New starter

[Mosby]

So I am new to this forum and would be interested in knowing what people thought of this image? And if you were able to take this shot, how would you do it differently?

In terms of Camera data, this was taken on a Canon 20D, with a Canon 50mm f1.8 (at 1.8), ISO 100 at 1/1250sec.

Thanks in advance


It's probably worth noting that I have put this through both Lightroom and Photoshop to get the final result (sometimes I find Canon cameras just dont have the vibrancy of Nikons).

Oh and here are the rest

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1458752...7624163116053/

[ovechcka]

I would get down to her eye level, since it looks like you're towering over her a bit. That would also eliminate the background. I would also lighten her face a little bit in post processing because she's in the shade.

[RecceDen]

The bright background pulls my eye away from the bride.

Ovechcka is right if you had dropped down a little you would have filled more of the background with the Brides veil removing the battle with the bright background.

[Mosby]

Cool, cheers for the feedback guys. I find wedding photography to be almost a reactionary process and sometimes, in the heat of the moment, forget the basics, which is probably why I am not a wedding photographer!!

I must try harder :-)

[BigFuzzy]

First, I think that wedding photography isn't at all reactionary when it comes to the technical aspects. Yes, you have to react to the events and movement/angles/etc.. but things like lighting and settings should always be fully under your control.

I find that the background (as others noted) is distracting as it's too bright and busy. And find the composition very standard, ie, smack dab in the middle.

Having glanced at the other images, I feel you need to get into proper flash usage for these types of images. The ones outside have lots of harsh shadows. At the very least, you need to take advantage of the light you do have as all of them have exposure issues on the faces except of the second one of the seated man.

A little fill flash would have popped the subject just a bit to make them stand out from the background and to fill those face shadows.

Not bad shots in the end, but there are definitely simple ways to improve them a bit.

[Laurenbiz]

I would suggest brightening her up and simultaneously darkening the background using PP.

If you don't have fill flash available, you could always use those same settings in your EXIF, but lengthen the shutter speed. 1/1250 is pretty fast. The wide aperture and low ISO here are good for light..... but even an exposure of maybe 1/250 or 1/100 are quick enough to avoid any blur from movement, but slow enough to capture a nice amount of light.

I usually keep camera on AV mode when I have my 50mm f/1.8 attached. I just love the bokeh in the background when I use a wide open aperture. You may want to try AV mode, and if photos seem dark - my next step is to increase the ISO a bit.

:-)

[Mosby]

Cool, thanks for the rest of the feedback. I did have the camera on AV mode in order to set the aperture to f1.8, but the photo was taken in Istanbul about midday, so the upshot was the fast shutter speed. I do have a flash and will look into using it a bit more to try and neutralise those harsh shadows (back in "sunny UK now, so I'll probably not see the sun again!!!).

Thanks again guys, your feedback has been great!