Not a Wedding Photographer—Part 1

I am not a wedding photographer. I do not want to be a wedding photographer. And, after you see this week’s photos, you will probably say: “It’s a good thing that you do not want to be a wedding photographer, because if you did, you have a lot of work to do!”

I know what you are thinking. If you are not a wedding photographer and do not want to be one, how in the world is it that you are presenting wedding photographs on your blog? Well, it is a long story, so let’s just say that I agree to be the second shooter at a wedding during a moment of temporary insanity.

What was my job at the wedding? I was to shoot the groom and groomsmen before the ceremony, the bride outside the church, the ceremony from the balcony and some candid shots after the ceremony. A little advice here for anyone thinking about being the second shooter at a wedding: photographing a bunch of guys is no picnic, especially not at a wedding. Why? Because guys do not like having their photos taken and they really do not want to be the guy who messes-up anyone woman’s wedding by being “the dork in the bad photograph.”

All the groomsmen at the wedding were great guys, but they were guys. So, getting a great GQ shot at the wedding was not really in the cards. Today’s shot is of my groomsmen and Master Hunter. Why is almost everyone watching Hunter? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that at the rehearsal he did a few drop kicks of the ring pillow.

Enjoy.

Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 at 20mm, shot at ISO 200, f/9.5 and 1/90^th of a second with Nikon SB-800s shot through a translucent umbrella at camera left and right and triggered by Nikon SU-800 using CLS.

Post Processing:

Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.

Photoshop—Cloned a few hot spots out of the photograph and used nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter to add contrast to shadows, mid-tones and highlights.