I was asked by a friend to shoot his wedding as a favor at the last minute. I didn't have a chance to meet with the bride and groom prior to the wedding. On top of that when we were doing the formals they were rushing me in order to get into the hall for the reception. I did my best and only missed one or two shots.
Good job! What time of the day was the second shot taken? If that was taken during the daytime, your ambient to flash balance is off. If not, pretty good.
During H.S. I shot as a 2d photographer with a 35mm in order to go where the yashica twin lens camera could not. I maybe shot 4-6 weddings. This was 1983 - 1987 time frame.
One thing that I would say is take more time posing people for the formal shots. I realize that you didn't have that kind of time here, but in the future it takes a so-so formal shot into a great formal shot. For instance- have all the men have their hands in the same position and be tilted about the same amount of degrees to the camera, and then have the bridesmaids and matron of honor all be tilted the same and have their bouquets in the same position. When I started out I didn't watch all this because I was basically so nervous during formals, and then when I'd look back on them I'd be dissapointed. It all comes with experience.
I agree with the lizzphoto on the posing. I'm still working on it myself but find that knowing ahead of time what you want to do ( I get inspiration by looking at other work before every wedding) and then focusing on the details, hand placement and things like that really show in the end. But to be honest, posed shots are never fun for me anyway. I like capturing real life more.
I'm also a bit of a contrast lover so for me the 2nd and 3rd image are a bit flat. I'd say boost up the contrast a bit on them and possibly vignette a bit on 3. Also on the ring shot I love the color, but I wonder what a black and white with strong vignetting would look like. Kind of making the rings pop even more the the eye. Great first wedding!!!
My thoughts are that (at least on my monitor here at work ) the whites and some skin tones are looking a decent amount blown out. Also I think some kind of diffuser on the flash would soften the light a little. It looks like direct flash was used. For the group shots, that is not an option since you need all of the light you can get, but for closer-up shots that you can't bounce - diffuse somehow.
One thing that I find useful when shooting is to look at the blinking highlights when chimping, but change the highlights to the Red Channel. You will be surprised how much more is blown out than what shows on the RGB composite channel.
For the black & white shot, re-open it in PS and in levels, move the black slider to the right until it has better contrast.
Look all the Guys have to go pee, you get the point I agree with the advice above. Spend some quality time with the poses and it will turn out a whole lot better.
) the whites and some skin tones are looking a decent amount blown out. Also I think some kind of diffuser on the flash would soften the light a little. It looks like direct flash was used. For the group shots, that is not an option since you need all of the light you can get, but for closer-up shots that you can't bounce - diffuse somehow.