Playing with slow shutter

[nfnitloop]

f18, 28mm, 30 second shutter, ISO 100
Rebel XT, Kit Lens

Took this at a wedding this weekend.
I took a few of them and this was the one I liked the best. I'm really just playing with the camera and remembering the more creative things you can do. It really wowed some of the people I've shown it to, but it's just not... quite... what I thought it would be. I still like it though. I was excited to get an idea of something interesting to try when I had a good opportunity to do it. It's still really cold and snowy here, with no breaks in site so I'm avoiding the outdoors and this was the most time I had with the camera in a good setting. I wasn't the "official" photographer, so I could just fool around and look for shots.

One thing I'll critique right away: I got home and thought I really should have done one in portrait.

Here's another one that I took wider and farther away.
I think it's f22, 18mm though.

[Triglav]

I like the idea. And I think this is a very good attempt. I have 2 critiques:

- In my humble opinion: the shutterspeed is too slow. Try if maybe 20 or 25 sec gives a little more detail. I can hardly see that there are people moving around.

- Indeed portrait maybe better, but I don't know the situation, but that white light window in the back is distracting and fooling around with your camera's lightmeter. Causing the overall pictire looking a bit too dark.

But it is so easy to critique a shot. Keep experimenting! You are doing great.

BTW: the colours in the first picture are far more better then in the second..don't know what went wrong there.

[steevdavis62]

Mate i really like the first photo. The idea is fantastic. Good job mate. Sure the window is distracting, but still a great photo

[nfnitloop]

I'll explain the colors. The second picture is one of the first ones and I forgot to turn on RAW. I was able to correct the white balance after I switched to raw, but the JPEG of the second image would only go so far...

My biggest problem with the camera right now is forgetting where I left the settings last and then having to remember to "cover all the bases" and make sure they're correct when my lighting/subject changes on the next shot. I was shooting in Manual a lot this weekend, it was fun to get some good shots, but I ruined more than I got.

I hadn't realized the cake table lights were distracting. Now I'm really wishing I would have done this image from the other end of the buffet.

I was hoping there would be more detail as well. I'll try some faster shutter speeds if I ever do another shot like this. There's another wedding coming up so maybe I'll get to do it again! I didn't want to see faces all blended together, but I would have liked to see reaching into bowls and moving utensils.

Thanks for the help!