A few results from my first wedding!

[Zoinac]

I've done my first wedding now, and I have to say I understand why people can charge so much money for the service. I know the gear is expensive, but it is so much work. It's like running 5 mental marathons at once. But, boy is it fun! :D

Ok, on with the pictures,

1. 50D, 75MM, f10, ISO 400, 1/250
http://www.zoinac.com/Post/_MG_6979.jpg

2. 50D 24MM, f14, ISO 400, 1/40
http://www.zoinac.com/Post/_MG_7043-Edit.jpg


3. XTi 160MM, f4.0 ISO 800, 1/60th
http://www.zoinac.com/Post/_MG_6998-2.jpg

4. Xt 200MM f5.6 ISO 400 1/500th
http://www.zoinac.com/Post/_MG_6912-2.jpg

5. XTi, 28mm, f5.6 ISO 800, 1/100th
http://www.zoinac.com/Post/_MG_6710-2.jpg

I basically chose these few at random... really the whole collection has lots of color! :p But C&C is welcome. I charged next to nothing for the service, with them knowing I'm not professional (yet....) but I hope what I've come back with at least resembles a professional look. I look forward to getting some feed back now that I've poured so much into this project... and I've got another next week! :o

[faisal]

I can't see the pictures!!!!! :confused:

[JMWallace]

ditto on the X

[Zoinac]

son of a... why would it work for me, they're hosted by a third party web server... I'll get on it in the morning.

[Turn]

flickr it.

[Zoinac]

Ok! I think they work now. The problem was I had the posted in my personal gallery. Which was password protected. I could see them, linked, from this site while logged into my gallery on the other site.. Very strange... But they work now... right?

[Nickcanada]

ya they look good! nice work. :)

[guntoter]

I am looking forward to my first wedding. You did a good job looking at thise pics.
How are you liking the 50D?

[D Thompson]

Looks well done. #2 posing was a great idea. Might have opened up to f5.6 or so to throw the background out more. #4 would be better if the leaves weren't obscuring part of the bride. I really,really like #3. I'm usually not a fan of heads being chopped, but this one works for me for some reason. Also, nice job on processing #3 as well.

[Zoinac]

How are you liking the 50D?

I love the 50D! I was originally saving for a 5D mk II. But timing pushed me into the 50. But I'm happy with it. Also, the money left over bought me a new computer!
The focus is excellent and fast, the metering is spot on. The 14bit raw files leave so much usable dynamic range... The noise is different that I'd expected though. The noise levels are really low, so it's not worse that I'd thought it would be. But the noise presents in a different way than it did on my XT. You see a grain more... and it softens the shot. With the XT the noise very obvious and obtrusive. (The XTi is terrible for noise as well.)

The 17-85 Is though, is a huge disappointment. I really like the zoom range it has. But the chromatic abbration (right term?) leaves a lot to be desired. There is purple fringing on every highlight edge. So much PP time went into removing it (though lightroom 2.1 is excellent). If it didn't come in the kit, I wouldn't spend the money for a retail copy. I'm way happier with my 28-138! If only they had a 17-85 L....

[adam75south]

dude number 4 is badass!

[faisal]

I like number two due to the posing....but you seem to have done a good job... :)

[sblgraphics]

Looks very nice...

Regards,
SBL
http://www.sblgraphics.com/clipping-path_service.aspx

[jedinite]

What did you do for post processing on the first image? Did you add the vignetting or was that the lens? The shots are very nice for your first wedding. Did you read any books or guides before shooting it?

[zmikers]

Have to agree, nice work. Any suggestions for others just starting out in the Business?

[mumbles420]

Great shots for your first wedding! I did one with another pro photographer who wanted some extra help and I though that was tiring. What did you do/charge for prints and such? My favorites are 1 and 3. Keep it up.

[Zoinac]

What did you do for post processing on the first image? Did you add the vignetting or was that the lens? The shots are very nice for your first wedding. Did you read any books or guides before shooting it?

The vignetting is added afterward, and exaggerated is far as I could safely push it before it just took over the composure. I read every book I could possible get my hands on. The local bookstores saw me coming. But, the one book I relied on a lot was Contemporary Wedding Photography (http://www.amazon.ca/Contemporary-Wedding-Photography-Julie-Oswin/dp/0715324616/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225309162&sr=8-4) by Julie Oswin, and Steve Walton. When I didn't read books, I poured through forums. I asked and learned.. stole a few ideas.. you know the "ring shot" infamous on this forum... yeah... kinda stole that too...

Have to agree, nice work. Any suggestions for others just starting out in the Business?

Well, I don't know if I'm even anywhere close to being in a position of giving advice to anyone. I don't really feel even like I'm starting out. So, take anything I've got to say with a huge grain of salt. Ask the people you know, especially on forums. They're great resource.

Gear is a huge factor, not really how many cool lenses you've got, or how much your camera costs.. That stuff will come. (I sure hope anyway.. I want cool gear). But batteries! and Memory cards! Don't skimp. At the end of the wedding I was down to my last 512Mb memory card.. which was 32 pictures. I was sweating at that point. I got lucky. and I brought 24gb. :o PLan for more than you'll use. If you use a external flash, bring lots of batteries. Don't change them when they die.. change them when they start to die (when you've got a spare moment). It's really sad to through out your favorite shot because the flash didn't fire.

I can't stress reading and research enough. There's tonnes of resources. Lots of them I find repeat each other a lot. But, that's ok. The more you can absorb the more confident you will feel with yourself!

Lastly, time. Plan for everything to be WAY more time consuming that you originally thought.

Oh, and back everything up. I thought my backup was good.. .but I still lost my lightroom files once..:o

[zmikers]

Oh, and back everything up. I thought my backup was good.. .but I still lost my lightroom files once..:o

I'm going to have to 100% agree with this and push it as great advice. I don't know if some of you may remember a while ago, but I had my files from a pretty extensive trip backed up 4 different ways and by some freak coincidence lost all of them. I was very lucky in the end to have a company in town recover them off of my digimate storage backup device, but internal HD, external HD and cds were gone.

[michaelb]

I give you alot of credit; I don't know if I would have the balls to shoot a wedding!!

[michaelb]

...The 17-85 Is though, is a huge disappointment....If only they had a 17-85 L....

They do - its called the 17-55 f/2.8 IS. ;)
Seriously though, the 17-55 rocks.

[24Peter]

Great job zoniac. Congrats! (To you and the happy couple :))