Hey hey y'all, I just wanted to share a few experiments from a recent wedding.
I had just gotten the new Nikon 105mm f/1.4 and was putting it through its paces. The wedding chapel was also close to a freeway overpass that I had been looking at for a while. For a short time in the afternoon the light coming in between the two bridges paints beautiful shafts of light across the angled cement walls, and I'd been looking for a way to use it in a shoot. Also here is an in-camera double exposure done using the chapels stained glass window, this was my first attempt at this technique so let me know how you think it went, and what I could do to improve it.
Thanks
- Rob
Awesome! your stuff looks great. love creative shapes in your comp.
Great Images! Nice editing style! I can't stand all that Junebug VSCO filter nonsense.
All of your photos are amazing. I really like the second shot with the brick wall (leading lines). Beautiful work. Keep it up.
I am not trying to be disrespectful or mean or anything of that nature, on the second photo I downloaded it and even though it is low res did some work on it that I would if it were my own. I used liquify to define her shoulders a little more and to then them some, softened the lines on her neck and face, and took out the curly hair coming directly out of her nose. I like the pose only thing I would have done differently if I had noticed it while shooting would have been to turn the flowers towards me so that I wouldn't see the stems so much.
Nice work man, I like the end result and thanks for taking the time to have a crack at it. As a rule I don't do any liquefying or reshaping on any of my wedding work, but I'll try to remove anything that isn't normally there (pimples, tanlines, etc.). This is agreed upon with the couple before the shoot so I don't have brides asking or expecting me to photoshop all 500 shots of her. The position of the flowers I completely agree and normally I would have but didn't notice that at the time of shooting.
I know, I have slight issues I have to deal with internally when it comes to seeing flaws in the pictures I take. If I fix the first then I have to fix the other 500 like you said.
Rob,
I love all of your shots! I am just trying to get into wedding photography. I'm finding that it is not as easy as I had hoped. I've contacted a lot of wedding photographers in my area to ask if I can second shoot (free of charge of course) with them, but haven't been able to yet. Any advice that you (or anyone else) can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for the kind words. Three bits of advice if you're looking to second shoot, I could suggest are -
1 - Look for private facebook groups in your area specific;y for wedding photographers. I am a member of a couple and there is always someone asking for people to second shoot with them. You'll also get to know some of the bigger people in your area. A group of the wedding photographers in my area have regular meetups and photowalks so we get to put a face to the name and see if our styles and personalities match (this is huge if your going to second shoot with someone)
2 - Look at what other photographers are doing and comment on specifics. eg. "I saw your shots from a+b's wedding and loved the way you shot x, I'd be really keen to shoot with you sometime.
3 - Streamline your website. As soon as you contact someone about shooting with them, they're going to want to see if you're going to bring something to the table. There's no point them bringing along a second shooter if they don't think they'll be able to use any of your images. Do your images look like their style, if not they're probably not going to want you there. If weddings are what you want to do, try to show as little as possible on your site that are not from weddings, this just gets confusing and makes both other photographers and clients have to hunt for your wedding shots and they'll probably loose focus and move on before hiring you. Less is more here. you can include a section on your site of "not weddings" if you want to show some other stuff but, I think, there should be an obvious separation. If you don't have enough wedding images, find a budget brides facebook group and offer a month of free weddings (this is how I got started, I shot 12 weddings that first month)
Additional bit of tongue in cheek advice - On your site change the word "investment" to "pricing" or "packages", there seems to be a real bitterness on photography forums towards photographers who use the word "investment", seriously I see three or four forums a week where this is mentioned with almost as much animosity as selective colour images. :-P
I would also scrap the "helpful info for brides" section as it reads like "this photographer doesn't know what they're doing, so you'll have to keep reminding them", and the link to a toilet company in your vendors section (unless a friend of yours runs this company) as you probably don't want clients associating you images with a toilet.
- Rob
Rob,
Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such excellent advice. I am already working on doing everything you've said. I do not have many wedding photos at all, and the ones that I do have are very old, I took them when I had almost no photography experience at all. I have offered to shoot weddings for free or for a very low price, so I'll continue to do that as well.
Your work is truly inspiring, I will continue to follow your advice as I read your post and view the amazing images that you produce.
Wow! Breath-taking, Rob! Good job! Very artistic!