No... that image is not an error. I'm just showing an example of my normal subjects these days. I used to do a lot of different stuff. Plenty of stage photography, to name but one thing. Sometimes I was a 2nd shooter at a wedding too. But I did less than 10 weddings. Now, three years down the line, I'm 100% into wildlife photography, run my own safari business, and am about to start on the construction of a lodge. I know. I can hardly believe it myself.
Anyway, I came back here asking for advice on shooting the wedding of my niece. You may remember the thread about a month back. Both her and her hubby are coppers.
So I thought it's only fair that I post the results here.
A bit more info; we had 1,5 hours to take these shots with the old police car. Their house is on the countryside in Belgium, which basically looks like the suburbs of any city you know. Not the best setting to get good results with the car. Plus, our roads here are rather busy as well. So we looked for a more industrial setting, and this dead-end street in the nearest city is the best we could come up with. We lost half an hour to get there and back. Which means all pics below (and more) were taken in one hour.
Yep, sharp and colorful and they seem to capture personality quite nicely. In an ideal world they might have a little different facial expressions in a few (a more bonnie/clyde type feel in the one with guns, for example), but, they'll definitely be happy.
They're ok. I think you would have been well served to find a location with better light or use the existing light a little better. The lighting is really tough in all of those shots... which is really taking away from all of the images.
othfilm wrote:
Yep, sharp and colorful and they seem to capture personality quite nicely. In an ideal world they might have a little different facial expressions in a few (a more bonnie/clyde type feel in the one with guns, for example), but, they'll definitely be happy.
Well, we took some shots with "serious" faces but imho they're not that wedding-like. Still, I finished those as well, so they can pick those for their album if they want.
Inku Yo wrote:
The lighting is really tough in all of those shots... which is really taking away from all of the images.
I agree. If there's ONE thing I don't like it's the light. But I had really zero options. The shoot needed to be from 13h15 to 14h15, so really when the sun is at it's highest. It was a very hot and sunny day, and we had nowhere else to go.
I like the one where she is fixing the car and he is sitting frustrated on the ground. In most cases, though not all, I think your use of a white-and-black theme (their outfits and the police car) works. I would do a bit more in post, even if you couldn't fix the light at the time (ie. second to last photo) bring up the shadows a bit so you don't get those dark circles around the eyes that are common in that type of light.
1) but would be stronger as a story (not mixed funny poses with story poses), keep in mind that couples will publish what you give them so degrading your idea and work.
2) leave that auto mode on the camera. aperture, shutter speed and light are another creative tools which can affect your story telling, not only content. It might be good and safe on shooting wildlife (story is already strong enough there), but not for something we are (almost) able to see every day.
3) add on to #2. Daylight shots are most common because they are easiest. It would be more powerful if shot in more appropriate setup (night in this case?).
Remember that art is same as love: you see every small effort magnified 10 times in the result.
Not exactly my style preference but you did a good job, and if they were my style preference I'd likely think you did a great job. That light is HARSH harsh harsh and you managed it well. The only two I really don't care for at all are the last two (next to last emphasizes the dark "racoon" eyes from the harsh light and the very last shot isn't to the same level of color/contrast/processing as the rest of the set to my eyes).
