Little Corner of Ania

While I was editing the photos from this weekends wedding, Amalie was curious about what a wedding is all about.

Amalie: “I want to marry Adrian!” (her brother)

Me: “Yeah well, I don’t think that’s gonna work, Amalie. You’re siblings. You can’t really marry.”

Amalie ponders about this. I try to explain further:

Me: “When you find someone you love, you might want to marry him. Or her.” (yeah, we try to be PC here ;p)

Amalie: “But I love everybody!” (pause) Then solemny: “But mainly Adrian!”

Haha :)

She also wondered what people did in a wedding - “did you kiss a lot?”. I’m not sure if she meant me and her father, or the bride and groom :p

Nevertheless. I am working on my editing-routines. Too much frustration with/during the past works have learned me that no, I don’t really need to “edit that one photo just to see if I can save it post-production”. Current routine now includes two rounds of rating & eliminating the photos, doing my best to limit myself to just the 2-3 best photos max from each similar situation. Then it’s time to edit. Then, after editing, I’ll do a last round of picking the photos that’ll be included in the CD for the recipients.

The bride and groom whom I photographed last Saturday asked me to do posed/official wedding photos. I don’t really do posed photos. I am not really qualified to do posed photos (if you aren’t aware, I’m a photojournalist. There’s a reason I’m a press photographer, because – we kinda just document things as they happen.).

When you do posed photos, you’re expected to guide and lead the couple in how to look their best while shooting. No matter how pretty you are, I find it pretty intimidating that if you don´t have the knowledge (of posing) on your own, and rather seek to me as the photographer for directions... That's one thing I need to work on for sure nevertheless. After making sure that the couple really were aware that I didn’t really do these kind of shots, and thus don’t feel qualified to do so, and they still wanted me – then – sure – I was up for the challenge.

I learned a lot. I’m making mental notes.

And because I’m the sharing kind, I thought I’d share my thoughts here – and asking you for further tip and advice.

- Hands. Really need help what to do w/the hands. Going to make mental notes of what other photographers do w/peoples hands. Haha. But really. Hands can be sort of awkward.

- Poses. Add notes of interesting and cool poses from pictures I see from now on.

- Need to stop leaving so much air above peoples heads! Srsly, wth am I doing that for!! Sigh. (and be more aware to not cut off peoples feet, cough & ugh)

- I think I should stick to f/2.8 and maybe f/3.5 as the smallest aperture. Did f/4- f/5.6 some times, but then I wish the background were more blurred at these photos. When I had to use the flash however (and thus using even narrower apertures), it worked out fine – despite me really needing to figure out if my sb-600 can be used at high speed (doubtful, but I haven’t checked the manual yet *cough*)

- Not be afraid to ask for more help w/the reflector. Even if it doesn’t seem to light up that much/be that much needed – it yields so much more life to the eyes when the reflector reflects in the eyes.

- I want a 70-200 f/2.8! And a macro for the details…. and a better second body that´s my own……:)

Anyone out there who might have more tip and stuff? I have at least another wedding to do, where part of the package is also posed pictures. And – just so it’s said – I am honest with my clients & tell them I am more a documentary-style-photographer, preferring to document the day following (usually) the bride – and rather leave the posed part to (studio)-photographers who do that.

Ohwell.

I narrowed 971 (I think) photos down to 264 or so (I’m so so darn proud of myself now) and have applied basic editing in Lightroom (I downloaded the LR3 beta now by the way – the noise reducer is simply amazing! Just need to figure how to change the color-space to sRGB instead of the current ProPhoto RGB, but that should be quite easy. I hope.). Really oughta narrow the photos down further, but I’ll do that later tonight or tomorrow along with proper cropping & finishing touches in CS4.

Nevertheless. Here’s some of MY favorites from the day…bwahahaha :)

“Sorry girlie, it’s too late. I’m getting hooked anytime soon now..”

Figured I sort of needed to share a photo of the ceremony too (I have lots, no worries ;) ). Thought this one was pretty nice – putting on the rings… (oh by the way – ISO1600 :) ) Think I kept the aperture at f/2.8 pretty all the time, while I experimented w/the shutter at between 1/60 and 1/125 depending on the focal length at the time (on my 24-70).

Cute cute cute! Methinks. The girl in front is the maid of honors´ daughter.

Yeah – the posed photos. We went to a place called “Gamle Haugen” – a beautiful place w/a mini-castle and stuff. Lots of nice backdrops. The sky changed between stark sun and overcast. I was happy when it was the latter, muttering and grumbling when the sun peeked through. Very pleased with how this one turned out. Bummed that her dress-strop is outta place though. Isn’t typical – shot two or three frames like this, before noticing – and correcting – and shooting lots more – but ofcourse this one is the one w/the look. Sigh.

Hm, tried to play off the lines here – trying to be somewhat artsyfartsy :p Maybe this is the kind of photo/motif where you really oughta do narrower aperture hm?

This one is soo fake – seeing as we tried to pretend her veil was caught by the wind (so cliché I know). Still – something about her smile and look here that makes me like it. Maybe I should crop it tighter though, towards the bottom right?

Ha! This one is pretty amusing! They wanted some jumping shots in front of the beautiful –63 model car – and it was fun – until the best man sort of pulled a muscle or something – with me there ready to document the whole thing ;) (yes, I have a nice collage of photos where you see his face struck with pain all the way down from the air :p What – I’m a photographer – you don’t expect me to stop photographing immediately? I did ask if he was fine afterwards. When I was done laughing. :p)

Gotta eat some in between too! :) (I like this one – a touch of reality in between the fairytale-day :) )

Mmm like this one too – dramatic skies & snapshot-feeling.

Isn’t cool? M&M’s with their faces, names and date of the wedding! Oh. And here’s why I so need a macro-lens…..

You can see why much better here. Sigh. Macro.Lens.Now!
(I guess these shots are sort of alright still. And yeah I know, focus should have been on the rock on the ring, but hey – being able to read the m&m is ok too). Sorta imagine focusing in such situations being much, much easier if I only had a ….macrolens! ;p

Y’know, it was a very interesting experience doing posed/official shots w/the bride&groom, but…this kind of photo….that is what I after all love to get the opportunity to do when getting to do weddings. Catching small glimpses of pure happiness. Of the bride and groom sharing a laugh while doing the first dance. All now together: “awww”.

Right. So much more photos to do.
And I do have scrappy stuff to share too – just..trying to prioritize atm & weddingphotos win!