Wedding Photo of the Day
You remember your first time don’t you? My first (and only) wedding shoot was a year ago today. My cousin asked me if I could be the photographer at her wedding, and I agreed. I may be just cocky enough to think that I can do anything. I said yes without any hesitation. As the time drew near though I started to doubt myself, and my abilities as a photographer. As I started looking at other wedding pictures I realized that I had a lot left to learn. Shooting sports is fairly easy. If you screw up the shot unless is was the game changer you have plenty of opportunities the rest of the game. At a wedding you have one shot to get most of the things that you need. You really don’t have time to ask them to do the first kiss again if you missed it. A wedding is a big deal for all involved, and you have to tip your cap to those that shoot them every weekend. They handle a lot of pressure, and the pros get the shots that they need to get. I have learned a lot in a year, and I think that I could have done a much better job if I was asked today. I still had a blast, and my experience that day started a learning cycle that led to this photo a day challenge, and the skills that I have picked up in that year. If not for a few mistakes that bothered my I might not have gotten better, but rather just kept shooting the same things over and over again because I was good at them.
Technical Data
This was one of the first shoots I had with my new 60D camera. In fact I bought the camera with this wedding in mind. My Rebel XT just could not shoot in low light, but the 60D could. Learning your new camera at a wedding is not a great idea so I spent most of the week leading up to the wedding learning the thing on the fly. I did not shoot RAW then because quite frankly I didn’t understand why people did. Looking back a year later I really wish that I had shot in RAW. I could have gone back and made some of the flat pictures pop like I thought they should have. I did bring a couple of shots into Lightroom to see what I could do to them. For the most part editing a JPG is not easy. I did managed to get this shot to look a little better after applying my LBD (Lafayette Brawlin’ Dolls) preset to it. The LBD preset is basically Matt Kloskowski’s 300 look preset, but tweaked to focus on pinks instead of reds. I liked the look, and I think that it brought a little something different to the picture.
Kelby Worldwide Photowalk
Here is that part of the post where I talk about the photowalk that I am leading on campus after the Wisconsin game in October. The date is October 13th to be exact, and the walk will start at 4 o’clock est at the Neil Armstrong Statue in front of the Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Over 1,000 photowalks are planned around the world. If you are not near West Lafayette then you kind find a walk near you on the Kelby site. Sign up now to be part of this event. Nearly 17,000 walkers have already signed up so far. Activity has picked up a bit on the Purdue sites even with the short time being posted. You don’t have to be a pro (I am far from it) to attend. Any kind of camera is welcome as well. Here are a few links to the various sites which promote the event. If you want to sign up you should do so on the Kelby site in order to be eligible for the prizes though.
Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk ( Official Purdue Site)
Dave Wegiel Photography 