Wedding Photos: Post-production

Yesterday I worked with my mentor, Frank Becker, to learn how to be artistic with my photos after basic color and balance corrections. We spent most of our time on two particular photos. When I originally took this photo of the flower girl, I was worried that the sunlight reflected off the wall behind her would be distracting, but when converted to B&W, the angles in this photo suddenly popped. I like the way the lines of the wall and the floor follow the girl's body, and the line of the wall opposite her helps frame her without boxing her in. When Frank first asked me if we should crop this photo and how, my gut reaction was to do a horizontal crop closing in on the flower girl, but we tested it and I could see how she would have been boxed in by that crop. With the vertical crop, I can see how the empty space in the top half of the photo adds a very artistic dimension and gives a better perspective on the subject.

You probably recognize this photo from my previous post. This one *really* taught me how effective cropping can be for achieving an artistic photo.I really like the kids in the background watching the couple through the clubhouse doors, but the original photo had cut them off at the neck, so we decided the photo would be better if cropped down to the couple. We adjusted contrast and added a subtle vignette. Frank also added a Glamour Glow filter (available from Nik Software, Inc.), which made it look a little more dreamy.

**All photos in this post shot for THE TIME Photography**

First Official Wedding Shoot

This year I am interning with The Time Photography in Lexington, KY. Our first wedding of the year was last Saturday, February 13. Here are a few of the photos that I took. I had a lot of fun, and I'm excited about the rest of the season!

I'm also still reading my manual. Just finished the shooting menu, and now I'm working on the custom settings menu. Lots of new stuff to learn! 

**All photos in this post shot for THE TIME Photography**

 

D9-12: Wedding Weekend

My little sister's wedding was last Friday (yay!), so it was a crazy fun weekend full of family time and excitement! We stayed in a hotel that charged $10/day for wifi, so I had to pass on blogging during those few days of vacation. I took a LOT of pictures last weekend, so I wanted to post a few here and see what everyone thinks. My sister didn't have a photographer during most of the time we spent at the salon, so I took pictures with my own camera.

 

My new brother-in-law let me borrow his SB-28 speedlight and his 50mm/1.8 lens. I had fun with both of these during makeup time.

This is backtracking a bit, but I also took pictures during the rehearsal dinner. I realize these two photos are not artistically striking at all, but there is more to learn about photography than how to be creative...and Thursday night I learned that I am capable of successfully directing a 5-year-old to pose for me. (It helped that she loved the camera!)

Manual. Still reading my playback menu.

Images. Various.

Note. This photo challenge is fun and extremely beneficial, but it is also VERY time-consuming. I know that the more I practice the better I can become, and I will continue to practice every day. For right now, though, while I still have a full-time job and a husband of 6 months, I can't promise I'll be able to post every day. I'll post as often as I can, and I will try to make every post worth the time that you take to read it. Thanks for the follows! I'll announce new posts on FaceBook and Twitter.

D8: A Night Downtown

 

Post for February 3. It's after midnight... again.

Tonight we took my sister downtown for her bachelorette party. We went to Sambuca Restaurant and listened to an awesome live band while we had a fantastic dinner! I really enjoyed taking pictures of the band, and our table was at a decent distance for me to use the 50mm/1.8 that my sister's fiancé let me borrow (as well as a speedlight--huge difference from my little on-camera flash). I took several pics, but this one was my favorite.

Photo Specs. 50mm, 1/100s, f/2, ISO 1000. Post: just a slight crop, otherwise it's straight from the camera.

Manual. Page 162: The Playback Menu.

Images. Checked out new pics posted on the ImageMelt Facebook group. 

I did grab a chair closer to the band for a few minutes before we left. I would have liked to get some different angles and move around the stage more, but I was trying to keep the focus on my bride-to-be little sis. :)  Here are a couple of extra shots.

 

 

D7: Happy Birthday, Mom!

Post for February 2. It's after midnight.

Today is my mom's birthday, so we celebrated by making strawberry shortcake. I tried several different shots tonight and finally settled on a close-up of the strawberries. This is another food photography angle that I enjoy. These strawberries tasted as delicious as they look in the photo!

As I said, I tried a number of different shots tonight, but wasn't satisfied that I had made a good picture until I got this one. I suppose it's both a good and bad thing: I continue to shoot because I know I can do better, but I spend much of that time frustrated with myself for taking so long to get a good shot. Guess the good shots will come faster with practice.

Photo Specs. 105mm, 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 400. All post done in camera during RAW processing: WB correction, slightly increased exposure.

Manual. Page 161: The Playback Menu, continued. Selecting pictures by date.


Images. Checked out food photos from Smitten Kitchen. I need a longer lens.

D6: I Heart Coffee

 

Today's shot came from an idea I had a few days ago. It has been a challenge for me to find things around my house to make into interesting photos. I think it's just because I see everything all the time, and I never think about how it might be viewed as artistic or worth photographing. These espresso cups were a wedding gift from a couple of our friends, and I've thought they were gorgeous since we opened them, so I decided to try a new improvised white seamless background tonight--a pillowcase... except the pillowcase isn't 100% white, it's more of an off-white or cream color, but I like the effect it has in this photo. It warms it up just a little bit, and makes the shot look less like straight product photography. I corrected the tint in post so that it wouldn't look too yellow, but still not stark white. I also set up the shot on the couch, so the surface is a little too cushioned to look flat, but I think that--like the off-white background--makes it look a little more cozy.

Photo Specs. 62mm, 1/80s, f/5.3, ISO 3200. Post: WB correction; slightly increased exposure, brightness, and contrast.

Manual. Page 160: The Playback Menu, Managing Images. There are a lot of menus and menu options that I don't know much about, so today I'm starting on the manual section that explains what my menus/options are and what they do.

Images. Checked out flickr photos by Joe Wigfall, an AMAZING street photographer in NYC. His shots are overflowing with the emotions of the people around him wherever he is shooting. I especially like his photos from Guwhati, India. Find out more about Joe Wigfall and see his interview at F-Stop Beyond. I think I'll try shooting from the hip next time I'm downtown. I know these images are totally unrelated to my image for today, but I read about Joe on Tasra Dawson's 365 post and couldn't resist checking it out.