Gig Report - I would appreciate your photog suggestions

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rickryan.com

rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
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Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
Okay, I'll say it, I'm feeling pretty stoked about this set of shots from my event last night. If pretty brides really do sell dates then hopefully this one should make us a butt-load. Gorgeous bride and Scarritt-Bennett is one of the prettiest venues in Nashville. Got to work with an incredible team of vendors and I think I just opened some doors with a couple of big dog vendors. All gloating aside, I'd like to ask for your photog suggestions and maybe a grade (1 thru 10). Wifey took the majority of these shots and this was her first high-end event. She stayed shell-shocked most of the night but I think she captured some incredible moments.

As for the techie side of things, about 250 guests which we split between this hall and an outdoor patio area which as tented. The inside space was extremely tight. The dance floor was small and I painted an orchid leko (source four jr zoom) with a monogram overlay. Walls were painted with Chauvet slimpar56 (100-0-100). I shot Live-Pics on the wall behind me. On sound, one LS801p sitting next to me and at 25%. I used 1 top inside (3-way carvin passives) and one dropped outside the window to the patio area, which were driven by a Crown xti4002. Was skeptical at first but sound was good inside and out. The client was well-pleased and for a non-alcoholic event, so was I.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.814220075268643.1073741849.145292865494704&type=1

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Picture #1 ... Excellent composition, color should be yellow reduced a bit. Biggest issue is the focus is off all over, nothing in the image appears to be in focus.
Pic 2 ... Overall well done
Pic 3/4 ... Good Symmetry, Pic 4 (building) might have needed a slightly faster shutter speed as it seems to have a little camera shake.
Pic 5 ... too soft of a focus .. It appears one of the front silver cups was the focal point and the image dropped off from there.

For shots with shallow depth of field, it's very important to get the focus down, and one of the toughest to do in low light. Turn off the focus mode where it follows the image, pre-focus (1/2 shutter press) on what you want, like the brides face, and then move the viewfinder to compose the shot.

Otherwise, composition is very good and that's one of the toughest things to teach.
 
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Thanks Steve. She's still shooting in auto. Have had several photogs who keep pounding her about shooting in manual, almost to the point of her wanting to just quit. I've been just encouraging her to use the gear the way she knows how and focus on great shots. On that #1, I just liked the expression but did notice the focusing problem. May this one was a bit better?

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rickryan.com said:
Thanks Steve. She's still shooting in auto. Have had several photogs who keep pounding her about shooting in manual, almost to the point of her wanting to just quit. I've been just encouraging her to use the gear the way she knows how and focus on great shots. On that #1, I just liked the expression but did notice the focusing problem. May this one was a bit better?
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Much better focus .. the bride is the most important subject and her face is clearly in focus. Only way to expand that to include the groom would be to use a faster lens or a higher ISO.

Color is still off a tad on the yellow side. That's easy to fix in post processing and if she is shooting in a consistent area, she could manually set the white balance on the camera with a "white balance" card ( a light grey actually). Sometimes I will set the color temp on the camera by shooting an image, adjusting the color temp up or down, shoot again, etc. until I get it close. Only issue with white balance is it changes so easily when you move in or out of a lighting fixtures coverage

But again, composition is quite good.
 
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steve149 said:
Much better focus .. the bride is the most important subject and her face is clearly in focus. Only way to expand that to include the groom would be to use a faster lens or a higher ISO.

Color is still off a tad on the yellow side. That's easy to fix in post processing and if she is shooting in a consistent area, she could manually set the white balance on the camera with a "white balance" card ( a light grey actually). Sometimes I will set the color temp on the camera by shooting an image, adjusting the color temp up or down, shoot again, etc. until I get it close. Only issue with white balance is it changes so easily when you move in or out of a lighting fixtures coverage

But again, composition is quite good.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. This was a quickie edit job that I did in Picasa (and with my limited skills). Wifey says she's going to make a run at it in Lightroom. I've already setup facebook and website for her and am keeping my ears open now for opportunities to bundle her with my DJ service. I already sold her on a mitzvah for next year and just sent over a quote to a low-ball prospect where I added her photography, which would get us at a decent rate for the day. The girl has got an eye for subject matter, just got to work on building her confidence and technical skills. I think in the next year or so I can have her booked fairly regularly.
 
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rickryan.com said:
Thanks Steve. This was a quickie edit job that I did in Picasa (and with my limited skills). Wifey says she's going to make a run at it in Lightroom. I've already setup facebook and website for her and am keeping my ears open now for opportunities to bundle her with my DJ service. I already sold her on a mitzvah for next year and just sent over a quote to a low-ball prospect where I added her photography, which would get us at a decent rate for the day. The girl has got an eye for subject matter, just got to work on building her confidence and technical skills. I think in the next year or so I can have her booked fairly regularly.
Click to expand...

One tool I use all the time in Picassa is the "neutral color picker". Second tab .. select something that should be white/black/grey and it will color balance things. Sometimes a little nudge back on the color temp scale will make things right.

I have Lightroom and it has far better control, but I have to learn the workflow. When I shoot sports, I will shoot 500-1200 shots per event and Lightroom was taking too much time for me to process the pictures. With Picassa, I make 3 sweeps .. First to cull all the unwanted shots (usually about 75% deleted), Second to straighten and crop, 3rd pass to color correct and sharpen. I've taken some 100,000 images in the past few years .. posted 15,000+ on Facebook. Camera equipment was a limiting factor, but my recent buys (5dmkIII, 70-200L 2.8 II, and 24-70 2.8 II) shouldn't give me that excuse anymore.
 
steve149 said:
One tool I use all the time in Picassa is the "neutral color picker". Second tab .. select something that should be white/black/grey and it will color balance things. Sometimes a little nudge back on the color temp scale will make things right.

I have Lightroom and it has far better control, but I have to learn the workflow. When I shoot sports, I will shoot 500-1200 shots per event and Lightroom was taking too much time for me to process the pictures. With Picassa, I make 3 sweeps .. First to cull all the unwanted shots (usually about 75% deleted), Second to straighten and crop, 3rd pass to color correct and sharpen. I've taken some 100,000 images in the past few years .. posted 15,000+ on Facebook. Camera equipment was a limiting factor, but my recent buys (5dmkIII, 70-200L 2.8 II, and 24-70 2.8 II) shouldn't give me that excuse anymore.
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I'm like you, I struggle with Lightroom but she started out with it instead of Picasa so I guess it makes more sense to her. I have to admit, I probably fudge too far towards "warm" pics and rarely ever use the neutral color picker. Picasa is extremely fast (to me) and does a lot of good with little time spent. You mentioned lenses, that 2.8 70-200 is probably next up on the list. Will also have to spring for a fast-glass, close-in lens as well but I gotta get some deposits coming in before going gear-hogish on the photog stuff. We currently have a handful of decent lenses and a nice little Alien Bee strobe with radio poppers.
 
I will shortly have a previous version of the 70-200 up for sale. I use that lens most of the time for sports and just wanted the newer version.

I do want to learn Lightroom better, as it does things that Picassa can't, like lens abberation correction.
 
steve149 said:
I will shortly have a previous version of the 70-200 up for sale. I use that lens most of the time for sports and just wanted the newer version.

I do want to learn Lightroom better, as it does things that Picassa can't, like lens abberation correction.
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Lemme know. I'm sucking wind on cashflow right now but I do want first shot at it.
 
Will do. For inside shooting, the 24-105 f/4 and the 24-70 f/2.8 are great lenses. I also have a 135mm f/2 L lens which I used to use for nighttime sports before getting the 5d. With the 5d, it's a good portrait lens from a distance. For indoor work where I can move around, can't beat the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.8 (I wish there was a step up before you got to the $$ 1.2 one).
 
rickryan.com said:
Done. See everybody, it's easy to help a brother out.
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Just be ready to run when Rob asks for group showers :D :D :D That's something nobody wants, well except for Rob ;)

Rick pictures were done what I would call perfect so full steam ahead. Next thing we know you´ll be the Wedding Mafia Boss in TN ;)
 
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dunlopj said:
The outside of that venue is like me...:confused:
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and BIGGER than it should be
and CLASSIER on the outside than on the inside
and the big one....
Yeah, it's like you....a heavy, un-moveable object that costs more to maintain than it's worth.
:fart:
Sorry Dunlop...I was inspired and I could not resist.
 
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