Introducing Mr & Mrs Matt Pianalto

[cenelson]

I shot this wedding Friday evening down in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Matt is a long-time pal and one of our members here. His beautiful bride was a pleasure to photograph.

Please take a moment to check out the gallery presentation. I would appreciate any feedback. Note that due to the ordination of the images as scanned by the lab, there is no real time-line to the images. I don't have the energy to try to rename to reflect order taken.

http://nelsonfoto.com/weddings/pianalto/

Craig

[sandeha]

She's got the Leica glow.  

Well done throughout.

[Graham Serretta]

Congratulations to them and to the photographer!  Nicely done, Craig.  If I were paying, I would be very happy.  Great flash technique.

[Jim Evans]

You did a great job,  especially for a first wedding.  They should be very pleased.  I would be.

The closeup of the little girl is really great.  Great expression and great capture.

Jim

[jake]

You shot a ton, and that's great. I think it must be far better to shoot everything and then weed it out later than to try to guess what moments are going to be the perfect ones & shoot only those. Some of those shots are really stellar. How are you going to present them to the couple? As digital files? Or are you going to use a book service to create a wedding book? This is a company that a friend used for her wedding and the book is pretty elegant looking: http://www.wgbooks.com/home.html

Last wedding I went to, the photographer had an extra camera set up on a second small tripod that shot on some sort of remote. He seemed pretty good at setting up to catch the other angles in a lot of his shots - i.e. be two places at once. Like sports photogs do it to get the goalie leaping through the air during soccer matches without actually being behind the goal. I remember it because that's how he shot the bouquet toss and catch simultaneously.

[cenelson]

Interesting site, Jorn.

Feedback was much appreciated. I still have a lot to learn, no doubt.

[Madrigal]

Amazing work for the first time out, Craig. Geez Louise! Very, very impressive!

The thing I can imagine taking  a while getting used to would be shooting under so much pressure.

[josphy]

Sweet -- I like the shot of the couple lighting the candles where they both have their hands cupped to shield the flame from wind.  I think I'd crop it to a square to lose the bridesmaid on the right, but that is a sweet, sweet shot.  Really tons of very nice shots in there.  The very wide shot of the cake, candles and couple in the background stands out.  Lots of nice little details thrown in.  Personally, I love the little details of things and could use a few more of those.

The only thing that I'd perhaps do differently would be on a few of the group shots that look like maybe they were shot afterwards at the reception, and not as part of the formals, is that a couple of those shots look as though they were shot from just a slightly low angle.

And now looking back on the shots that I'm describing as the formals (the wedding party), one thing you might keep in mind for the future is that people will usually like to enlarge that one to 8x10 or larger, and the conventional larger sizes tend to be around the 4:5 ratio (8x10, 11x14, 16x20), so it might be a good idea to leave a little breathing room from cropping later.  As it is now, that will have to be an 8x12, 11x17, etc. which is perfectly fine, but just means a custom cut mat, etc.

Oh and...no color?

Anyway great job!  I'd be very proud of it, and looking at that I'd definitely book you to do my wedding, so I think you'll have no trouble getting more work down the line.

[JRJacobs]

Alas, I'll probably never get married which is too bad because I would hire you to shoot it.  

Those are really nice Craig. I agree that your flash technique is stellar in these.  Did you use some type of diffuser?

[cenelson]

Flash was the SB26 and Lumiquest Pro softbox on it. I purchased 2 flash units and two Lumi-boxes from Brian a couple of months ago.

I've had a couple of negative feedbacks on the flash... actually too hot for their tastes... but the groom loved the shots, and I'm sure the bride will also, so I'm content. I prefer the gritty editorial style.

Now, anything displaying significant bokeh was shot without a flash as I have not yet figured out how to control my flash with wide aperture, especially when shooting at my preferred FL of 24mm. The dancing shots are all 24mm. Those with good DOF were flashed, the dreamier shots were non-lit. Also, the close work during dancing - bride with father, bride with grandfather - non-flashed, only inches from them with the 24mm.

The outdoor stuff was a real hammerknocker. The lighting on the interior was such that most of my indoor work looks like cross-proc'd E6. I'll post some samples later. I rather like the effect, but the B&W won out my editorial heart.

And to clarify, this is my second wedding. I shot one last year, had no flashes so lighting killed me, but some good shots nonetheless. I should probably re-do the gallery on that one and link from my page to show progress. Hmmm...

Paul Sokal down in Dallas has offered me his D70 kit for $600, after my coments posted to p-net's wedding forum. I keep going there for input and perhaps to land an assistant's job somewhere with a seasoned pro. I dunno about the D70. I think it would be better to save for at least a D80 kit.

C.

[cenelson]

I think I will attempt to bring in some grey on her dress in several of these as well. Time has been short.

[servojohn]

She's got the Leica glow.  

Well done throughout.

I agree, a nice job, especially the little girl in the sweater-that expression you captured is priceless.

Now, would someone explain to me what type of champagne "Leica" is? ;>)

My best to your newly married friends.

John

[cenelson]

Much appreciated.

C.