The Photo

backyard-wedding-fade-650(Click here for a larger version!)

The Equipment and Settings

The Shooting Conditions

Whenever I am a guest at a wedding, I try to sit back, relax, and usually bring a minimal amount of gear.  As a full-time wedding photographer I guess I know all too well how annoying a bothersome “uncle bob” can be.  So if I’m playing the part of “uncle bob”, I have two goals as a photographer-slash-wedding guest:

  1. Stay out of the paid photographer’s way.  Yes, I may wander around during the ceremony and look for nice angles from which to shoot creatively, however I always keep out of the way and let them do their job.
  2. Don’t distract the couple.  During the designated portrait time, as well as during any important moments of the day, I let the paid pro do their thing.  They know what they want during the cake cutting, first dance, and where the couple’s attention should be.

I guess this kinda sounds like a preachy soapbox to all the other uncle bobs out there, but it’s not meant to be.  I’m also interested in my own enjoyment of the day, which is a difficult task when you’re a camera geek.  It is hard to resist the temptation to crawl all over the place and shoot photos of everything and everybody.  So, I just keep telling myself that my real hobby isn’t people photography, it’s landscape photography, so I should sit back and relax!

Often times, when you sit back and relax, you actually wind up getting some of your favorite images, or finding a unique perspective on the day that nobody else may have seen…

The Post-Processing

For this image, I used the SLR Lounge Preset system’s vintage fade “Mixology” presets, with a slight amount of fine tuning to the overall exposure which was originally a little bright.  Here is a standard-processed image using the SLR Lounge Preset System’s “Soft Portrait” preset, and then the “Warm Vintage Fade” preset.

backyard-wedding-650

backyard-wedding-fade-650

(I’m sure that many people will like one or the other, so we’re posting both!)

Take care, and happy clicking,
=Matthew Saville=

The SLR Lounge Preset System

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The SLR Lounge Preset System is designed to enable users to achieve virtually any look and effect within 3-5 simple clicks. From basic color correction, vintage fades, black & white effects, tilt-shift effects, faux HDR, retouching, detail enhancing, and so much more. The sky is the limit with what has been dubbed the most powerful and intuitive preset system available. Click the link above to learn more/purchase!  The SLR Lounge Preset System is now available for both Lightroom 4 and Adobe Camera Raw! (Bridge CS6)

You can also purchase the SLR Lounge Preset System as part of the Lightroom 4 Workshop Collection.