The Wife, Lost in Corn

[MichaelHenson]

She wasn't actually lost...she just kept being the first out of the corn maze and then going back in. On one of her trips out I caught this one...I like the mood/feel a lot!

Edit: Critique welcome...

 

[mmaria]

critiquing is not that simple with you saying that you like the picture.... and.... when you say you like something, that really is all that matters...

 

[MichaelHenson]

Critique won't change how I feel about it...

I'd love to receive critique though! Not gonna improve otherwise....

 

[mmaria]

Critique won't change how I feel about it...

I'd love to receive critique though! Not gonna improve otherwise....

....and that's the proper attitude

I would love to give you my opinion but my monitor is messing with me... someone will give you some thoughts...

as for me... I'm not really liking her expression.... I think we have the same type of the hair and I think she's beautiful

 

[MichaelHenson]

Critique won't change how I feel about it...

I'd love to receive critique though! Not gonna improve otherwise....

....and that's the proper attitude

I would love to give you my opinion but my monitor is messing with me... someone will give you some thoughts...

as for me... I'm not really liking her expression.... I think we have the same type of the hair and I think she's beautiful

I get that. We were at a birthday party for a 5 year old and the whole gang of them went into the corn maze...she came out about 4 times before the rest of them. So, this look is her looking around to see if she could see them or if she needed to go back into to look around. It's a very, "I'm confused...I have no clue what's going on?" look...

 

[mmaria]

I like her
but... hate my monitor

 

[xzyragon]

the temp of the picture seems slightly cold. Not sure if that was the mood you were going for, or a byproduct of messing with the shadows / blacks / whites levels

 

[MichaelHenson]

Probably mostly due to the mood I was going for...As soon as I saw this one on my screen I saw it kind of hazy/moody. However, most of my other pictures from that day turned out cold. It was really overcast but not dark...just gray skies. I didn't change white balance in camera for "cloudy" and I didn't do much in LR to compensate. I'll check it out this evening and see how it looks with a bit warmer "cast."

 

[xzyragon]

Probably mostly due to the mood I was going for...As soon as I saw this one on my screen I saw it kind of hazy/moody. However, most of my other pictures from that day turned out cold. It was really overcast but not dark...just gray skies. I didn't change white balance in camera for "cloudy" and I didn't do much in LR to compensate. I'll check it out this evening and see how it looks with a bit warmer "cast."

if you shoot in RAW, all your WB levels are changeable in lightroom / photoshop without degrading the image. I always try and aim to get the skin tones right on people, which is why I commented.

BUT, it could just be your style. I have a friend who often PP's his work to look similar to this, and it works for a lot of his images. It might not be "technically" correct, but it's his style and helped his stuff get noticed.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Probably mostly due to the mood I was going for...As soon as I saw this one on my screen I saw it kind of hazy/moody. However, most of my other pictures from that day turned out cold. It was really overcast but not dark...just gray skies. I didn't change white balance in camera for "cloudy" and I didn't do much in LR to compensate. I'll check it out this evening and see how it looks with a bit warmer "cast."

if you shoot in RAW, all your WB levels are changeable in lightroom / photoshop without degrading the image. I always try and aim to get the skin tones right on people, which is why I commented.

BUT, it could just be your style. I have a friend who often PP's his work to look similar to this, and it works for a lot of his images. It might not be "technically" correct, but it's his style and helped his stuff get noticed.

I do shoot in RAW...always have so I have PP flexibility. I'll play around with it a bit more and post an edited version that's slightly warmed up. I'm working really hard on getting the FUNDAMENTALS of composition and technical perfection down but keep bumping into "artistic license" and how to get a good blend of images that aren't the same as everyone else's but that stay within the realm of appreciation for those that appreciate a photo that is technically well executed.

Not there yet, but I will be someday.

 

[bribrius]

like the pic. nice wife.
I don't see anything wrong here other than what might fall under personal preference. Light isn't too harsh, has some depth, focus isn't totally off. It is a little soft but not a bad thing.
Framing seems fine.
I got nothing. Decent image.

 

[The_Traveler]

You would get better critique if you allow editing because it is difficult to describe the effects that a bit of editing will show quite well.

And, if you say that you would rather edit yourself, there is nothing preventing you from doing that but not allowing editing really hurts the number, clarity, completeness and quality of comments you get.
From my viewpoint it is much too loosely framed (for no obvious artistic reason), waayyyy too flat and cold and tilted.
Although it is difficult to see at this size, her face looks slightly OOF.

 

[Derrel]

Lucky she's not a blonde!!!!

 

[MichaelHenson]

View attachment 86664 Lucky she's not a blonde!!!!

True!

I've warmed it up a bit...and feel free to edit. I'll change my profile to indicate that I'm cool with it.

From my viewpoint it is much too loosely framed (for no obvious artistic reason), waayyyy too flat and cold and tilted.
Although it is difficult to see at this size, her face looks slightly OOF.

The idea with the framing was to convey more of a sense of "something going on" than simply a candid portrait. I thought that it worked for that, but I get what you are saying...I would love to see an example of how to combat the "flatness, coldness (maybe my edits fixed that?), and tiltedness." I'm very inexperienced and not afraid to use it as an excuse...

 

[Derrel]

The flatness being referred to...I thought that was due to one of the new Lightroom "deliberately desaturated blacks" kinda' pre-set looks...which is a very popular and currently trending look on the internetz...

I took a stab at it, with a more-vivid color rendering, and cropped to 1:1 aspect ratio. I'm not sure that square helps this, but it does look different!