[mrarroyo]

My favorite picture is ...

 

[HONEYBOY]

These are really stunning, my favorite is the one above me as well!

 

[Audio-Omega]

No description is required because the photos speak for themselves.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Does your family and relatives/friends appreciate artistic shots like these? Mine don't. When it comes to family functions and taking pictures of relatives, I have to completely turn off the artistic aspect of photography and take plain old simple straightforward pics with loads of zoom and flash, they love flash.

I can just imagine my aunts and grandma telling me "its too dark, what did you take a picture of?, I cant see their face"and my cousins saying "first one is over exposed, this one is affected by camera shake" and then I have the hardest time explaining that these were intentional and artistic.


Lemme give you an example with your pics.
#1 - Overexposed, I cant see the flowers properly
#2 - Her eyes are closed, her eyes are beautiful, whyd u take a picture when they are closed???
#3 - What is this a picture of? I dont see anything
#4 - Its too bright
#5 - Why am I seeing the back of her head, and again, why are her eyes closed!!!!
#6 - Its too dark, I cant see anything
#7 - She's out of focus, try again
#8 - Ah finally one decent picture, still a bit bright
#9 - Um....ok next
#10 - Ah the sun, its too bright, why did you shoot directly at the sun
#11 - Why are they in the corner, put them in the center
#12 - Why didnt you ask her to smile, she has a lovely smile
#13 - Again with the darkness
#14 - Ah good, not bad
#15 - Zoom in more, why do I want to see the trees, I want to see the bride
#16 - Why is <enter grooms name here> out of focus???


Yeah....thats what I had to deal with the last time I tried taking pictures...

 

[raymondlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does your family and relatives/friends appreciate artistic shots like these? Lemme give you an example with your pics. #1 - Overexposed, I cant see the flowers properly #2 - Her eyes are closed, her eyes are beautiful, whyd u take a picture when they are closed??? #3 - What is this a picture of? I dont see anything #4 - Its too bright #5 - Why am I seeing the back of her head, and again, why are her eyes closed!!!! #6 - Its too dark, I cant see anything #7 - She's out of focus, try again #8 - Ah finally one decent picture, still a bit bright #9 - Um....ok next #10 - Ah the sun, its too bright, why did you shoot directly at the sun #11 - Why are they in the corner, put them in the center #12 - Why didnt you ask her to smile, she has a lovely smile #13 - Again with the darkness #14 - Ah good, not bad #15 - Zoom in more, why do I want to see the trees, I want to see the bride #16 - Why is <enter grooms name here> out of focus??? Yeah....thats what I had to deal with the last time I tried taking pictures...

The only opinion that matters is the Bride.

and yes, she loves them, she has seen my previous work. As for my family and friends? My friends love them, and my family are old fashion, probably don't understand them, hence I have a bunch of The Usual Suspect Line up shots taken too. For display on top of the TV, which I will not force you guys to endure. I do them because there are people out there like that, also in a way, a good solution to make sure you have a photo of everyone, so its a means to an end almost.

 

[thisbenjamin]

"professional" comments aside, they look incredibly happy, and the spirit of the event is well captured. I wish them both only the best - l'chaim!

 

[Edwood]

I'm sure he shot in raw so most of those blown highlights can be recovered.

From a Professional perspective, these pics are on the better side of wedding photography. And I've seen a lot.

 

[raymondlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure he shot in raw so most of those blown highlights can be recovered. From a Professional perspective, these pics are on the better side of wedding photography. And I've seen a lot.

I did indeed and a most of the blown highlights are my own trigger happy finger on ther slider in Lightroom. Though most importantly...it's not as blown on my Mac as it is on my work screen, and even more importantly, in the past when i got test prints done, they come out on print exactly like my mac. So, they might look blown to you guys, but if they don't look blown to me, it won't be blown in print. Which is paramount.

Oh, yes, I shot in RAW, 1,500 pics at 21mp.....thank god for Lightroom !

and, Thanks Edwood

 

[Edwood]

LOl @ the previous complaints of "artistic" shots. Seriously, I can go through the rest of my life without having to see another damned "Charlies Angels" bridesmaid centered posed pic.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Oh dont get me wrong, I have always liked your photography Raymond you know that, I've mentioned it in other threads of yours. This series is fantastic from a photographer and artistic perspective. I love the variety and composition, and the fact that you use bokeh to your advantage very well. I personally like B&W a lot as well, and especially in a wedding setting it can be extremely effective.

Its just that when it comes to functions like these...I always get beaten down by family, but like you said, its always a good idea to take a few straightforward shots. I do that as well.

But the other issue is, they almost always want to see the pictures immediately. Which means they see the ones that didnt quite work, the ones that I tried to get creative with and the ones that are the typical straight face flash shots. This usually ends up with me getting depressed and ppl getting bored half way since they see the same shot taken multiple times and no matter how many times I explain they wont get it. Oh well....

 

[rhythmdevils]

yeah I don't show people my contact sheets. Well I should say that in quotes now it's digital, but you get what I mean. People don't understand the process.

Raymond, nice work. I rarely see wedding pictures I like. Usually I'm just muttering cheezeball under my breath and snickering. You've got some really nice compositions though, and you catch key moments well, like the flower toss and the pedals or confetti falling down on them. On your site I also love the bride jumping into the grooms arms, and there's a shot with light behind the first dance, and I'm remembering the kid on the dance floor too. I know what you mean about some monitors being too bright, most people have the brightness set all the way up!

I do still think some of them a blown out though, and the colors are all more saturated than I like, skin tones are looking unnatural. But that's my preference, I know most people love those blasted colors. cheers!

 

[raymondlin]

Thanks guys, i know what you mean when it comes to family & Weddings, good thing is that my parents isn't interested in what i do with the camera and they have no idea the gear that i have. They have never actually seen my work or my website. When these are done, they'll get a shock i expect, and i wouldn't think this is what they had in mind when it comes to wedding photography !

Here are a few more, and i've fixed the highlights in the ones mentioned previously

 

[devin_mm]

Beautiful pictures!