My first wedding session

[xtriky]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt in shooting a wedding. I did it for my friend and for myself

Gear:
Pentax K10D + DA* 16-50mm + Sunpak 422D

Please give me some comments. I am on a learning curve. Thanks

[jshurak]

awesome! great job for your first wedding! the typical problems like lighting aren't there and the couple poses look so natural. excellent technical use of that sunpak! I'd say you're well on your way for many many successful wedding sessions!

[Fritzvds]

Nice work.
For a first wedding u did really well.
The fact that the people look natural in there posing is smportant in wedding portraits, IMO.

[LaRee]

You'd sure never know by looking at the images that this is your first wedding shoot. Well done!

[SouthShoreRob]

Great stuff. What book making program or service did you use to put it all together? I particularly liked the underlay photo (low opacity) with the concrete photos (full and clear) layered on top. Well done!

[xtriky]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I hope I did not ruin my friend's wedding

I think I need some more practice with flash photography. In some situations when the couple stood very close to the wall (say 1-2 ft) I got shadows even bouncing the flash off the ceiling. Is there any idea how to eliminate this?

For the layout, I started with Yervant Page Gallery but was not very happy with it. So I just exported the layout from YPG to PSD format and fine-tuned in PhotoShop for my taste.

[sawtooth235]

xtriky,

I use a small white reflector on a light stand.

Ray

[Ash]

Hi xtricky,
Well done!
You've captured the moments well, vivid colours and nicely cropped images.
I like the spontaneity in the shots and the way you've arranged them gives them added flare.
Nice presentation - I'm sure your friends will be very happy with your work.

[axl]

Job well done,
they are nice shots...

[Peter Zack]

Excellent series. I like the work you did here and it looks far better than a first try at doing a wedding. Very well done.

[LeroyPK]

Having just shot my first "tag-along" wedding last weekend, I will agree with all of the other positive comments post. The poses are natural, well lit, and very artistically composed.

As far as the close shots and flash, the comment about the reflector is a good one. I'm not familiar with the Sunpack so this may or may not be a good comment to make, but you may want to hand hold the flash an arm's length up and away from your body and direct the flash that way. It may help.

Now on the other side. I'm going to guess that you've already edited out all of the scum and just shown us the diamonds. They are super. Don't get me wrong on that. I'm going to be going to a "debriefing" going over all of my shots, including the really bad ones. I suspect the critique of those will be the real learning experience for me.

I'll respectfully suggest you post some of those bad ones, especially the ones that you don't like but don't know how to fix.

I wish I could have done as well in my first shoot, though. Bravo!

[xtriky]

@LeroyPK: Thank you very much for your idea.
@All: I post an example about the flash problem I mentioned early. Hope that I can learn a lot more from you guys. Thank you all

I just use the flash on camera hot-shoe and bounce it off the ceiling in auto-thyristor or manual mode. The Sunpak does not have wireless capability unless you buy an optical slave or radio trigger for it.

[LeroyPK]

While not as high quality as your previous ones, this one isn't terrible. It isn't as natural. (The groom looks a bit in pain, in fact!) The shadows behind could be softened by getting the flash off of the camera a bit more.

You mention the lack of wireless capability. How about a cord? I use a Promaster hotshoe cord on a flash bracket and then hand hold when necessary with my 540 Pentax flash.

[xtriky]

Leroy. Thank you very much for your advice. I will definitely need to improve my flash photography skills. Off camera flash should be very useful in situations like this.