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Wedding Thoughts

 

bulletThere was a 1/2 a roll shot where the flash didn't fire ... open both eyes when shooting please (and retrain your brain if your reflex is to not do this) so you can see this when it happens.
bulletIf you have a bright sky background (blue), and your subjects have their back to this background and are in the shade, crank up your flash all the way please, go to F 8 or 11 at a 60th minimum, so we don't lose the sky completely (if you don't understand this instruction please call me)
bulletMost of our B/W sample albums include lots and lots of smiling faces ... these are done as follows -
bulletWhenever you have people hanging out outside, put on the telephoto, turn off the flash, and shoot a roll at least of smiling faces (hold very still to avoid a roll of camera shake blur)
bulletDuring the formals, get 10 shots of people posing for formals from the side, and 10 - 15 of people watching and smiling
bulletDuring cocktails, 1 complete roll of bride / groom smiling, crying, hugging friends, showing ring ... 36 exposures of them please ... then another 36 of friends doing the same thing ... circulate through the room, quiet as a mouse, stealth is your allie, zoom in on the laughing face and fire!
bulletDuring course changes (between the salad & sorbet) shoot another 36 exposures of smiling laughing faces ... look for people leaning in towards each other and caring about each other ... again, stealth is your friend here but if they see you and smile go for it as well.
bulletWhen the b/g dance, again 20 exposures of their emotional faces dancing ... then a 10 - 20 of parents watching and crying ...
bulletColor & B/W ... a roll each please of crazy, sometimes crooked, always wide angle, rock & roll dancing.
bulletAlways, always, always a closing photo ... if nothing else, find the b/g together, set your camera at f 11, 7' @ 60th, have her take his arm facing away from you, have them look back at you cropped to their waist, and take two shots ... simple, do it anywhere, background doesn't matter ... but the last three weddings I no'ed had no ending shot :<(
 

Grains of truth in what was really a beautiful set of wedding photographs ...


Another Note:
The wedding looked pretty good ... there were some thing missing however that I'd like to go over with you when you get back.
 
bullet There was no real usable room overall of the room setup ... I'd like to show you how to do those better
bullet Some of the large groups were cropped too tight ... I know it's hard on the stairs at Cultural ... without the extra wide 35mm you have to move to the bottom of the stairs for the large group shots.
bullet Many of the cocktail candids were too tight ... give them more room from below the waist to just above the top of the head ... back up about 2 more feet.
bullet The dance candids were way too loose ... we need nice, posed, looking at the camera shots of all the main couples b/g, parents, b w/ dad, g w/ mom etc. ... and b/p couples ... then a few of the candids dancing but mostly "can I get a quick shot" photos with them dancing and looking at you.
bullet The b/w didn't really make sense as a book ... If we're going to shoot 5 rolls make them a cohesive story if possible.
 
Overall though nice ... the b/g by the windows are beautiful, and most on the stairs are nice, and lots of cute candids.  I will make arrangements to go over these with you from now on ... and make a point of getting them to you to see.