The selective color thing? I’m with matt and jm on this one — it’s such an obvious amateur treatment to create focus. Thinking outside the box should be with camera in hand, not with the raw files on your computer asking yourself, “What photoshop filters will make this look cool?”

My two cents.

Thanks for the article – some good info there for something that looks like it’s a simple part of the day.
Everyone stresses about the B&G formals, groups etc.. but you never hear them worry about the dances!

Glad you cleared up the spot colouring image – I can’t stand them myself, but the point of the article is to get people thinking outside of the box, so it does it’s job in that regard.

Alex

eB – that balcony shot is also an attempt to show the lights, and the same lights at the same settings will nicely light tighter shots of the couple (or other dancers) on the dancefloor so be sure to give it a try.

DevanW, Alan Nielsen – absolutely… bounced flash is a great technique for when you can’t physically get the flash off camera. Photographers need to watch for colour casts from the surface they are bouncing off, and of course you ideally need a room with a low ceiling so that you don’t lose too much light.

matt and jm – I’m actually not a fan of the selective colour thing myself… that image I posted above was taken 4 years ago when I was very much experimenting with what post processing and Photoshop offered. The fact is though that some people like it, and I did acknowledge that “photographers might think this look is cheesy”. I appreciate you both sound like you really do not like that particular treatment, but I would respectfully suggest your statement that “every time you hand over an image with a color accent, you are effectively trying to hold back the art of photography by ten years” is a little exaggerated. For the record, I took this shot as a guest at the wedding and was trying out a technique I had seen online. I believe all photographers should be encouraged to try new things and it’s up to them to dismiss or embrace them as they see fit. Indeed I would think that’s why many people visit this particular website.

Liz O’Grady – great tips too, thanks

jj, Web 2.0, Kelly Canova, acierman – thanks… glad you liked the tips and hope they are useful

ayoola solomon – I’m not really familiar with Canon’s lineup of lenses, but the best for this kind of photography are ones which have a wide aperture (e.g. f/2.8) throughout their range of focal lengths. These need not be Nikon or Canon – Tamron and Sigma make good value lenses. As for a flash – any you can take off the camera is a bonus, so ideally one with a PC socket and an optical slave window.