The last 3 weddings...

[craigsexton]

Here's some pics from our last three weddings. Critique is appreciated.

[craigsexton]

and some more....

[craigsexton]

and more...

[craigsexton]

and a few more.

[craigsexton]

and finally the last three........I promise

[youngster]

You've got some nice stuff their Craig, thanks for sharing. I like some of you post-processing as well. Looks like their was a lot of fun going on in some of those shots and I love the sparkler heart. Only nit-pick I have is the shot of the couple coming out of the church with the bubbles. It's not quite level, yet it doesn't appear to be intentional tilt shot either.

Regardless, very nice work

John

[craigsexton]

Hi Youngster. Thanks for the comments!

Yep, I had noticed that it was a very slight tilt and then decided just to leave it alone. I think my camera hand was floating with those bubbles But seriously, I had a heck of a time getting the couple in focus with all of the bubbles.

Craig

[Brewyet]

Wow. those are some really nice images! I think you got a bunch of great captures. How did you get that look on the 4th-ish picture down? The one of the bride and she is slightly desaturated but with a real nice effect. Kinda looks like a picture taken in the 50's or somthing. Nice job...Chris

[craigsexton]

Hi Chris. Thanks for the compliment.

I adjusted the levels a bit in PS and then ran an action called midnight sepia. It's a freebie from the net. If you'd like I can send you the link after I find it again?

Craig

[Brewyet]

Originally Posted by craigsexton

Hi Chris. Thanks for the compliment.

I adjusted the levels a bit in PS and then ran an action called midnight sepia. It's a freebie from the net. If you'd like I can send you the link after I find it again?

Craig

Sure, sounds great. I think it looks great on certain types of shots, and that's one of them. Thanks..Chris

[EOS_JD]

Some really nice creative images there. However I don't really like the burnt out dresses in a few - you could tone the PP down a bit to bring some detail back - particularly on 10 & 11 and the go cart image.

There's no consistent look either to any of the images. That doesn't make them bad right enough, but when placing images in an album it's nice when they look pretty consistent.

I think they look nice but maybe overdone a tad.

Regards
Jim

[craigsexton]

Hi Jim, thanks for the reply. Yep, I agree with you, however, in the pre-wedding meetings with the bride and groom they loved this look. I did show them both the standard "untouched" files along with PS'd ones in our online gallery review.

And you are 100% correct on making the albums.

It's funny with the last three weddings I've done this year everyone wants something completely different. The first set was my most previous and the bride simply wanted some color and black / white's. However, her mother and mother in law, wanted "creative" pictures. Therefore, the wide range. So the Mother's albums are very contemporary while the flush mount wedding album is going to be a mostly b&w album. The middle set of pictures was "very" creative but mostly done is b&w. I've known the bride for years and this suites her to a "T"! And then the last set was kinda a mixture again.

I guess one thing I've learned this year is that consistentcy is for the quality of the pictures, not so much for the style. You've really got to be flexible to a point. I mean, I'm not going to change my style of photography, but definetley have to change my post processing somewhat. But that's fun too. It never gets mundane this way.

I guess some photog's do stick to one type of style and that's it, but I do enjoy mixing it up some.

Thanks again for the comments. They are greatly appreciated.

Craig

[EOS_JD]

Originally Posted by craigsexton

Hi Jim, thanks for the reply. Yep, I agree with you, however, in the pre-wedding meetings with the bride and groom they loved this look. I did show them both the standard "untouched" files along with PS'd ones in our online gallery review.

And you are 100% correct on making the albums.

It's funny with the last three weddings I've done this year everyone wants something completely different. The first set was my most previous and the bride simply wanted some color and black / white's. However, her mother and mother in law, wanted "creative" pictures. Therefore, the wide range. So the Mother's albums are very contemporary while the flush mount wedding album is going to be a mostly b&w album. The middle set of pictures was "very" creative but mostly done is b&w. I've known the bride for years and this suites her to a "T"! And then the last set was kinda a mixture again.

I guess one thing I've learned this year is that consistentcy is for the quality of the pictures, not so much for the style. You've really got to be flexible to a point. I mean, I'm not going to change my style of photography, but definetley have to change my post processing somewhat. But that's fun too. It never gets mundane this way.

I guess some photog's do stick to one type of style and that's it, but I do enjoy mixing it up some.

Thanks again for the comments. They are greatly appreciated.

Craig

No worries Craig. i used to play around a lot with the various images I had taken but am trying to do less of this as all I end up doing is spending hours on PP and not getting a good financial return for the hours I've spent editing.

At the end of the day all that matters is that the client likes the images you produce.

[craigsexton]

Originally Posted by EOS_JD

At the end of the day all that matters is that the client likes the images you produce.

And you still make a profit!

Right on Jim. Boy its a fine line though isn't it! If I'm not carefull I'll have myself in between a rock and a hard place on post processing time.

I've actually thought allot lately about what you just said that you are trying to do. Becuase I don't want to spend all of my time at the computer. So I sparingly try to give them what they want to make them happy and still watch my hours for a decent profit margin. But we must be carefull, time is $

Craig

[youngster]

Originally Posted by EOS_JD

No worries Craig. i used to play around a lot with the various images I had taken but am trying to do less of this as all I end up doing is spending hours on PP and not getting a good financial return for the hours I've spent editing.

At the end of the day all that matters is that the client likes the images you produce.

I find this so true with myself also. It's not that I'm not getting things right in camera that is causing my PP time to go up, it's the fiddling around with different settings and ideas that pushes it up. In the end, I usually go back to my regular PP routine as it always seems the most fitting and best looking.

I guess it's part of the learning process right now and fortunately I'm not in a position where extra PP time is costing me too much, although one day I hope it will be an issue

John

[PavelOlavich]

A few nice comps, however the blends seem too gimmicky, and for lack of a better word, low brow PhotoShop Class fun. These effects cheapen the experience. The focus is often too soft. Are your lenses up to the task? Exposures are not consistent. Horizons crooked on some. An intentional tilt of the framing can be great, but it seems many of your tilts are not intentional, so they distract. The black & whites too muddy. Let the blacks be black! And the whites be white! Often blown highlights that distract from the viewing experience. Too often the bride's dress is blown, losing lots of detail...your post processing needs to mitigate this. I hope you had the forethought to shoot raw, so that you can mitigate this sometimes too wide dynamic range issue.

Before you get wild with the effects in post processing, get the basics down cold first.

What saves many of these pictures is interesting compositions. You have a good eye. Let the comps carry the picture, and not fancy PhotoShop fun.

The clients are happy, and that is good. But you must be happier, you being the artist. Are you happy with your work? It's not just about money.

Don't write-off mistakes to "style".

[craigsexton]

Thanks PavelOlavich. I want to improve so your honesty is greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by PavelOlavich

A few nice comps, however the blends seem too gimmicky, and for lack of a better word, low brow PhotoShop Class fun.

I had never thought of it this way before. But I do strive for my pictures to have a artsy side to them.

These effects cheapen the experience. The focus is often too soft.

As for the focus, some is by design, but I have struggled with softness and have since returned my 5D for a checkup. It does seem better now. I typically use a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 on it but really desire the canon 24-75 L series. Do you have any experience with either?

Are your lenses up to the task? Exposures are not consistent. Horizons crooked on some. An intentional tilt of the framing can be great, but it seems many of your tilts are not intentional, so they distract. The black & whites too muddy. Let the blacks be black! And the whites be white! Often blown highlights that distract from the viewing experience. Too often the bride's dress is blown, losing lots of detail...your post processing needs to mitigate this. I hope you had the forethought to shoot raw, so that you can mitigate this sometimes too wide dynamic range issue.

I do shoot RAW, and ocassionaly do the tilted shot. As for b&w's, I often struggle in what I think is a good conversion. Please explain abouth the above statement of "too wide dynamic range issue".

Before you get wild with the effects in post processing, get the basics down cold first.

I agree, good point and thanks!

What saves many of these pictures is interesting compositions. You have a good eye. Let the comps carry the picture, and not fancy PhotoShop fun.

The clients are happy, and that is good. But you must be happier, you being the artist. Are you happy with your work? It's not just about money.

Thanks for the compliment of composition. And no, allot of times I still beat myself up on my pics. And you are 100% right.....it's not just about the money!

Don't write-off mistakes to "style".

[PavelOlavich]

The Tamron 28-75 IMHO is not a very good lens because it is too soft wide open. The 24-70L is a great lens wide open and the Tam does not offer the L's color rendition, nor contrast.

For B & W conversions, one of many ways is to use the Channel Mixure, turn off the blue channel, and set the red to 55 and green to 45. This is a starting point, so go from there. Then apply levels making sure the blacks are black, and the whites are white. Be mindful of skin tones, and for white skin adjust mid tones for a nice light gray tone.

As for the too wide Dynamic Range, on one hand you have the white white bride's dress. On the other you have the black black groom's tux. It is a challange to get image details in these two extremes. Flash can add "gas" to the fire. So to mitigate this, shoot raw, do use flash, but never straight on (bounce it), and create two images from the same raw file; one exposed for the white dress, to show detail and the other to expose for skin, then blend the two as required, so that you have the details of the black tux, the details of the white dress, and goo skin tones too.

Emulate others, more successful wedding photographers. Get the post processing details and nuances down cold. Forget about style at this point in your career.

Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and other masters first emulated other musicians much more successful and skilled in their day. Over time these two greats blazed their own sounds, and made their own way, finding and defining their unique styles.

You should consider the same too.

Practice, and more, and continue reading and studying. Keep up the good work!

Over time and experience, you will find that the day will come when you start to experiment, and define your own style.

For weddings, learning to flash is so important. Learn how to drag the shutter...search about this here on this site for lots of good information.

You have a great attitude, and that is reason alone to expect that you will go very far and be successful.

[Song4themoon]

There are too many images to comment on the all.

I dont like the first two, it just doesnt do it for me.

You have a few nice images in there. Be careful with the midnight sepia, while applying it in photoshop it seems to look great but then looking at it later the effect is too strong and there is way too much glow. Make sure you lower the opacity on the effect quite a bit. I had to learn that the hard way too.

[KellyL]

Mistah Sexton...I like several of these shots. I am not a big fan of double exposures, but you did these nicely. Some of my favs are:

Like the treatement on number four, and I am wondering if that is a Metz shot on number 5 cuz it looks like the type of shot Mark uses to illustrate his Metziness.

Cheers on the candle shot. The wagon shot looks very vintagish to me...subjec tmore than treatment. Has a nice simplicity about it (bride on the wagon).


Second set: two and four grab my eye. Four looks like one I would see in one of the books I look at to get ideas. She looks like a fashion model and you caught a good moment.

The heart sparkler is fabulous. Love it.

The last three all are very nice in their own way.

Great job!