DSLR Photography Forum

We went to a wedding tonight, for a woman in my girlfriend's department at work.

They had a 'pro' wedding photographer. He was expensive.
He had a single Nikon body (might have been a D80 but it looked small--maybe a D40?) and I never saw him change lenses.
No backup photog or assistant.
Just a Nikon in a flash bracket with a SpeedLite.
(That's how you know they are pros!)

I thought about the situation during dinner at the reception and decided that the newlyweds would appreciate something different as my personal gift.

I took a smoke-break and after checking on the progress of the SA Spurs basketball game on our car radio I noticed that the full moon had climbed to a nice spot in the sky.
(Note: There was a Full Lunar Eclipse an hour or so earlier--I have some shots of that, too.)

The Church in which the ceremony took place was right next to the reception hall, so I walked into the street and braced my Sony F717 against the tailgate of a pickup truck to take this 2-second portrait of the steeple, the full moon with a halo/distant-ring, and a tree.

My thinking was that after The Honeymoon they might be happy to receive a print of this scene captured during the post-wedding party, showing what was happening in the sky over the heads of their guests in the building in which the ceremony took place.

And while I was shooting this concept I rolled my camera's counter over again, passing the 20,000 mark.

I like this shot , pretty cool .

...... Shawn

I am sure they will love seeing a memento of their wedding in years to come.
And you will remember no doubt when you see the shot, of your 20 thousandth shot.

Beautiful picture and meaningful to celebrate your 20k picture.

Thanks for sharing the story and photo Keith. I remember that during my own wedding, my dad did almost the same thing - he wandered out the front of the church and took a very memorable shot (incidentally almost from the same angle as yours), which the main photographer didn't get.

Wow, great quality and no noise at all! I'm not sure whether you take my recommends into consideration when shooting next time, but in my opinion the tree on the right should be entirely in the photo. Or not be there at all. But yeah, as I mentioned, excellent quality!

Thanks, everyone.

XeoX, I was within spitting distance of a busy street, and there were overhead wires that would have been in the middle of the shot had I backed-up to the other side of the road. I took the shot from the only location available.
If you really think about the placement of eveything, there's no way to lose the tree without losing the moon, and getting the whole tree wasn't an option, and even if it was the moon and steeple would have been much smaller. The church steeple and moon are the subjects, so that's not an good option either, and I feel the tree helps balance the composition by adding weight to the right side without competing for too much attention.

I have found that an all-or-nothing approach to including something in a shot usually means that one comes home with very few photos. In the real world, we make the best of what we are presented.

The original file had digital noise, so I got rid of it.
Thanks for the comments.

congrats, nice memories for both you and your girlfriend's friend!