bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Photos will be coming. I just got them downloaded last night at about 10:00 (my bedtime) onto my main computer.

Location was about 1.5 hours from my house. Reception started at 3:00. Set it up with B&G that I'd be there at 1:00 to give me time to set up the photo booth, and give me an hour to shoot some of the couple before the crowd showed up.

Brought the photo booth "team" (wife and daughter) with me. There was no place to set up the photo booth, the hall was unlocked, but no manager, no people at all to be seen. I called the bride's cell phone, and heard it ringing. (she'd left it in a corner)

1:30, guests started showing up (it started at 3:00!) Still waiting for B&G. At 2:15 they show up. I asked if they knew where they wanted the photo booth set up. They changed their mind, and said that they weren't going to do the photo booth. I pay my wife and daughter from the money the photo booth brings in, so no pay for them! Thankfully, they are both easy going, and saw an opportunity to dance, drink, and eat the afternoon away....so they did. :-)

Bride and groom both insist on taking the photos in the bright sun. I suggested the shade of the pavilion, but of course, they want the "beautiful day" captured. I did a few squinty, awful photos. Even though I didn't over expose, her extremely white skin looked horrible in those photos. At least I finally talked them into the pavilion, those turned out fairly good (from what I saw on download) I think I have some usable ones from there.

I have to admit, it is tough when you know the couple so well, that they feel comfortable telling me what will work. That being said, as I look back and reflect on the day, with it's "challenges" I have to say that I still LOVE THIS STUFF, and am SO glad that I'm back in the saddle.

I do think that I could have done much better, and normally would have, but after being off for a while, I was a little more nervous about settings, etc, and did dumb things like forget to change my ISO (at first) when moving from a dark train station/reception hall, to outside on a cloudless day.

I even got to take a few "railroad track" photos. (the train tracks/ station are decommissioned. I was still a little leery, but Jason, the groom, actually works for the railroad, and had the ID stuff to get us out of trouble. The only thing I insisted on was that they would NOT allow the kids to play on the decommissioned tracks, because I didn't want them to think it was OK to do it on ALL RR tracks.

Anyway, hopefully have a few posted tomorrow.
bk

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Nice write up. Looking forward to the images!!!
pat

superpijak Loc: Middle TN

Looking forward to seeing them. :-)

gym Loc: Athens, Georgia

Glad to see that you're back in the game. You mentioned a common misperception that people have about 'best places to take their photos - BRIGHT SUN. I did a couple shoot a while back. They wanted it outside so I told them that the best time would be early morning or late afternoon. Of course, they chose 12 noon.

I'm CERTAIN your pics turned out better than mine. :>)

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Well, just tried twice to upload some of the worst shots done in full sun. Got an error message. Will try again this afternoon. Uploading may be blocked on this (my work) computer.

superpijak Loc: Middle TN

Did I mention I am a railroad fan ?

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

OK, uploading from my phone (I hope) but I can't type on that d-mn thing, so I'll explain here.

The first 3 photos I'm posting are pretty much SOOC, with the exception of cropping. These will probably end up being used (by me) as examples to show people why we don't want harsh sun, and why shadows are best.

What I don't understand is that on the one on the park bench with the signs that I made the day before the wedding, my blinkies on the camera screen, and even in LR don't show it as blown out, but it looks "crazy" blown out to my eye on my calibrated screen. I really wanted that one to look good.

The one in front of the "town clock" (another request) is a pose that I like to use, I think the position of her arm, kind of makes you picture a heart shape when looking at the heads, and down around the arm. At least that's what I see.

Lastly, another pose I wanted to work, but the shadows on her face make this photo a mess. In the bright sun, I had a hard time seeing the details and shadows, so if I could have seen it, I could have used a reflector or fill flash. I hate when I see things I "should" have done after the fact.

Long story short, these will either take a massive amount of PP to get to look decent, or I may just cull them out and not show them to the couple at all.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Here are the worst of the worst

by the way, the bottom one was the wrong one, but has same problem as the one where they are actually posing. My phone is too small to tell the difference.
Sorry.

town clock


stupid shadow


why no blinkies?

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

These are more my style, although I still need to "work" them a bit in PP. Top 2 done in shade. You will notice that I still used the bent elbow for the "heart shape" in the top one. I will probably burn down the background so they "pop" a little more.

Second one, still dealing with shadows, but will be much easier to deal with in PP.

last one, tried something a little different with my ring photo. I purchased the scrabble (kind of) pieces from Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks for a whole bag. I did others that said "forever" as well, but the shot looked too wide and not enough interest in the background to make it "work" for me. It was shot on an antique piano, but the owner of the hall said specifically that we weren't allowed to open the cover and use the keys for photos??? His piano, his rules. Anyway, you can see my little trick for getting the rings to stay where I want them. I get dental wax that they use for braces. It will hold them in most positions, but doesn't stick to anything solid. Not sure I'd use it on cloth, but it has been a real lifesaver in a lot of situations where I can't get the rings to stand where I want them.

shade


shade again


ring photo

superpijak Loc: Middle TN

Nice work, suitable for a tutorial

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Thanks, I'll have to upload one of the photos on the decommissioned railroad track just for you. Also in bright sun, so I'm not happy with the outcome.... but at least it has train tracks, and was LEGAL :-)

superpijak Loc: Middle TN

BTW I love the heart shape concept you described in the first pic. :thumbup:

jaysnave Loc: Central Ohio

Yes harsh sun is tough. But like you said, that is what they wanted.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

For the life of me, I still can't figure out why LR and my D-7100 aren't showing "blinkies" all over the 3rd photo. It actually makes my eyes hurt to look at it.

I had blinkies in the sky on the "town clock" photo, which I would expect.

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Photo was shot in raw format, maybe I just need to get in there and lower the highlights, or lower the overall exposure? Still seems like they would show as blown on one or both. The shot that matches it (except posed) has the same issues. (this one is a touch worse)

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

For Ted.
This is a decommissioned RR track, as a matter of fact, it ended about 50ft behind me.

Yes, this was legal :-)