Gah, its so tacky now, but the bride has requested it...

[cowasaki]

on a different note - have you noted that confetti seems to be thrown really randomly nowadays, wherever, whenever the guests feel like it. We have had to start coordinating it to get the shot

Yes. I have only done one wedding so far and a checked the wind direction, checked it was ok to throw the confetti there etc. Told everyone to wait for my signal. Changed the settings on the camera and as soon as I lifted the camera to move it towards the bride and groom someone threw their confetti quickly followed by most of the others. I then said "Right anybody that wants their confetti in the picture and still has some if you can stand there and throw it when I shout"....... One person left!

 

[robbys82]

If it were me:

in lightroom reduce saturation on all colours other than pink will normally pic up just confetti, then desaturate any unwanted bits. Takes a couple a minute or two and keeps the client happy.

Just don't put it in your portfolio if you are that upset by it all lol.

I tend to avoid this technique if possible but people do tend to ask about it occasionally even though I don't show examples of it

re: richard, I end up coordinating people for this reason, they tend to really enjoy it too, coordinated bombardment lol

 

[cowasaki]

Why?

I've been asked to do it twice in 4 years. I declined on both occasions. I showed them why with examples and both booked. Not doing this has never cost me a wedding.

I'm booked for the work I do, and people see that work on my website. Why would I then start doing something completely different? People won't see spot-colouring on my website, or sepia. So they know it's not what I do before they even talk to me.

I appreciate what you are saying but a little bit of flexibility is nice too so if someone wants a few B&W, sepia or spot colour images they can have them but that is just my opinion. But not on the site/portfolio.

 

[Radiohead]

But it's not what I do. People don't come to me looking for it.

 

[cowasaki]

re: richard, I end up coordinating people for this reason, they tend to really enjoy it too, coordinated bombardment lol

I tried but I clearly over estimated their abilities to follow simple commands

 

[cowasaki]

But it's not what I do. People don't come to me looking for it.

No they come to you looking for a wedding photographer then maybe just want one or two pictures away from what you normally do. Seems reasonable to me but if you don't want to then there is no problem. I was just saying that I would tell them it doesn't really look that nice but it can be done if they want it. Especially in the current financial environment something that might make them chose a different photographer is probably not the best move.

But like I said, it's your business you make the rules.

 

[boyfalldown]

No they come to you looking for a wedding photographer then maybe just want one or two pictures away from what you normally do. Seems reasonable to me but if you don't want to then there is no problem. I was just saying that I would tell them it doesn't really look that nice but it can be done if they want it. Especially in the current financial environment something that might make them chose a different photographer is probably not the best move.

But like I said, it's your business you make the rules.

I have to disagree with you there. I'm sorry if this post comes across in anyway arrogant, its not meant to be.

In the current financial and competetive photography market, its more important than ever they pick the right photographer, 1 bad booking (through nobodies fault) may cost you 5 or 10 good ones.

The simple reason for not doing selective colouring is I like to produce (or try too anyway) photography that is timeless and elegant (no comments about not managing) and selective coluring isn't that - its something other then what I do so I'd rather say no if it came to it and continue to build my business in a way that suits me and my clients and keeps us both happy

 

[robbys82]

I tried but I clearly over estimated their abilities to follow simple commands

I get them to form two lines and then the get the b+g to walk through and leave them all to it

 

[Radiohead]

No they come to you looking for a wedding photographer then maybe just want one or two pictures away from what you normally do. Seems reasonable to me but if you don't want to then there is no problem. I was just saying that I would tell them it doesn't really look that nice but it can be done if they want it. Especially in the current financial environment something that might make them chose a different photographer is probably not the best move.

But like I said, it's your business you make the rules.

They won't want just one or two - that's a massive red flag for me that tells me that we're not a good fit. Like I said, it's happened twice in 4 years so my website is clearly pre-qualifying that with the portfolio I have.

I'm not sure why wedding photographers are expected to do anything and everything they're asked? I target a particular market and they tend to be very sure about what they want. I have, and will, decline weddings where we're not a good fit (because there are plenty more photographers who will be a good fit for them). If I change my approach to flip around with anyone who calls me then I'm mad, especially at my prices.

Current financial conditions or not - a consistent, high quality approach is more important than ever.

This tells me my approach is working.

 

[unclened]

i would do it and have done similar stuff to make the client happy. I tell them i'll only do it for one shot and thats it. I find that if we are at that stage, they like my work enough and agreeing to do it is like a favour unto them and I think they'll appreciate me more if I show that I am flexible enough to accomodate some of their requests. I won't include the shot in my portfolio, but one shot won't kill me. Also I suspect the OP is fairly early in their wedding career, when every booking counts.

As for technique, I would say that a shot like this would take me 20 mins max to do in LR.

In develop module, go to adjustments, get a large brush, with lots of flow and desaturate the whole image. You may want to increase contrast slightly. Then get a small erase brush with lots of feathering and roughly 50 flow and erase the confetti to show the colour. All very similar to layer masking in PS. Once you have revealed the confetti, go to HSL section and increase a little of red, yellow, orange, blue etc.. to make the confetti pop a little more against the b&w. Job done.

I also find that at the time of shooting, to advise the guests to throw the confetti in the air, rather than at them.

 

[cowasaki]

I use LR3 but have been amazed at how many people are using it for more complicated PP. I would never have thought about using LR for this type of thing as I would just hit edit in external editor and use CS5, still would but amazed.

 

[unclened]

I use LR3 but have been amazed at how many people are using it for more complicated PP. I would never have thought about using LR for this type of thing as I would just hit edit in external editor and use CS5, still would but amazed.

Agreed. I am not as familiar with PS as I am with LR. Even still, the process wouldnt take more than 15-20 using the basic LR approach, probably less for PS.

 

[cowasaki]

Agreed. I am not as familiar with PS as I am with LR. Even still, the process wouldnt take more than 15-20 using the basic LR approach, probably less for PS.

I don't get 1/4 of what I'm paying for in LR3 but I only pay £65 so it's not too bad! I use CS5 for nearly everything including levels etc. I know you can do that with LR3 but I just prefer the CS5 method. I mainly use it as a photo storage setup (using my method for keeping everything including the catalogue on the network) - Every shot is tagged for what it was etc plus people etc and film shots get tagged for lens/camera (it tags camera/lens etc from EXIF for the rest). I do use it to make adjustments to exposure, colour and the like plus cropping and maybe a bit of red eye plus I like the grad ND filter now! The only reason I upgraded from LR2 was for the speed hike with 64bit and the tethered shooting although I haven't actually noticed much of a hike in speed.