Recent Outdoor Wedding

This is from a recent outdoor wedding that was taken in the foothills of The

Smokey Mountains.

 

http://home.comcast.net/~rayt435

Some random thoughts: Never shoot up on a plus-sized bride. It emphasizes her plus-ness. Don't have her look down as it increases her chin. Best to have her extend her neck and shoot from above. Avoid direct flash at all costs. Looks like you could have bounced from the tent(?) ceiling or sides. The groom is obviously adopted as he doesn't resemble anyone in his family :-) There are some color shifts in your outdoor shots. Not sure how you processed them but the skin tones should be the same in all the pics shot under the same lighting conditions (though it looks like you used fill flash on some) and they're not. On a couple of the formals, the people were cut off at the ankles and there was too much headroom-recompose. Watch amputating fingers too. It makes a bloody mess on the wedding dress. I love the shot of the poor little flower girl. I hope she had fun later.

 

Paul

There was no tent, the ceiling and walls were dark wood so bouncing was totally out. The posed shots were limited indoors because it was raining outside at that time and there was no way to shoot "from above". The images were not color balanced with the ones outdoors as the groom wanted to do all the post processing himself. The fingers cutoff were literally the result of space constraints. I was only a few feet from the bride. The room had three walls of mirrors and finding a spot without me in the picture was a challenge.

 

As for the position of some of the shots, well there are many times limits as to how you can take photographs in a cramped space the ceremony was in a cramped venue. As for the headroom I always leave more on top as that helps when putting the pictures in frames. Leaving less sometimes results in heads that are cutoff. I also take pictures from different perspectives knowing full well the images will be cropped later. I get enough to get what I needed and don't need feet in all the pictures. Loosing feet in a few does not bother me.

Raymond... what lighting did you use indoors... I liked the lighting in those first formals done indoors... did you use off camera flash?

Also, while I love the "spread out" look for bridal parties, it doesn't work as well with families. Just in my opinion... but I do applaud your attempt... I've yet to try it out.

The lights used indoors were just a couple of studio lights with umbrellas. Due to space restrictions the lights were about 30 degrees off center rather than the normal 40 to 45.

 

The spread out shot was done on a whim. We were waiting for the bride and groom and I just told people to stand where they wanted, however they wanted. First time I have done that and people actually like the result. I agree it does not work well for the families, but for the wedding participants it was better than I thought it would be.

 

The beauty of digital is that you can try something. If it does not work you have only wasted a little time.

 

Thanks for the comments and constructive criticism. All are duly noted.

A few people in the large groups got hidden or half cut off. Lighting seems good! Liked the reflection shot.