Bunch of PP questions and need advice on engagement photos

Foxx

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Yo TPF

I'll cut to the chase, I have two shots here that I really like and I am fairly certain and exposed well. I did PP on them and initially liked the result but am not so sure now. I have included my work and have also included the raw shots.

The second half of my posts is questions on shooting a friends' engagement photos. Scroll down to see what's going on. I didn't feel the need to create two separate posts, no need to clog up the forum!

#1 - Atlanta Skyline. I know the shot is a bit blurry at 100% crop, this is because I was at my highest focal length. Hittin the limits of my optics ;) However, my question is how can I bring more "life" into this shot? I've seen other skyline photos where the overall picture is much brighter -- I felt as though this would detract from the "night" feeling of the image. Am I wrong? What should I be doing differently? Any edits are welcomed!

RAW: 20120617-IMG_0779.CR2

atlanta_skyline_by_pianoblack97-d5401m7.jpg


#2 - My tired dog. I loved this shot, and I thought it would make a good B&W(thought it had good contrasting lighting). Now though I'm not sure I went in the right direction with the PP I did. Should the shot be lighter? More contrast? Is her fur blow out too much? Please, any C&C would be greatly appreciated and any edits are welcome!

RAW: 20120618-IMG_0795.CR2

magic_moments_by_pianoblack97-d54092k.jpg





----------------------------------------PART 2--------------------------------------------------

A long time friend of mine is getting married and has asked if I would like to do an extra set of engagement photos for her. She wasn't happy with the first set she did(with some other professional photographer) and wants to get a few more shots to use for the wedding. She knows I am an amateur and I am planning to explain to her I have VERY little experience doing anything like this. I will not be charging her, it's going to be more of a learning experience for me.

I will probably have access to a strobe+softbox and a speedlite OCF. The last time I used them(if anyone remembers) I had great results and I enjoyed the experience. However I do not know if I want to use these, I am much more comfortable shooting in outdoor settings. So my question is this: how should I approach the situation? Though this is learning experience and my friend is fully aware that I am not promising any quality I want to do the best I can for the couple. Should I stick with one environment or should I mix n' match? Outdoors with lighting? Only outdoors? Only indoors? I'm a bit intimidated and want to make sure I make the best use of my time with them.

Any advice?


Thanks for reading through the thread! I know it's a lot to leave in one post but I'm counting on you guys to help me out :)
 
I'm glad my thread got moved, I'm getting way more responses on this board.
 
I didn't feel the need to create two separate posts, no need to clog up the forum!

You could copy and paste ..........PART 2 ............... to it's own thread in the Beyond the Basics section.
 
If you try to do a longer exposure of the city scape you'll get larger halos around the lighting but you will see more detail in the buildings. Personally what I do is shoot my images at sunset and then darken them to make them appear at night.
 
If they are long term friends it should be a more relaxed shoot. more like everyone is hanging out versus a strict 1 hour timeframe with a stranger. so go out and have fun with it. start out getting the shots you are comfortable with. and then as the shoot progresses, try some things with the lighting so you can learn a bit. and maybe take a few chances once you know you have some good shots allready.
 
If you try to do a longer exposure of the city scape you'll get larger halos around the lighting but you will see more detail in the buildings. Personally what I do is shoot my images at sunset and then darken them to make them appear at night.

thanks! hadn't thought of this, I'll give this a shot.

If they are long term friends it should be a more relaxed shoot. more like everyone is hanging out versus a strict 1 hour timeframe with a stranger. so go out and have fun with it. start out getting the shots you are comfortable with. and then as the shoot progresses, try some things with the lighting so you can learn a bit. and maybe take a few chances once you know you have some good shots allready.

thanks for the advice, I'll definitely be trying this. I'll probably need the loosening up more than them haha


Wow. What did you do?? Is this just a temperature shift or did you do something more advanced? Thanks for the edit!
 
I was trying to find a video to post that shows a photographer standing by to shoot a sunset cityscape, with some examples attached at the end. The way the video goes (from decent memory) is he show photographs from when the sun is dipping below the horizon, from about a 15 minute window during twilight, and then after the sun was gone.

The twilight shots with the sunlight reflecting off the atmosphere were the most dramatic and gave the city a glow that made it print worthy. For yours, I think it's a bit too dark and all you have if the light pollution from the city lights creating that halo.

I think it would be more powerful if you had some detail in the foreground and in the buildings, by having some of that residual twilight in the shot with an appropriate shutter.

How many shots are combined in that first image?
 
A bit more advanced. Here are the layers ...

layers.jpg

So I understand the first two(sat/hue and gradient mapping) but I've never used smart filters before. Care to school me on how you did this with a bit more explanation? I'd love to learn :)

I think it would be more powerful if you had some detail in the foreground and in the buildings, by having some of that residual twilight in the shot with an appropriate shutter.

How many shots are combined in that first image?

I'm definitely going to try this at twilight, though the sun will be almost exactly on the right side of the city as I'm facing south for this shot. It's all one shot BTW, this was taken about 16 miles north of the city.
 

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