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Positano Wedding
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I was bridesmaid at my little sister’s wedding in Positano and grabbed the opportunity to take quite a few shots on the day :) These are just a few of my favourites!
What do you think?
Sinead a lovely set and I am sure your sister will be really pleased with them. I really like the one of the Bride and Groom and of the page boy bet thats the first that a pageboy has been pictured with a bug :lol: .
As I said I really like these.Soda
Some lovely shots there. Really like the one with the bride with her back to us and the one through the mirror.
I think you have over exposed the brides drees in #2 and #6 as it’s very very bright and you seem to have lost a little detail in the dress. I can see what you wanted to do here by making the dress white but it’s just a little too bright for me. I’m sure others would prefer it the way you have presented it.
Just my opinion though as a relative noob!
Thanks so much for that, Carl! The pageboy with the bug (actually it was a piece of confetti, but I prefer the idea of a bug lol) is my son and he was up to all sorts of devilment that day with his little cousin, the other pageboy! My sister was thrilled with the set I gave her because their photographer let them down and cleared off straight after the shots he took in Positano. I ended up as unofficial photographer at the evening reception and got some lovely shots of the bride and groom… I don’t yet have a flash for my camera so I learnt a lot about iso and exposure that day! Thankfully I’d done some research before the wedding so I knew what to do but it was such a thrill to see my first wedding pictures turn out well.
Plus, a local photographer has now offered me the chance to join her on a few shoots to get in some more practice :) :) So, all in all it turned out to be good for me that the photographer did a disappearing act!!
Thanks Ballyman! Yeah, I deliberately overexposed the images you mentioned, post-processing. I just really wanted the dress to glow as it was such an amazingly bright day and the bride was absolutely joyful that day. I have the same shots in colour and they just don’t have the same feel about them… I printed the one of the bride and groom out on A4 for them and they really loved it. Her dress was pure, smooth silk so there wasn’t really any detail to capture in it otherwise I’d have tried to preserve it more :)
I’m delighted you like the images and thanks for the valuable feedback ;)
very nice shots Sinead, well done.
Particularly like the first one and the high angle one of your son, very well caught.
Just curious…why did the photographer leave? Was there misunderstanding of how long he’d be there?
Thanks very much. I think a lot of my luck was down to the fact I was more interested in taking photos than being a bridesmaid so I was on the lookout for photo opportunities all day long!! The first shot just caught my eye when I noticed my sister and her son wandering off. The photographer was photographing the bride and groom at that point and I was standing to his side, probably watching him in action when I noticed my sister over his shoulder. In fact I took the picture so quickly I didn’t really have time to compose it very well and the photographer’s shoulder was in the edge of it!
The one of my son was another I just saw and took. He had just got up off the ground and was looking up at me when I got it.
One thing I learnt was that there are a lot of benefits to be had by having a second shooter, even if it does mean having to share the profits. My sister wanted the shots of her and her son and if I’d been selling them I know she would have paid… (I gave her them as a gift) and the bride and groom loved many of my shots too which were often taken in a different style from those of the official photographer.
Anyway, the story behind the photographer was that the bride and groom paid the tour company who organised the wedding for the full wedding package but the photographer only gave them his basic package. He didn’t speak any English and after the pictures in the church grounds he left fairly abruptly. They didn’t realise what had happened and assumed he’d gone on to the reception. It was only when they got there that they discovered there was no photographer – except for me!!!
Great set of weddingpictures that show us a more human side of the dull thing that is a wedding. your sister must have been over the moon with these. I love the second one. Well done, you shold do this as a profession
That’s really kind of you, Peter. I’m actually considering it very seriously at the moment. I used to be an English teacher before leaving after my second child was born and in the last few years have been running my own fairly successful website (not a photography site!). I don’t want to return to teaching at any point soon so I’ve been considering doing a BTEC HND in Photography in order to get more technical photography experience and the only thing stopping me really is the thought of committing myself to another three or four years of study – after doing my degree and PGCE I swore I’d never put myself through all that stress again :)
Perhaps I’m being naive but I’m wondering if I possibly could get the LRPS qualification on my own without having to do further academic study?? I’ve read an awful lot of photography books and done loads of practising although I wouldn’t be confident enough yet to take on the responsibility of photographing someone’s wedding!!! I’ve been offered the opportunity to shadow a local photographer at a few weddings so I’m waiting to hear back from her as I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to get more practical wedding experience without the sense of pressure that would come from going it alone.
Anyway, sorry for going on about it – I’ve spent the day googling all the various options and am feeling very frustrated because I would be living my dream if I did become a professional photographer… but I can’t decide/ don’t know which route to follow. :roll:
Sinead
Hi Sinead,
Well done on the photos, they’re really good. I definitely prefer the candids myself, they seem to capture the fun and meaning behind the whole thing a lot better than posed shots. Like most people here I too have thought about trying to make a few quid out of photography. Even something to put towards equipment. From what I’ve read, a lot of pro photographers don’t seem to put a huge emphasis on qualifications. Most of them suggest an impressive portfolio is more important.
It’s worth considering that if you just spent a few years getting out there taking as many photos as possible, it might stand to you more than a few years in college. I’m no expert (far from it!) but from what I’ve seen I don’t see what’s stopping you from doing some weddings right now. Composition and exposure etc. seem very good to me, and for weddings the most important thing seems to be just having an eye for a good photo.
Of course a lot of people who don’t know about photography might look for a qualification, but a portfolio can really speak for itself…
Just my two cents, I’m new to this though so don’t really know what i’m talking about!! I was also an unofficial photographer at a wedding recently and really enjoyed it. Although a lot more pressure when you’re getting paid to do it i’d imagine!Brian
Thanks Brian, I really appreciate your comments. I much prefer candids to posed shots and always end up with the candids framed whilst the posed shots stay on the pc!!
I know what you’re saying about getting out there and getting on with it. I suppose it’s a matter of confidence as much as anything else. It would be fantastic to be able to buy some more equipment too as at present I’m working solely on my 50mm lens which I adore but sometimes I just really want a wide angle perspective or desperately want to zoom in like at the wedding when I was sitting in the church and couldn’t really get any shots as I was just too far away from the bride and groom. I suppose I could have walked up to them but I didn’t really like to in case the official photographer thought I was being a busybody lol.
I had a quick look at your photos on flickr and it seems you go for a very similar style to me. Your candids are fabulous and certainly show the occasion to have been a lot of fun. I really like the one of the female guest pointing at the camera and the b&w one of the bride and groom with coloured confetti sprinking over them… very nice indeed!
Thanks again for the vote of confidence. I’m still mulling over my options and will decide what route to follow in the next day or two!!
Sinead ;)
Thanks for your comments on my flickr Sinead, appreciate it. I only had the camera (my first DSLR) a few days so I think I’d do a lot better now.
I suppose you might need another lens or two alright. I was using a 70-300 which I found very handy for picking people out of a crowd, although my one wasn’t great in low light. One of those Canon f2.8 ones would be nice! The main photographer was using some kind of wide angle/fisheye lens (not sure which) which produces some cool results, but I thought he overused it. It doesn’t suit every scene. Ideally I suppose you would have two camera bodies on the day.
A second shooter can make a huge difference. One person for posed shots, another for candids. On the day, a lot of people commented that the paid photographer was missing some great natural shots that I noticed. Also the bride preferred some of mine from the posed shots. I got some of them from the side when they were unaware of me. Just something a bit different maybe.
If I ever get paid to do a wedding I might try to recruit the girlfriend as a second shooter, she has a good eye for a shot and often acts as a “spotter” for me!
It takes a while to get used to a dslr when you first make the move, doesn’t it!
Ooooh a 70-300, what a treat! I’ve been eyeing the f2.8 up a little but the size of it frightens the life out of me lol. I’m not keen on the fish-eye although I think a lot of photographers don’t use it correctly. I saw a really great photo taken with one recently in a book I read which showed that if it’s used carefully the result can be spectacular…
I do think a second shooter makes a huge amount of sense. When you think of the size of most weddings having only one photographer seems unfair on the photographer and it must cause a lot of stress at times. I love the idea of a spotter!! I must start encouraging my hubby to do just that :lol:
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