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Archive 2012 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.

  
 
JoeMelzer
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


I have the most respect for you amazing guys here, therefore long hesitated to post images because you're all sooo good. So, world premiere, my first wedding on fredmiranda. Be gentle, but - please - give me some good and honest critique if you must!

That being said, I wanna share a wedding whith you shot this saturday. This sweet and fun couple picked one of the hotter days in August when heat was all over. Thus the title. They met in a park before the wedding and saw themselves for the first time, had their wedding and party in a different location. I left after the speeches so no party pics. Anyway, it was so darn hot, the groom mentioned to me that most probably there would be no dancing 'cause et was so darn hot. So, here we go:

1.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt01.jpg

2.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt02.jpg

3.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt03.jpg

4.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt04.jpg

5.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt05.jpg

6.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt06.jpg

7.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt08.jpg

8.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt09.jpg

9.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt10.jpg

10.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt11.jpg

11.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt12.jpg

12.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt13.jpg

13.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt14.jpg

14.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt15.jpg

15.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt16.jpg

16.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt17.jpg

17.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt18.jpg

18.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt19.jpg

19,
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt20.jpg

20.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt21.jpg

21.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt22.jpg

22.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt23.jpg

23.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt24.jpg

24.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt25.jpg

25.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt26.jpg

26.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt27.jpg

27.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt28.jpg

28.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt29.jpg

29.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt30.jpg

30.
http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt31.jpg



Aug 21, 2012 at 05:02 PM
Jon-Mark
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Love that last ring shot. Overall a very strong first wedding. My critiques would be that many of the images seem overexposed, and I think there is a bit too much contrast, it can be a little tiring on the eyes.


Aug 21, 2012 at 05:46 PM
Ghost
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Great moments. But a few of images seem to have blown the exposure to kingdom come.


Aug 21, 2012 at 06:14 PM
MK3Brent
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Your blinkies must have had a field day.

I really love this one:
lt28.jpg

Fun expression.



Aug 21, 2012 at 06:30 PM
david1234
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Good set, just a little to much contrast/blacks!


Aug 21, 2012 at 06:57 PM
Ziffl3
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Like the work.... agree with other...

this depends on the situation... on #21 watch the entire screen - background clutter.

Really like #2....



Aug 21, 2012 at 06:58 PM
mccallmedia
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Not bad for a first set at all. Like others said, overexposure and too much contrast are probably your biggest issues, especially with the b&w's it seems. Everyone has their own shooting style/technique but I usually expose for the highlights in conditions like this and bring the shadows up in the raw files in lightroom to help even out the exposure. If you blow highlights there's not much of a chance of recovering them. I especially try not to blow out the wedding dress.

I really like the last ring shot. Again, this is a style thing, but I might suggest trying to grab a few more details besides just the rings. Maybe you did and just didn't post them. I personally try to grab shots of shoes, jewelry, closeups of wedding dress, cufflinks, bowties, centerpieces, other decorations. The details help break up the photos and I think are good to document since couples spend so much time and money on the details for their wedding.

A couple little things I noticed:

21 could be killer but the background is distracting. I would have either a) got a much tighter shot - like head and shoulders only to eliminate the distracting elements, or b) chose a different spot.

The light in 25 is too cold it seems on the left. If you shoot raw and use lightroom 4 they added white balance to the brush tool which works great for mixed lighting situations like this. I would warm the whole picture and brush that sliver on the right with a cooler WB to even it out some.

Kudos to having the courage to post on here. I agree -- most of the work on here is seriously pretty impressive. I'm still fairly new to this but the more you shoot the more you will improve. I just looked back on my first wedding I ever shot for a friend and it was pretty painful. I've since shot a little over 20 weddings and just over that time I've made huge improvements.



Aug 21, 2012 at 07:12 PM
BGP1
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


For me, to many over exposed, to much "clarity" and "vibrance" slider. #4 could be a great image if my eye was drawn to the couple rather than the super bright trees in the background. #19 is the best image in the whole set IMO.

B



Aug 21, 2012 at 07:59 PM
JoeMelzer
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Thanks everyone for the comments And since everyone mentioned the overexposure / high contrast thing: I went through a long process deciding what I'd like to be "my style". Tadaa, this it is. I allways knew I wanted my b&w to have a high contrast look, sometimes blowing out highlights and loosing shadow definition. Only in color images I was not so sure. Went through all presets there are, pretty presetheaven, vsco... When flipping through older series of mine (yes, actually it was not my first wedding, I've had a few) I had the feeling that many of the images I processed to have on vintage/aged/film-like look just were too processed and "not me". So in the last few weeks I came to the conclusion that I want my color wedding images to literally burst with color, possibly raise contrast and overexpose them a tad here and there.

I know this is a different approach but hope to have found my approach. Anyway, since everyone mentioned it, perhaps I take back some overexposure here and there. Or in the future. Not sure of that yet.

@Jon-Mark: Thank you and I think I might get your point on high contrast being tiring to the eye. Makes me rethink ... again

@Brent: Could you explain the first sentence? Sounds fun but I don't get it.

@Mark: 21, thank you and yes. I was tired yesterday evening but you're so right! I think I redo this shot and repost it!

@Mike: thank you for the long and detailed post. You're right with the details. I never get enough of them and there was so much stuff going on that I simply forgot. I took a few, though but not nearly enough. Good advise! White Balance in 25, yes I know. In fact I had a tough time with all those indoor shots. Sunset lighting from the entrance, shadow light from the windows, artificial room light. I gave up a few times, even shot a color checker only to notice that a correct white balance does not neccessarily look correct.

@Brian: I might try to take back the background brightness, but again I like it. And thanks for #19



Aug 22, 2012 at 02:01 AM
WNStudio
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Like the set overall. I know how it is to be working in hot conditions, and it's been crazy hot here lately. Overexposed pics don't bother me that much here. Last ring shot is just awesome. Keep on posting


Aug 22, 2012 at 02:16 AM
MK3Brent
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


JoeMelzer wrote:
@Brent: Could you explain the first sentence? Sounds fun but I don't get it.


When enabled, some DSLR's will prompt your histogram and flash the highlights of your photograph. Affectionately called "blinkies."

http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/8643

http://youtu.be/W5-J6W5OTec

tschüss,




Aug 22, 2012 at 07:41 AM
JoeMelzer
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Ah. Blinkies. No wonder I didn't find that in the dictionary
And noe, they weren't. In fact, I fired them a long time ago



Aug 22, 2012 at 09:36 AM
maxwell1295
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Good stuff, Joe.

The only one that really jumped out at me as being overly hot was 26. Then again, I tend to like err on the hot side. If this is your style then screw what everyone says and stick to doing what you like.

What I really want to know is how Koln is going to replace Podolski?




Aug 22, 2012 at 09:43 AM
JoeMelzer
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


Here we go, two edits. First is the sunflared kiss without background clutter:

http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt22b.jpg

Second is for everyone on the examplary pic 26 Alan mentioned. Turned exposure down a bit. For me it's okay but lost it's feel. I dig the overexposed shot(s). But what's your opinion? Better? Worse? Am I a a freak lost in overexposure?

http://www.joe-melzer.de/stuff/lt27a.jpg

@Alan: that is easy. After a few years in London, winning everything there is to win, he is homesick again. Comes back to cologne. Until then, wish 'em luck



Aug 22, 2012 at 12:06 PM
maxwell1295
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Sweat baby, sweat - a 30pic wedding short story.


The sunflare shot looks a lot better to my eye. I wouldn't be afraid to bring the exposure up even more. The sky is already blown so you wouldn't be losing anything there.

For the shot I meantioned earlier (26) somewhere between this and your original would probably work for you. Bottom line is you have to do what works for you and for your clients.



Aug 22, 2012 at 12:10 PM





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