Group 1 few for C&C

CyclonePWR · May 31, 2009

My parents renewed their vows this past last weekend. Here are a few photos I took. I have a few more good ones I might post up later.

1. f2.8 ss1/8 ISO800. I think it was all natural light from a skylight. I dont think I used the flash. Maybe this one would work better with a different crop???
Also I think this one went a little soft after I converted it to jpeg so it lost a little detail but I kind of like it like that, IDK?

2. 3 has the same info. f3.5 SS 1/80 ISO200 20mm. It rained most of the day so I just got a shot time outside in the evening. But it was perfect light. I used fill flash here. I just caught the moment. I wish I would have zoomed in to more like 45mm, would have been much better and it would have blur the background more. Or i'll try tighter crop

3. Same as 2 just in B&W I am not sure wish one I like more. What do you all think?

Thanks

Sherman Banks · May 31, 2009

I think you should push the levels on the first to get more white. I bet your histogram isn't showing much happening on the right side of this one as it looks mostly grey. Nice shot otherwise.

I'm unsure of which version I like better of your second shot. I think the color works with the framing you have here, but the B&W would benefit from a crop since your parting with the color of the flowers and stuff on that side of the frame.

Good shots though, and congrats to your parents!

CyclonePWR · Jun 1, 2009

Sherman Banks said:
I think you should push the levels on the first to get more white. I bet your histogram isn't showing much happening on the right side of this one as it looks mostly grey. Nice shot otherwise.

I'm unsure of which version I like better of your second shot. I think the color works with the framing you have here, but the B&W would benefit from a crop since your parting with the color of the flowers and stuff on that side of the frame.

Good shots though, and congrats to your parents!

Thank you,

I though about pushing the first one more, but then you would lose details of the dress?

Sherman Banks · Jun 1, 2009

Here is a quick edit to push the whites up a bit. Didn't really lose any detail that wasn't there to begin with. Just used the fill light slider in Camera Raw and a levels adjustment layer in Photoshop.

Edit: Didn't notice the detail the adjustment brought out on the door but also a simple fix by masking the levels layer.

CyclonePWR · Jun 1, 2009

I guess the dress could be more white. But I like how the door goes black on the top left cornor and the darker walls, so idk if i want to use the fill.

Bitter Jeweler · Jun 1, 2009

I love the concept of the first image. I think it works well centered. But the distortion really bothers me. The softeness doesn't bother me, I think it works very well in this beautiful photo. It lends itself to the softness, and shearness of the fabric. I hope you don't mind the edit, I didn't nail it, but it's late and time for bed.

On the other two, I think the groom is a little to far off to the left.
The lighting looks great. I prefer the black and white myself, except the dress is more blown in that one.

CyclonePWR · Jun 1, 2009

Bitter Jeweler said:
I love the concept of the first image. I think it works well centered. But the distortion really bothers me. The softeness doesn't bother me, I think it works very well in this beautiful photo. It lends itself to the softness, and shearness of the fabric. I hope you don't mind the edit, I didn't nail it, but it's late and time for bed.

On the other two, I think the groom is a little to far off to the left.
The lighting looks great. I prefer the black and white myself, except the dress is more blown in that one.

Yeah thanks for the fix, I need to learn to fix the distortion.

I think you are right on the groom part. Little crop will fix that plus a little tighter might be nice.

Bitter Jeweler · Jun 1, 2009

For the distortion, (and I just found this) in Photoshop CS3, once you select your Crop, you can check the Perspective box, which is no there till you select your crop. You can then freely move that bounding box to a custom trapezoid. I quickly attempted to line the side up with the molding ( i missed a little), then procceeded to crop. That left some white areas on the sides from stretching or shortening. I used the clone tool to replace it with wall the paper (or paint) because I didn't want to loose that space (tighter crop).

Your mom should be pleased with that image, it's very nice.

I am curious if you can do this with GIMP. I'd like to know, because I will be helping a friend learn PP, and she has Gimp.

Sherman Banks · Jun 1, 2009

Nice edit David!

linpelk · Jun 1, 2009

Nice pictures! I like the dress, but immediately felt uneasy about the distorted door frame. David did a great job fixing that issue (and I learned something new...thanks David for explaining how you did that). I think the soft focus works good here. I just wish those wrinkles in the bottom of the dress weren't there. Maybe you can fix them in PP. I'm no good at Photoshop so I'm no help.

In Pic #2, I think you did a good job with your framing. You included the entire dress, which is important. Maybe if shot horizontally, you could have given the groom a little more room on the left, but I think it works this way just fine. I like the color version, personally. I think in the B & W, you lose the flowers.

You might have shot this at a smaller aperture and captured the flowers in crisper detail, but that's just being picky.

Congrats to your parents. They look great!

sburatorul · Jun 2, 2009

nice idea in the first one but watch out for the lines in a photo... or straighten them out later in post as bitter did. i personally like the second one in color, the flowers in the pool are a good point of focus too where my eyes go after i look at the couple. although in my opinion B&W is better for expressing emotion, this one doesnt cut it for me(i mean the last one).

CyclonePWR · Jun 2, 2009

Thanks everyone.

The reason I asked about the last two is because I want to have a larger one printed for them and not sure which. I think I will go with the color one. I agree that the b&w has more emotion but here bc of the flowers color is better. I will still do the b&w but smaller.

Breanna · Jun 2, 2009

Geeze, how old are you if your parents look that young?

Gorgeous dress!

I love the edit that Bitter Jeweler did. It's a great image. You nailed the lighting- its very dramatic and totally does the dress justice.

I prefer the color version of the second image.

CyclonePWR · Jun 2, 2009

Breanna said:
Geeze, how old are you if your parents look that young? Gorgeous dress!

I love the edit that Bitter Jeweler did. It's a great image. You nailed the lighting- its very dramatic and totally does the dress justice.

I prefer the color version of the second image.

I am 24 they are almost 50.