I brought my camera to a wedding

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

Two cameras actually, and Kodak NC400 and HP5. The result is now on flickr. I was not a official photographer, but through the day people started to look at me as such. You know how it is.

Anyway, being fairly amateurish, I would very much appreciate if anyone with a spare minute would take a look and share their thoughts. What could have been done better?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erik_petersson/sets/72157622133672659/

Thanks!
Erik

Tom Kershaw · Sep 6, 2009

Erik,

Is log sawing at weddings a Swedish tradition?

Tom

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

No, I had not seen it before. The wedding took place in Germany, in Brandenburg.

Jeff Kubach · Sep 6, 2009

They look good to me, very interesting. I like the log sawing pictures!

Jeff

mike c · Sep 6, 2009

Eric,these look very nice,all have very natural expressions,its fairly easy to flick through the pictures.When I was doing weddings in the Late 70"S to mid 80's we always bunch people up in silly groups and forced posses . You have follewed a story line which is important an taken many infocus well exposed frames . The move to black & white is abrupt and should be integrated better. To my impression I is the kind of casaul wedding pictures I'd buy for my daughters wedding. I think their great.

Mike C

Mike1234 · Sep 6, 2009

Weddings are dangerous... avoid at all costs.

archphoto · Sep 6, 2009

Swedish and German.....

I like the series as a whole, well done, good work, congrad's !
It is sometimes easier to be the second photographer, so you can photograph more relaxed.

Some remarks: you could have used a little fill-in flash at times and not all photo's are as sharp as they could/should have been.
And watch the WB in the shadows !
What gear have you been using ? Camera's, lenses ?

Peter

Christoper · Sep 6, 2009

Mike1234 said:
Weddings are dangerous... avoid at all costs.

The only thing worse than being the groom at a wedding is being the photographer... People have expectations... tight little groups of people posing for the camera.... These pictures are better.... I would not have guessed it was a wedding... looked like a friendly family gathering.

mrred · Sep 6, 2009

You achieved "story telling" greatness. Every good photo is supposed to tell a story and all of yours did. Often things get lost "posing" and you kept it fresh. Bravo!

mike c · Sep 6, 2009

He also had a great place to photograph,all good backgrounds.

Mike C

Larry.Manuel · Sep 6, 2009

Well done! I especially like the B&W work. Once, I did a wedding for free [I was the only photog. there], so I know there's some pressure. You did great. <Larry in Canada.>

lorirfrommontana · Sep 6, 2009

I really like the photos you took. I think that the candid shots are the best. I think those are the favorites I have of my wedding. I am hoping to be able to go to my nephew's wedding in a couple of weeks and plan on taking two cameras. One for color and one for B&W. I like to give wedding shots as a gift. The professional shots are left to the hired photographer but they don't always get the fun people shots during the reception. Those are always the best to look at afterwards. Good job!
-Lori

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

mike c said:
Eric,these look very nice,all have very natural expressions,its fairly easy to flick through the pictures.When I was doing weddings in the Late 70"S to mid 80's we always bunch people up in silly groups and forced posses . You have follewed a story line which is important an taken many infocus well exposed frames . The move to black & white is abrupt and should be integrated better. To my impression I is the kind of casaul wedding pictures I'd buy for my daughters wedding. I think their great.

Mike C

Thank you Mike! I did not charge for them, they were my gift to the bride and groom. She is my cousin, by the way. I did shoot black and white at the same time as colour. It would have been better to put the pictures in cronological order, I guess. Will do that later. Thanks again for your kind words!

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

archphoto said:
Swedish and German.....

I like the series as a whole, well done, good work, congrad's !
It is sometimes easier to be the second photographer, so you can photograph more relaxed.

Some remarks: you could have used a little fill-in flash at times and not all photo's are as sharp as they could/should have been.
And watch the WB in the shadows !
What gear have you been using ? Camera's, lenses ?

Peter

Hi Peter, and thanks! There was no first photographer, so I was a little nervous.

I used a Nikon F3 and an FE. No flash. (The FE stopped metering, but that was not a problem, as I read the light off the F3.) Most pictures were made with a Nikkor 50mm 1.4 and a Nikkor 24mm 2.8. I also brought a series E 100mm 2.8 and the series E 70-210, but maybe none of those photos made it to flickr.

And I need more practice on focusing, alternatively need to edit down the photos further, that is correct.

You say I should watch the white balance in the shadows. As I did not bring a flash, the shadows are as they are. Or could something be done?

Thanks for your critique.

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

mrred said:
You achieved "story telling" greatness. Every good photo is supposed to tell a story and all of yours did. Often things get lost "posing" and you kept it fresh. Bravo!

Thanks! The day was full of stories and I only covered a few of them.

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

mike c said:
He also had a great place to photograph,all good backgrounds.

Mike C

Rural northern Germany is beautiful.

Erik Petersson · Sep 6, 2009

Thank you everyone for your kind words. You did not comment on my biggest mistake, that I took photos of only half the people, the ones that I know. This is not visible for you, but for the bride and groom.

I brought my camera to a wedding

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