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Archive 2014 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding

  
 
JandALight
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


Hey everyone, just wanted to put up a set that I was able to piece together while helping out dhp_sf and his 2nd Scott Mosher at this San Francisco wedding. I ended up working with Scott at his own wedding a couple weeks later, and I've been really lucky that both of them have been really great mentors to me, even if it's just verbalizing their process. Luckily for me they go much further than that, and I learn a great deal every time I head out with them. I can't thank them enough. I'd carry bags/stands for them any day!

Since my last posts (here and here), I've tried to take the feedback from the forum and use it make a meaningful contribution to the primary. I have to say that on this day, I was having trouble getting in sync with the pre-ceremony stuff, and was struggling to get something useful during from the ceremony. During the reception, I got to throw up some lights, but mostly got in the way of the other two shooters, completely my mistakes. Had to take this as a lesson to just keep track of everyone's potential sight lines, locations, etc. Fairly certain I was not of much value this day. Still have a lot to learn.

I've been lucky enough to catch a couple 2nd shooting gigs this season, but I feel like I've got a lot of growing to do to not feel like I'm taking that I didn't earn or am not worth.

Comments and criticism on the capture/culling/edit/set are really appreciated. Would appreciate an eye towards qualities/tips on how to be more useful 2nd shooter in addition to the suggestions on how to improve in general.

1)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c554e4b06868dca99be3/1412023639829/_MG_3332.jpg

2)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c555e4b06868dca99be5/1412023639804/_MG_3381.jpg

3)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c557e4b06868dca99bea/1412023653113/_MG_3439.jpg

4)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c55ae4b06868dca99bf4/1412023660313/_MG_3464.jpg

5)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c55ce4b06868dca99bf8/1412023646734/_MG_3503.jpg

6)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c55ee4b06868dca99bfb/1412023649060/_MG_3539.jpg

7)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c56ae4b06868dca99c2f/1412023660704/_MG_3548.jpg

8)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c55fe4b06868dca99c0b/1412023660350/_MG_3580-1.jpg

9)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c561e4b06868dca99c0f/1412023651677/_MG_3624.jpg

10)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c565e4b06868dca99c1c/1412023656881/_MG_3925.jpg

11)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c567e4b06868dca99c1f/1412023658757/_MG_3936.jpg

12)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c56ae4b06868dca99c2a/1412023665082/_MG_3966.jpg

13)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c572e4b0f65675dddbd3/1412023671140/_MG_4008.jpg

14)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c56fe4b06868dca99c3b/1412023677622/_MG_4055.jpg

15)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c573e4b06868dca99c4d/1412023678974/_MG_4062.jpg

16)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c576e4b06868dca99c52/1412023672907/_MG_4072.jpg

17)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c576e4b06868dca99c50/1412023673181/_MG_4303.jpg

19)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c579e4b06868dca99c6a/1412023677021/_MG_4338.jpg

20)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c57ce4b06868dca99c79/1412023685079/_MG_4344.jpg

21)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c57ce4b06868dca99c77/1412023680874/_MG_4353.jpg

22)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c57fe4b06868dca99c7b/1412023701102/_MG_4374-1.jpg

23)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c580e4b06868dca99c80/1412023690710/_MG_4400.jpg

24)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c585e4b06868dca99c93/1412023687815/_MG_4426.jpg

25)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c586e4b06868dca99ca4/1412023689644/_MG_4433.jpg

26)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c58ae4b06868dca99cab/1412023694602/_MG_4518.jpg

27)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c58de4b06868dca99cbf/1412023701661/_MG_4572.jpg

28)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c58fe4b06868dca99cc4/1412023699790/_MG_4616.jpg

31)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429e968e4b0f65675de343e/1412032881009/_MG_4632.jpg

32)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5429c589e4b06868dca99ca7/1412023691103/_MG_4443.jpg

Thanks in advance, especially the people who made it this far down the post ;-).



Sep 29, 2014 at 07:15 PM
JakAHearts
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


Wow. I wish I were half as talented as you probably were 5 years ago. Not to say you havent worked hard at it.


Sep 29, 2014 at 08:30 PM
SloPhoto
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


umm, yes


Sep 29, 2014 at 08:42 PM
loosetrucks
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


SloPhoto wrote:
umm, yes


^^ This.

2, 9, and 14 are definitely up there for me. 9 especially.

Perhaps you could have cloned out the dust/debris in 4, but that's a minor nitpick. This may be a taste thing, but watch your framing (I'm guilty of this too :P), some subject elements are just barely cropped off -- for example 12. Might be more aesthetically pleasing if they were more intentionally cropped or given a tad more breathing room -- 9 is well executed IMO.

Overall, solid work, Joe. Your eye for candid expressions is good. Crazy good.

- Reggie




(And oh yeah, thanks again for the beer last week )



Sep 30, 2014 at 10:40 AM
JandALight
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


JakAHearts wrote:
Wow. I wish I were half as talented as you probably were 5 years ago. Not to say you havent worked hard at it.


Very kind words man, no offense taken at all. Thanks for looking, it means a ton of me because I feel that I've come a very long way over the past couple months while being active on this forum and meeting some of the people here.

---------------------------------------------

SloPhoto wrote:
umm, yes


Dude, thank you. Seriously. Hit me up if you need some some world class bag schleppin', I'd be happy to do it for you.

---------------------------------------------

loosetrucks wrote:
^^ This.

2, 9, and 14 are definitely up there for me. 9 especially.

Perhaps you could have cloned out the dust/debris in 4, but that's a minor nitpick. This may be a taste thing, but watch your framing (I'm guilty of this too :P), some subject elements are just barely cropped off -- for example 12. Might be more aesthetically pleasing if they were more intentionally cropped or given a tad more breathing room -- 9 is well executed IMO.

Overall, solid work, Joe. Your eye for candid expressions is good. Crazy good.

- Reggie

(And oh yeah, thanks again for the beer last
...Show more

Hey Reggie, no problem about that beer, just glad that you made a little time to come down and hang a bit. It was fun, we should do it again. I agree with #12, and I'm still wondering if he's worth including here, actually. I think that I just got charmed by his slight old man grin. I can probably build a whole gallery of shots just like #9 while assisting, so I'm glad that you think they're well done I've got a ton. Also, that light was kinda great and I'd have to try to mess that one up. Your work gives me all sorts of good feelings, so thank you very much for picking 'dem nits for me.



Sep 30, 2014 at 10:26 PM
hardlyboring
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


really nice progression for you!
keep it up!

My advice would be to keep the color processing and BW conversions as consistent as possible. I want to be able to see color consistency from set to set which I am not quite seeing yet.
Just look at Duy's sets as an example. They are very cohesive and you can easily recognize one of his shots.



Oct 01, 2014 at 12:05 AM
JandALight
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


Hardlyboring,
I'm with you with the consistency from set to set, mainly because I know that between the last set I posted and this one, I've changed things. Looking through this set again though, I would say that my b/w processing seems a little different from beginning to end; i could probably defend it by just saying that some shots had different contrast levels just from there being a lot of flare. The b/w shots before the reception look pretty consistent with eachother to me; I will concede the b/w of the groom dancing with his mother does have a different look.

Looking through this set, I probably did worse keeping the colors consistent though. The shot with the two ladies facing eachother has much warmer skin tones than the other shots I think. I should probably fix that.

Not sure if that's what you meant, but I found your criticism useful anyway, if for nothing more than getting me to look more closely.

Thanks!

-JT



Oct 02, 2014 at 05:32 PM
SloPhoto
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


hardlyboring wrote:
really nice progression for you!
keep it up!

My advice would be to keep the color processing and BW conversions as consistent as possible. I want to be able to see color consistency from set to set which I am not quite seeing yet.
Just look at Duy's sets as an example. They are very cohesive and you can easily recognize one of his shots.


I strongly disagree with this. If you are an established photographer and are trying to culture a branding and maintain customer expectations, sure.

He is not there yet! These are mostly assisting sets, and IMO each one keeps improving on his processing and feel, hopefully maturing to the point where he can stabilize. There is no reason for him to artificially cap his growth now.



Oct 02, 2014 at 06:46 PM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


For the most part this is really really good. I agree with Doug re: processing but I also agree with Joe. I think consistency in a given set is important, but I understand if you're still fine-tuning your processing and figuring out what you like, what works, etc. Also those house-spotlights were kind of rough color-wise.

You're much better at identifying potential moments and composing the subjects in the same in a way that makes more sense. You had a few misses though:

7) Well composed, and understandable. But there's not a single expression on anyone's face here that shows joy, tenderness or anything other than just a really tight moment of concentration. This is one where you could wait for a better moment or skip altogether. Don't blog this stuff just to show it.

11) Her tongue here is incredibly distracting and unflattering. She's probably just doing a quick licking of lips that sometimes people do when they are focused on something. Again, would definitely not show this--though the parents look great.

28) Lady on the left has a bad "in between" expression while talking and the lady on the right looks engaged, but not really expressive in anyway that we can connect.

If you cut those three, it would be a stronger set.



Oct 03, 2014 at 12:51 AM
slookx24
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


#14 is one of my favorite pictures that I've seen on here!


Oct 03, 2014 at 12:11 PM
JandALight
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


SloPhoto wrote:
I strongly disagree with this. If you are an established photographer and are trying to culture a branding and maintain customer expectations, sure.

He is not there yet! These are mostly assisting sets, and IMO each one keeps improving on his processing and feel, hopefully maturing to the point where he can stabilize. There is no reason for him to artificially cap his growth now.


Hey Joe, thanks for looking (again), and I'm glad that you understand where I'm coming from. Hardlyboring's criticism is valuable and are things that I will watch more closely going forward, but admit that things are changing very quickly for me since I'm so new to everything so your comments come into play there.
---------------------------------------------

dhp_sf wrote:
For the most part this is really really good. I agree with Doug re: processing but I also agree with Joe. I think consistency in a given set is important, but I understand if you're still fine-tuning your processing and figuring out what you like, what works, etc. Also those house-spotlights were kind of rough color-wise.

You're much better at identifying potential moments and composing the subjects in the same in a way that makes more sense. You had a few misses though:

7) Well composed, and understandable. But there's not a single expression on anyone's face here that shows joy, tenderness
...Show more

I can't put anything past you ;-). #7 during getting ready might actually be an intended cull that didn't happy somehow; I probably just forgot to remove that one from the folder where I staged these images for upload. Though, I have to admit I was probably tempted to put it in just because everyone was in nice light and I was able to get a decent composition. #28 of the two ladies, the thought did cross my mind that the lady on the left might not have had the best expression and that I shouldn't include it. I should have followed that instinct since looking back I don't think that it does anything really to tell the story of the day or document anything particularly joyful.

#11 I actually thing was intentional towards someone in the crowd or her bridesmaids and intentional. I thought it was a cool moment of some goofing around during what is a normally fairly buttoned-down part of the day. I thought it fit her personality well judging from the time we were around her.

That said, thanks for looking in, dude. Really appreciate the time taken to give an honest critique, and thanks for having me out that day ;-)
---------------------------------------------

slookx24 wrote:
#14 is one of my favorite pictures that I've seen on here!


Slook, that's really humbling praise dude, thank you so much!




Oct 06, 2014 at 12:13 AM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


JandALight wrote:
#11 I actually thing was intentional towards someone in the crowd or her bridesmaids and intentional. I thought it was a cool moment of some goofing around during what is a normally fairly buttoned-down part of the day. I thought it fit her personality well judging from the time we were around her.


If that's the case, then it may be fine as a deliverable, but when posting in a set you need context to frame the story. Otherwise it's easily misinterpreted as a mistake. A diptych with a reaction shot might accomplish this if it were impossible to show it all in one frame. But as an isolated expression, no one but the bride and whomever she's sticking her tongue out to would really know what's happening here.



Oct 06, 2014 at 01:02 AM
JandALight
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


dhp_sf wrote:
If that's the case, then it may be fine as a deliverable, but when posting in a set you need context to frame the story. Otherwise it's easily misinterpreted as a mistake. A diptych with a reaction shot might accomplish this if it were impossible to show it all in one frame. But as an isolated expression, no one but the bride and whomever she's sticking her tongue out to would really know what's happening here.


Yeah, I'd agree that without context it might just come off as odd. Will watch for those situations in the future when I choose to blog something like this. Thanks for the tip!

-JT




Oct 07, 2014 at 11:02 AM
CW100
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Assisting set from August, San Francisco Wedding


great job on assisting !



Oct 11, 2014 at 06:28 PM





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