I have run into a wall...

[mrz3r0]

Perhaps this is not the proper place to ask this, but I have scoured these forums and found thread after thread, and none seemed to tackle the topic I have, or maybe it has and I am just dense.

While I am not a professional photographer, and I only have a few years of Photoshop under my belt, I am still confident in my skills and abilities. I have a website with some of my earlier work and some more recent work on it and have acquired a few jobs here and there doing various types of shoots. I have started to do more "artistic" work for my personal collection and it is fun. However....I am at an impasse.

I no longer want to do what I do for a living and am attempting to take the next step in my photography and do it professionally. I do not have the ability to quit my job and go to school since the incomes would not support the family so I am turning to the forums and the literature to teach me what I have not been able to do yet. I have never had a class and unfortunately do not see myself taking one in the near future. As much as I would love to my job takes away any of my free time. I work a lot and am on call 24/7, so any sort of class, or schooling is damn near impossible outside of work. So I turn to the internet, forums, various tutorials and published literature for my education. I have, via these mediums, learned to the best of my abilities though and apply it daily.

Maybe it is that I have no formal training and so I do not know enough to do what it is I am after. Perhaps it is that I do not know my terminology so I cannot search for the proper techniques and have not asked the right questions or sought out the proper books and literature. But I need help, or at least a sign with an arrow pointing me in a direction where I might be able to find a start at learning what it is I am after.

The misses and I do work together and we are going to start doing weddings. I want to be able to replicate what I see out of a lot of wedding photos but I have not been able to despite my best efforts. I don't know what it is I am not seeing or not understanding.

Take these images for instance: Taken from Elizabeth Medina's blog, so all credit to her of course.




To the best that I can, I cannot replicate this look and style of image. Everything I do always comes out flat and with a grain to it and darker. Every image I run through Lightroom and do 3 hours of work in Photoshop... everything comes out nothing close. While that is fine for a lot of my images I take, it is not what I am after. I am after a more subtle and higher range look as in the images above. Don't get me wrong, I know that it can be seen as "trade secrets" but I am not looking to replicate the style above, I just want to make sure when I do wedding photos the look at least half as good as what they do above.

So I come to you guys and ask...what is it I am missing? Can you look at that image above and maybe give me an indication as to what was done here? How much of this is being done post production do you feel? Is it a bunch of HDR work? How is she achieving the clarity and color? How is she getting away from a film look and getting clean lines while having a subdue clean look? Any help...would be appreciated. I just want to be pointed in a direction to start learning.

[OsmosisStudios]

Have you been using a flash? or Several?

Most photographers have some pretty complex lighting rigs for alot of their stuff, on top of the usual PS witchcraft.

[FoG]

Hi

The examples you give are all about lighting I think I love the first but to me it is almost staged (as in Models) Also try equipment comparisons what are you using and what are they using I went into a local photogrpaher recently just to make notes (very understanding aand nice people) they even went through some pics some people like to pose shots as your foirst one while others get really shy about the Photo bit and want them over with quickly... try getting some friends to dress not in wedding attire but just formally and practice this will inspire you more .. even the good lady and yourself could be test subjects try different lighting focuses lenses etc see what "style" you find suits you and build from there...

FoG *no pro but has ideas*

[autofocus]

It boils down to equipment, and most importantly, knowing how to use that equipment to it's fullest. You not only have to have the right equipment, and know how to use it, but you absolutely need to know how to interpret the conditions of the shot, and how to make adjustments accordingly. You need to know when to bump up or down your EV, and/or your flash output. Being a relatively new member reading posts here on DPS, I don't recall how often I hear mention of histograms, and how important it is to read, and interpret them. It's the best way to make a real time judgment on your exposure and corrections if and when necessary. This is especially critical in wedding photography when you'll run the gamut in lighting/exposure challenges.

I don't believe you mentioned what equipment you shoot with.

[wulf]

What's the best you've come up with (straight from the camera)? If you could post some examples then people could make observations about the differences between the style you are aiming at and what you are achieving.

BTW, I suggest unmodified images as post-production work will mask the potential of what can be done (you might be getting images that could be worked up or you might need to work on the camera skills first).

Wulf