There is a photo of the bride with the bouquet... beautiful colors... but nothing in focus.

I think there are a lot of good creative ideas in your photos though...
 
Don't ask for opinions if you can't take what someone says, ESPECIALLY if they do it extremely respectfully and insightfully
 
x2

If you are displaying your wedding photography on your website, you should probably have a majority of your stuff your traditional wedding shots. If someone is scouting your website without talking to you while looking for a photographer, they're not going to be thinking "well, this probably isn't her best stuff anyways".

Which is exactly what happened here. A portfolio should be your best work. There's no sense in hiding it from us and speculating that you have better stuff than you're displaying.

 
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