Camera Labs

hey all im back again
so i just did my second wedding and it was awesome it was my girlfriends brothers wedding
and me and the brides father were the photographers
i had my trusty Pentax k10d
and he had a Cannon d10 w/ 6mp

i dont wanna toot my own horn but my camera kicked ass
all he could do was brag about how great his camera was and was throwng out all these numbers on what it could do
but yet like i learned when i first got my camera , its not the camera who takes good photos its the photographer
so we uploaded all the photos to his laptop during the reception all his photos were either just EHHH ok or blurred out and he didnt try for any special angles
but it was awesome everyone was loving mine , i used my pentax AF-540 flash and wow so many great photos, and i utilized the pivot action of the camera bouncing the light off the ceiling (that had mirrors on it) and the walls (also with mirrors) giving really neat affects .
i was amazed at how much that tiny little bounce card helped in the photos
it was nigh and day .

now my 3rd wedding is in a few weeks i cant wait . im really starting to enjoy doing this . hel i dont care if i dont get paid . i have so much fun doing it .

if i can say one thing . get a secondary flash because in her fathers photos there where so many photos ruined in my opinion because of the flash from a window behind the person we were taking photos of. nothing worse than a great photo with a huge white spot off the window on the peoples shoulder.

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Live music is the best

www.myspace.com/death2man666
www.myspace.com/drillband

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9684309@N06/sets/

Hello and congrats, Drill-Lights!
You're starting to get used to doing wedding-photos. As the saying goes: Practice makes perfect.
Could you show at least some of the photos you took? I understand that this is a sensitive issue, but this forum would certainly love to see some of your shots

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Drill, great to hear from you - and that's cool you're having fun with the wedding photography. It can be stressful and a big responsibility, but if you get the hang of it, you can have some real fun! I'm really glad your equipment is working out too - that flash was a good investment, huh?

Gordon

yes indeed the flash makes or breaks a photo
so it was money very well spent for sure


here is a link to a photobucket page i made
i dont have most of the pictures , because i uploaded them to the brides fathers computer at the reception so all i have is rehersal and some of the reception

id love to here your feedback on it too

http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd297/death2man/

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Live music is the best

www.myspace.com/death2man666
www.myspace.com/drillband

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9684309@N06/sets/

awww i was hoping people would critic my photos or are they that bad ?

_________________
Live music is the best

www.myspace.com/death2man666
www.myspace.com/drillband

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9684309@N06/sets/

How come you kept the 3 blurry ones?

I think I'm a noise freak, noise bugs me hehe. I'm sorry nothing really stands out to me

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Nikon D80 | 18-135mm Kit Lens | 50mm f/1.8 | 4GB 150x Card | SB-600
http://flickr.com/photos/antmanisfubar

even though blurry they still captured the moment

i hated the blurriness too.

thanks for your honesty

_________________
Live music is the best

www.myspace.com/death2man666
www.myspace.com/drillband

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9684309@N06/sets/

Call me old fashioned, but I must say I prefer wedding albums (not that I've looked at many, just family ones really) but they all seem to have one thing in comon, lots and lots of portraits of the bride and groom, at various stages through out the day, and thats only the better ones, scaled down from probably hundreds!

Shots that fill the frame with a small depth of field are great, be them posed or candid!

Apparently thats the one thing to do if there is a pro there, take some of the more candid shots, and if possible chat with him/her to see if they would like to take a look at the photos and if they are nice (the pro, but the photos being good won't hurt either!), they might include them on the Album.

Anyway, there are a few that I like, namely:

http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd29 ... GP3082.jpg

and especially http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd29 ... hersal.jpg

I think that one really captures the preperation that goes into a wedding, more than just a few words and a legal document!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Was talking to my tutor a while ago about my Photography, he said what he use to do, is follow a proffesional photographer around, watch what he does, setup his tripod next to his etc. He said it's a really good way to learn if you want to get into it. Or even just general people photos

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Nikon D80 | 18-135mm Kit Lens | 50mm f/1.8 | 4GB 150x Card | SB-600
http://flickr.com/photos/antmanisfubar

I used this approach when taking pics at a friends wedding in Cornwall, UK a couple months ago. I stuck close to the pro photographer but kept a reasonable distance at all times. We chatted and discussed kit and his experience although he wasn't a native english speaker.

I had no place taking pics in the church during the service and let him do his thing with his fast primes as no flash was allowed.

During the styles couple shots etc. I stood close to him and quickly took pics of the same scene. I also allowed him to shoot first so my flash didn't annoy him too much.

When things got a little more relaxed later on, he asked me to take pics of him with friends (he was also a friend of the bridal couple) and he did the same for me.

When I ran out of memory and battery, he continued to shoot great slow-sync shots on the dance floor which I was envious of

The lessons I learned:
- be aware of your behaviour around a pro/designated photographer who has the pressure of recording the big day
- shoot in JPG instead of raw so I don't run out of memory

With DSLR's becoming more and more popular, pro photographers seem to have to tolerate guests and enthusiasts taking pics of the same scene.

i had alot more photos of the wedding and whatnot but during the reception i uploaded them to the brides fathers laptop
ill be getting a disk soon of them all and when i do ill add them to the photobucket page

_________________
Live music is the best

www.myspace.com/death2man666
www.myspace.com/drillband

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9684309@N06/sets/

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd29 ... 1192928905

This was one wonderful shot you made. Crop a little tighter to the subject and leaving out ladies at the back would be better.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/new2mac

Hi Drill-lights. I have no experience with this kind of photography, but here’s my 2c. As you said, some pictures are out of focus and blurry. It doesn’t appear that you are choosing the wrong shutter speeds or ISO to stop the action appropriately, but rather letting camera movement cause the blur, and focus problems are simply poor focusing. Of course, a tripod, and using higher ISOs, would help reduce the blur from camera movement. If there is an IS lens available for your Pentax, it might let you retain your candid approach, but I am not aware of one. I suspect that your auto focus don’t have time to adjust sometimes, especially since you are indoors using a flash. If you are shooting from one place, you might try pre-focusing on the action you intend to shoot, then your cameras ready to go – sports photographers do that a lot. One thing I’m noticing about pros, they always anticipate the shot before it occurs. Your lighting seems good given your equipment, however I would warm the WB in pp. Also you might try shooting from high an low positions to add a more artful look. You are catching people in natural unpretentious poses, which is a real plus to my thinking. Even your group shot seems genuine, not staged. And finally, that little girl is gorgeous – good capture.

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BrianS
D50, 70-300mm VR, 50mm f/1.8