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From a relative's recent wedding - C&C Appreciated

I love the last two.

I'm guessing that the girl on the left is kicking herself she didn't paint her toenails too.
A great idea of a shot.

I love #2 for the candid value, #3 is definitely my favourite though, you have captured the excitement and joy that she is feeling at that moment and the lighting really works.

I really love the candid feel of the images.

Great work.

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

I struggled quite a bit with the WB in the room (lighting was all over the place)

Does the 2nd seem a little warm?

2, 3 and 4 all seem underexposed. I find that when struggling with WB, using flash as a main helps a lot in making that a lot more consistent.

With 3, maybe you could have given her something to hold? She also looks like she has an oversized head, but that might be what you wanted.

dviv wrote:I struggled quite a bit with the WB in the room (lighting was all over the place)

Does the 2nd seem a little warm?

Not to me; I think you've nailed the wb, actually. In #2, look at the bottom of the image, towards the lh corner, where you will see that there is a small area of the white dress that's in light shadow. If you're looking for wb issues, this is certainly an area where they would be evident, but the colour of the white-in-shadow here is, to me, very neutral.

What I am slightly concerned about, and perhaps this is what you may be seeing, is that in this image there appears to be a area, across the chest of this girl, where there is a definite ... change of some sort. If we look at this image, just to the left of centre there is the vertical arm of the make-up artist. Immediately to the right of the arm is the shadow of the arm, and along the rh edge of the image we have the vertical arm of the girl. Look now at the section of the chest of this girl that is enclosed by these areas: there is a soft change, but a definite change, in the image, that tracks vertically right through the centre of this area. It's quite obvious to me on the dress, and it appears to extend upwards into the area where the skin on the girls upper chest is.

The shadows in this image indicate that flash was used, off-camera and to the left of the photographer. I'm guessing a 430 or 530 on-camera, direct - the camera was used vertically, and this would be a perfectly natural orientation for that sort of set-up.

Dave, was there a mirror in this room, and if so, where was it located?

Thanks Gary,

Flash was a 580 on camera, portrait orientation as you suggested.

Mirror was to the girls' left, quite close, The makeup artist and her were sitting on chairs in front of a small desk which had a mirror mounted on the wall. There was also a small lamp on the desk and a large, bright window behind me.

This should explain it:



I was standing in the corner behind the lamp - with the window behind and to my left. This made potentially 5 light sources (Window, lamp, halogens in the cieling, 580 and mirror)

Dave,

dviv wrote:Mirror was to the girls' left, quite close,

And camera right.

The makeup artist and her were sitting on chairs in front of a small desk which had a mirror mounted on the wall. There was also a small lamp on the desk and a large, bright window behind me.

OK, and this is evident in this image ...

I was standing in the corner behind the lamp - with the window behind and to my left.

Which means that you were standing in the corner that we can just see in this image, right on the rh edge of the image.

Great; here's what I think has happened in the image we're discussing - the second one.

First of all, I think that the mirror was placed too high on the wall for it to have affected this image directly. The little girl's head, while she is seated, barely reaches the bottom of the mirror.

But, look at the reflection that we see in this new image ... look at the wall on the other side of the room. Look at the colour of that wall. Some of the light from your flash has been bounced, from the mirror to that far wall and has been inadvertently used as fill in image #2. I'm comfortable that that's what happened, and it explains the cast and vertical edge that I see in that image.

I'd be happy to see further discussion of this, and any alternate explanations for this. Dave, you were there: what's your feeling on what I'm suggesting here?

On the subject of "suggestions" ... have you seen what you have in this new, extra image? Did you intend for this image to be a shot of the young girl, or just a general shot (as you've displayed it here) or as a shot of the bride with her attendants, as shown in the reflection?

Because, in that reflection, I think you have a beautiful image. Please humour me and pull a crop of just the reflection. Tidy it up to keep the three main ladies in the crop, perhaps remove the bevilled edge's reflections top and bottom, and shape the crop to suit. I'm not exactly sure of what will work, but I suspect something will. I suspect cropping with the bottom edge being just above the top of the little girl's head in the reflection would be the starting point. I'm worried about the table lamp, but I think suck it and see.

Thanks again Gary, Makes sense

Crop 1:



Turned out quite well, considering......

dviv wrote:Thanks again Gary, Makes sense

Crop 1:



Turned out quite well, considering......

Nice work, great spotting Gary. Too bad you have run out of resolution.

dviv wrote:Turned out quite well, considering......

I think that's not too bad at all, Dave.

As Cameron points out, you're bumping into some limits here, but I think it's bloody nice, nonetheless.

Thanx for humouring me. Time to take my meds.

aim54x wrote:Nice work, great spotting Gary. Too bad you have run out of resolution.

Thanks Cam,

Resolution isn't the only problem, it's more DOF.

gstark wrote:

dviv wrote:Turned out quite well, considering......

I think that's not too bad at all, Dave.

As Cameron points out, you're bumping into some limits here, but I think it's bloody nice, nonetheless.

Thanx for humouring me. Time to take my meds.

Always a pleasure