My April Bride: I have not gone through all 700 shots yet but picked this out. Did some edits and sent it off to the bride this AM. Small, short wedding, only immediate family, back...

Bobbee

I have not gone through all 700 shots yet but picked this out. Did some edits and sent it off to the bride this AM. Small, short wedding, only immediate family, back yard which backs up to a lake, beautiful landscaping. I do like the BIG weddings but something has to be said for the smaller, intimate ones. I think it puts you on a bigger delivery game because there is less mayhem and the couple are more centered on you.

Easter Bride

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waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

Bobbee wrote:

I have not gone through all 700 shots yet but picked this out. Did some edits and sent it off to the bride this AM. Small, short wedding, only immediate family, back yard which backs up to a lake, beautiful landscaping. I do like the BIG weddings but something has to be said for the smaller, intimate ones. I think it puts you on a bigger delivery game because there is less mayhem and the couple are more centered on you.

Bobbee, you really nailed this shot and captured her and her beauty perfectly. I'll bet she loves this image.

Bobbee

Thanks Walt, I saw earlier you are an up-before-dawn person. Getting ready to walk the puppies. She did not like her picture taken, Kind of puts you between a rock and a hard place. Refused to smile. This was odd because when I did not have my camera pointed at her she was smiling and did have a really nice gentle smile. Couldn't convince her though, so I slightly failed in my photographers duties.

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

Bobbee wrote:

Thanks Walt, I saw earlier you are an up-before-dawn person. Getting ready to walk the puppies. She did not like her picture taken, Kind of puts you between a rock and a hard place. Refused to smile. This was odd because when I did not have my camera pointed at her she was smiling and did have a really nice gentle smile. Couldn't convince her though, so I slightly failed in my photographers duties.

I don't think you failed, some people have problems with smiling as it comes out looking fake, in this case you caught her just right and it reveals a lot about her and her beauty.

jaysnave Loc: Central Ohio

Bobbee wrote:

I have not gone through all 700 shots yet but picked this out. Did some edits and sent it off to the bride this AM. Small, short wedding, only immediate family, back yard which backs up to a lake, beautiful landscaping. I do like the BIG weddings but something has to be said for the smaller, intimate ones. I think it puts you on a bigger delivery game because there is less mayhem and the couple are more centered on you.

Nice shot Bobbee. Some people have difficult to capture smiles (me included). I think you got it. I am curious about the background. Did you bring a backdrop or create that in Photoshop? Or possibly a wall in their house.

Bobbee

jaysnave wrote:

Nice shot Bobbee. Some people have difficult to capture smiles (me included). I think you got it. I am curious about the background. Did you bring a backdrop or create that in Photoshop? Or possibly a wall in their house.

That was the wall in the house. It was one of those 'yeah lets put a small dinning table there and call it a dinning room' kind of rooms. To her right was a huge double glass door letting in light and I had my QFlash set to Auto Fill. I took all the furniture out of the room and removed the paintings from the wall. In the full length shots I have to go back and remove the electrical outlets and the nails from the walls where the pictures were.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

Hi Bobbee .......... I know you want us to be honest so here is my 2 cents worth, and mind you I'm guilty of the same thing I pointing out on many occasions but I'm getting better at it.

The DOF is shallow IMO, because it's a close up it does stand out when looking closely. Your were very close and zoomed in, at f/4.5 with the bride at a 20 degree angle, woozier!

at 12 MP the Nikon 700 can normally do 20X30" prints buts blown up to that size could be an issue with the DOF shallow.

The pose is a classic one, 100 years ago this was normal, 20 degree angle, no major contrast in the background, no smile, lots of big jewels ...... I love the pose

As I said, I do the same thing all the time so I'm calling myself out as much as anyone ;) :wink:

Bobbee

Beercat wrote:

Hi Bobbee .......... I know you want us to be hon... (show quote)

Thanks, will keep that all in mind next time. Actually I just save it in my 'tips' doc. Usually I do this shot with my D800 and get 45 meg. The flash and camera setup was not working. I think Nikon upped-up my D800 when they repaired it 2 months ago or the firmware they loaded is not jiving with my QFlash. When I was taking pics the flash said Exposure OK but the flash was under firing on QTTL. I was getting upset. So I switched over to my D700 with the 24-70. Talking to Nikopn and QFlash on Monday. BTW, this problem with the camera occurs on two identical QFlashes when I swap them out.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Bobbee, I hear you about rock and hard place. I've had a few experiences with people that hire me, then the day of the wedding, they keep talking about how much they hate to have their photos taken.......they WHY HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER???? Of course, I don't really yell that, but I sure feel like it.

Other than "sneaking photos" while having a conversation, it is difficult. I've been known to actually put the camera on the tripod, zoom out further than normal, so I can play with cropping later, and then act like I'm posing her, and making adjustments, while we are talking, I use remote release, and keep telling them "these aren't the real photos, I'm trying to adjust for this "tricky light"....sometimes it works and you get a few. Sometimes, you just get what you get. I'm sure she won't look at the photos later, and ask YOU why there aren't any with smiles. She'll know.

greg vescuso Loc: Ozark,Mo.

I like the elegance of this shot. For someone that doesn't smile this is a really good shot. And the plain wall behind her works very well.

Bobbee

greg vescuso wrote:

I like the elegance of this shot. For someone that doesn't smile this is a really good shot. And the plain wall behind her works very well.

Thank and all for the comments.

fotodon Loc: Oberlin, OH

Bobbee wrote:

I have not gone through all 700 shots yet but picked this out. Did some edits and sent it off to the bride this AM. Small, short wedding, only immediate family, back yard which backs up to a lake, beautiful landscaping. I do like the BIG weddings but something has to be said for the smaller, intimate ones. I think it puts you on a bigger delivery game because there is less mayhem and the couple are more centered on you.

Great job! This is about as good as it gets outside of a studio. As for DOF...back in 1966 when I interned under an very old German portrait photographer, he always said that if you get one eye tack sharp you had the focus nailed, or something like that in his broken English. Of course, he was emphasizing to me where to focus but over the years I learned that shallow DOF was largely a plus in portraiture.

I love the lighting, especially the catchlight. If I may, just one constructive criticism. It seems, at least on the image I am viewing, that there are some harsh highlights on the face, cheeks. Maybe a little adjustment brush work would help. Other than that, all I can say is that I dream of getting on location shots like this. :thumbup: :lol: