Helen & Ben's Durham Wedding

andyturner

andyturner

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Andy
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A few from a recent wedding at Aykley Head's registry office in Durham followed by reception at The Garden House. The wedding was a surprise with guests thinking they were attending a joint 30th birthday party!

More on my blog here.


Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Wedding Photography by Durham Wedding Photographer Andy Turner by andyturner on Talk Photography

Critique welcome :)
 
At a glance, I'd say inconsistent processing in the B&W images (1&2) with 1 having very weak blacks and 2 having nice deep blacks.

Shot 3 is crooked.

Shot 4.. working well for me. No crit.. nice shot.
Shot 5 - I just see innuendo and implied sexual connotations of sitting on the pointy end of the cones.. but that may just be me :), and may have also been your intent.

Shot6. IMO needed deeper depth of field, as the guy on the left is clearly instrumental in the narrative, and dominates the shot, so while not necessarily the main subject, he does seem to be reacting to the "toast" joke, so he should have been sharp.
 
Thanks David :)

No intent with the traffic cones - it was their idea to sit on them (maybe that's their thing lol).

Point taken with the others. Shot 3 was tricky to straighten and crop without losing key elements so I just left it, but I do need to work on getting it right in camera (it didn't help that you are practically standing on peoples' toes at this registry office).
 
re: final shot... you were at f1.8 @ ISO320. The MkIII has much more to give. Don't be scared of higher ISO settings.
 
It doesn't ruin the shot or anything, and many would say it focuses the attention on the groom, or best man or whoever it is. The laughing guy is kind of dominating the image though.
 
With regard to the first two and assuming you didn't have much choice about where you could shoot from without imposing on the situation more than you wanted to, could you have perhaps shot both of them from more to your left? I used to shoot a lot of stuff just like this when we first started, because for some reason I felt that the shot had to show both people as fully as possible. Then it was pointed out to me that if I could get more square-on to the main subject's face, I could usually get a better shot of them and the context would still be there. Maybe worth thinking about next time you get this situation?

I've also taken that third picture before. Several times. Your problem is of course the person behind the groom's head that makes him look like he has a mullet, and the gap in the middle of the picture. The only simple way to get rid of both and thereby improve the shot immensely would have been to take step to your left, and if were really clever/lucky, maybe even get a useful reflection in that mirror? I'm guessing though that the registrar told you to stand right there and not move ... :rolleyes:

#4 they're a bit too far apart but otherwise I don't have the slightest problem with it, and IMO #5 is a cracker. I'd just crop it a little tighter, centred L-R on her, but a pound to a penny says they'll love it anyhow. Good composition, genuine expressions, good looking couple - what's not to like?

I'm assuming on that last one that you pretty much had to be where you were and that you couldn't stand up because of that mirror, but I bet you wish you'd just removed the bottle in the cooler until you'd got your shots. Whatever, did they really seat the bride and groom opposite each other? I've seen some damned silly seating arrangements in my time, but never that! One other thing to bear in mind in situations where you're up against your reflection in a mirror is that you can always ignore it and try a few shots, then Photoshop your reflection out if that's all that's spoiling a good shot.
 
Thanks Sid :)

Yeah there were a few where I was in the mirror, but due to the dof it wasn't too obvious so I left it in.

The registry office in Durham is a bit of a nightmare tbh. You have no room to move at all and are practically touching the b&g.
 
andyturner said:
The registry office in Durham is a bit of a nightmare tbh. You have no room to move at all and are practically touching the b&g.
Click to expand...

Thought so. It's a bit like that in the smallest room at Chelsea RO, but couples like it because that's the one that your Jaggers and your McCartneys tend to get wed in. I think you can get 12 guests in at a squeeze, but at least the registrars are good. It's the real signing, btw, with registrar on left.

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We reckon it's the smallest RO we worked in - but it's bigger than the ceremony room is on Tower Bridge! That place is a joke.

As far as snapping the actual signing at a civil, never had a problem in any of the London boroughs or Kent, and to the best of our recollection, the only times we ever got a "No way, never, not under any circumstances, STFU" in 12 years was with the witches of Clearwell Castle (Forest of Dean), a frosty-faced old faggot somewhere in Suffolk, a miserable old git in Derbyshire, and the twice we came up against Medway registrars. Never did a civil in Warwickshire, but we knew the score there anyhow :rolleyes:

Can't find the snap I was looking for, but this is just part of the usual scrum during the (real) signing at Islington Town Hall ...

a204272500_zpsbef23ecf.jpg
 
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Here's my thoughts mate:

#1 - They are a bit grey and the background is blown, the eyes look at the brightest part of an image so it's not ideal that they are a bit muddy looking. Another one I feel may work better in colour
#2 - Not bad, slightly better contrast but his eyes are so dark there's no connection with him for me... I would be tempted on this and #1 to be using a bit of flash bounced if possible to help them compete with the brighter background and also bring some detail and catchlights to the eyes
#3 - Dude hold the camera straight! ;)
#4 - Fun, playful, excellent composition, I like this one a lot!
#5 - Erm again fun and playful but does have a slight sexual vibe... probs only think that because someone else said it though :D Good shot though!
#6 - The shallow DOF doesn't bother me and I'd probably have done the same, but is the subject perfectly in focus? I think he's just a bit OOF which spoils it for me.

Some good work there, processing is a bit more to my taste this time too... work to be done I feel but definitely on the right track
 
Cheers Andy, appreciate your comments as always :)

Have to say I'm not hugely proud of these. There are one or two I'm quite happy with but it was quite a challenging one tbh, the first two were capturing the couples' surprise announcement so I was reluctant to use any flash as it was a tiny room and wanted more predictable results (bouncing flash in there could have meant missing some important shots if I didn't nail it).

And yes, I know I need to do away with the tilt! The subject in the last one is the bride with the toast rather than the groom, but even she isn't quite as sharp as I would like, it was one of those where I had a split second to capture the moment so I focused using centre point and recomposed and probably lost a bit of sharpness in doing so.
 
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