Zach Jacob
June 18th, 2007, 06:46 PM
Hey all, new here...
Wondering if you could give me some feedback on a recent wedding I did...
www.zjcreative.com/johanna (http://www.zjcreative.com/johanna)
Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Asher Kelman
June 18th, 2007, 07:13 PM
Hey all, new here...
Wondering if you could give me some feedback on a recent wedding I did...
www.zjcreative.com/johanna (http://www.zjcreative.com/johanna)
Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Hi Zach,
I'm not sure about how you are set up with equipment and what any difficulties might have been, and with these caveats, I'll step where angels would not tread.
I have to guess a lot since there is no guide. It appears to me that you are not using adequate lighting. The faces show shadows which rob the pictures of impact and clarity. Simple electronic flash would readily overcome this. The challenge is to get the face lit without blowing out the white dress.
It is an absolute necessity to take these pictures with control of light since there is otherwise far too much skilled and tedious work to then deliver great pictures on time. So the first thing I'd say is deal with lighting.
The next thing is the processing of the images. Start with images shot in RAW and for now send the files to a Pro lab so you can make money delivering the great record of happiness with no headaches.
You can then focus on selling albums for which you can get income.
At present it appears to me that you might be using a set of filters. some plugins, perhaps to make the pictures B&W, or sienna toned. I'd keep away from these since they also seem to cause blur and vignetting.
I'm reluctant to even stick my neck out as far as I have commenting on your images. Maybe I should have asked about you work a little more and your clients. However, my impressions are meant to be honest and straightforward. I hope they will be accepted in that spirit. I could of course say, "Very good job!", but then what use would that be?
Will Thompson
June 18th, 2007, 10:14 PM
Greetings Zach and Welcome to the forums!
That being said all the items that I would do different except for 2 are artistic and personal style related and should make no difference to you as long as you have found your "signature style".
The 2 features that stand out to me and cause lack of subject isolation are too little subject sharpness and too much background sharpness/detail.
Absolute polish will come with many years of experience when you
know exactly what you want in the composition and lighting before you even pose them for the shot.
As asher has said a little more fill from flash or a reflector will help with that polish.
If you do not learn something every time you shoot that you would do differently next time you will never be a extraordinary photographer, caring about the quality of what you do is one of the most important things a photographer can do to excel in there craft.
By asking opinions you show that you are on the the road to extraordinary!
Hope this helps.