So, yesterday I shot my very first solo wedding that I secured. (I've shot a few others - a double booking for a friend, and another guy uses me to shoot for his company all the time - but this was my very first on my own.)
Anyway. Nightmare day - dark and cloudy outside. 1600 iso at 1/60th max for pretty much everything before the ceremony. Softness hell.
6400 iso and between 100/200th for the ceremony - the couple was literally standing - with their backs turned to me and the crowd - in a black trap. Black walls, floor, ceiling, & curtain - set back away from the sun in an otherwise well lit room. GAK.
The family formals I set up lighting for (thank goodness) but the majority of the b&g + bridal party shots took place in a timberframe b&b. Not terrible in itself - except that there was the constant worry about having something growing out of everyones head. The areas were small, and the lighting was spotty. It was cold and snowing, so no one wanted to do exterior location shots. Not that there was anywhere decent within 30 minutes anyway. The reflected color of the wood made for a really brutal white balance situation, the shadows are all yellowish and sick looking.
The reception. Pit of darkness. What else is new?? The b&g had all this fancy lighting setup for the dance portion - but didn't turn it on for the first dance. I did some drag shutter with flash stuff which worked ok... but the extra pop of light would have still been nice.
I was SO worried throughout the day that I was doing a really horrible job, that none of the pictures were going to work - none of the 'wow' moments I look for really happened. A huge dark cloud over my head all day - I was thinking "god, I'm a hack, I'm in over my head here....'. I was so paranoid. But I got home and looked at the shots, and the day went ok. The pictures are fine - the lighting isn't very nice, and the shots are grainy/noisey -- but overall, considering everything -- I think they're alright.
Whew! Thanks for hearing my rant.
Here are a few shots from the preparation, I'm not done editing yet.... while we're here, if anyone has anything to say about the shots (critique) I'm all ears.
Hey CArla,
I am also from Canada (N.B.), anyway My husband and I just did an outdoor engagement shoot. The snow was disgustingly brown and gross, direct sunlight creating nasty shadows and reflecting off of the snow, we were trudging through snow and falling through huge drifts, and to top it all off the groom wore a colombia jacket which just doesn't look classy regardless of posing or ps. Any way when we got home and took a look we still managed to capture their love, and the tighter crops actually looked really good. I totally can realte to your post!
And the photos look really great from what I can see!
I was reading through thinking oh great here come some seriously crap photos you have made a shopping list of excuses for.
wrong wrong wrong the ones you have showed here are really good!
Thanks! I'm pretty happy the situation was salvage-able.
Here is the ceremony. Most of the onstage stuff had to go to b&w. Too yucky to want to deal with... This is the part of the day I'm least happy with. I managed to sneak onstage to get their faces in the dark for a few shots. It also didn't help that they were 4 feet above grade. It was not possible to shoot the groomsmen due to the angle coupled with the stairs without being overly intrusive to the guests - I'm pretty sure I was in the limelight the whole time anyway. I kind of stopped caring... there was no way to get a picture without being at the front. Long story!
You remind me a lot of a guy I used to play tennis with .. all the way over in the car he'd be complaining about how rusty he was, and how much his knees hurt, etc., etc.
And then he'd whup my a$$.
Nice pics .. no need for the "nightmare day" preamble.
We all must feel that we are in over our heads at times when we cannot control the lighting or situations or the people to our best photographic advantage. That is why the consultation is so important. Build upon what you have learned and keep on keeping on. The more experiences that you have, the complexity finally gets figured out.
