Solid solid solid Candice. I love the variation of locations and lighting. The detail shots are great too!
To follow up on Chuck's post, the only teeny tiny nitpick I have is with the backlit group shots. The pocket of light is very focused covering only certain members of each group. This could have been intentional, but if it wasn't I'd have brought them further away from the building where the light may have spread out a bit. That's a crazy nitpick, but I figured I'd try to find something I could say. The work is really wonderful =)
It wasn't intentional, but in hindsight I realized I should've made it intentional since I couldn't back up any further (I was IN the trees). The other option was to go wider, but I think you and I are probably on the same page about that. Haha!
Just want to say I am VERY glad I saw this thread and checked it out. Absolutely fantastic set from start to finish, tells a great story of the day. They will be THRILLED with this set. Well done.
The spot light photo with the chellist / violinist (forget the #) caught my eye.
Also, "negative contrast" shots like your beach photos at twilight (bright background, dark faces) drive me crazy. I'm always searching for "positive contrast" shots (dark background, light faces). Do you overexpose and recover, or shoot at the metered setting (which would really be underexposed, I think)? Generally, in those kinds of scenes, if I expose for the face, it means totally blowing out the background. Maybe the twilight light is softer or less contrasty there..
Ian, I knew the bride would probably love that shot The next day, that groom sobbed hysterically so I almost forgot about this one. haha
Andrew... I expose for the face in these. Usually over by a stop-ish and then bump it up a little more in post. I should post an unedited example. It's a timing thing as those beach shots have to be done in like a 5-8 minute span *after* sunset. 5 minutes too early or too late and it's worthless. Some photographers around here just haven't figured that out yet. It's a ridiculously soft light with a natural fill coming in from the white ground
Ok, here's a file straight out of the camera. Of course at this time of day, it's practically blue outside, so I just warm it up in post instead of trying to fight the slipping color temp every two seconds.
and then, if I'm losing time to shoot that direction, I'll flip it around and do like super sloppy, quick and dirty off camera flash. lol you can see how long gone the sun is here. I almost always include a few of these, just 'cause it never fails the client wants to know why I didn't shoot with the sunset behind them, sigh. so I take them, but in my own style (light touch of flash) and don't show them very often. http://candicekphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/williams-5603.jpg
Thanks Candice for the examples! Totally forgot about the white sand that is prevalent in Pensacola / panama city etc. Those immediate twilight shots are hopeless without a flash around here (which I was reminded of at one of my recent senior portrait sessions.. so I did a silhouette)- no white sand for fill.
That alleyway is your friend, white walls and dirt and all