nightbreath, I've spent a lot of time trying to reverse engineer other people's pictures, and a lot of time photographing weddings and developing my own style, I've learned quite a few things in the process, so here are my 2 cents:
Your photos are very good, and your self-criticism reminds me of my own self-criticism. Believe me, the only way to improve is to look at your work with the most critical eye and check your ego at the door. Your mind is definitely in the right place. So here are some concrete comments:
Keep in mind that what people post on their website is their absolute best work. Some wedding photogs take it further and actually stage shots with models in order to get a mind blowing portfolio (i.e. not real weddings). There is good evidence on the pictures you posted that the photographer may have done just that, or at the very least, took these at a really slow wedding because of the more elaborate shot setups.
On the picture of the bride by the window where bridesmaids are buttoning up her dress, the main light is window light but you can see that he used a flash for back lighting, 45 degrees to the right of the camera and behind the bride. You pointed out different warm/cool areas in the image and were asking how to do it. In this window example I mentioned, the photog cooled down the entire scene via WB setting, used a golden reflector to warm up the bride’s face, and probably put a warm gel on the strobe in the back as well because the highlight looks white to me. This is why the background looks so cold, and subject looks warm-ish.
Anyway, this is the point I'm trying to make - during a real wedding, I would never go through the trouble of setting up strobes with gels in order to get that one shot. It's just not time-effective, and there are too many things going on. However, if I wanted to get a kick-ass portfolio, I would get a model, and take my time perfecting the lighting for that one portfolio shot.
You can clearly operate the camera, you have lots of creative thought, and it’s a real shame you are in a market where you can’t flourish. In north America, you could easily charge 3K+ for your work. I think the area of improvement that you need to focus on is post processing. And I know some people here are saying your images are “color correct†etc, and that you shouldn’t try to copy the other processing… but “correct color†is not what you necessarily want in modern wedding photography. In fact I go out of my way to make my colors incorrect if it creates the kind of mood I want.
Lastly, a bit of a sobering thought: In my personal experience, I realized after a long time that hard work and continuous improvement and learning will make you realize your potential, but there is still that extra 10-15% that some people have, and some will never be able to attain. It’s like anything else – there are great singers, and there are legendary ones. A long time ago I realized that I’ll never be nearly as good as Sean Flanigan, but that didn’t stop me from trying to get as close as my talent would allow.
If you want to reverse engineer a photograph, I encourage you to ask these questions:
-What kind of lighting setup did they use? On-camera? Off-camera? Natural? How many light sources?
-Look at the white balance in the image (by looking at white areas for example) and figure which (if any) gels were used to warm up certain areas.
-If it’s an outdoor shot, determine whether it was taken in a cloudy day or sunny by looking at the shadows
-Open the image in photoshop, and using the color picker tool determine if any tints were applied to shadows or highlights
-Don’t forget to look at the environment where the original image was taken. For example – in that bathroom picture that you posted – there is a lot of naturally occurring blue in the scene (wall tiles etc) so the image naturally looks cold, which is why it’s easy to make the face pop out, if you only put a mild orange gel on your flash.
You don't need a new camera, you just need a militant approach to image analysis. Good luck with everything and feel free to email me.
