Hick Engagement Aly and Tony

[curtyoungblood]

It is a nice set, and I'm sure they're happy with the photos.

I do feel you could use a little variety in the body length of the shots though. Everything is a full body (or more) shot. Don't be afraid to get in close and get some 1/2, 1/4, and closer shots.

 

[Derrel]

I'll echo what Trev said...some of the compositions seem very awkward. Specifically, the placement of the subjects off-center in a number of these just does not work well. It creates awkward visual tension, and in the case of one shot about 3/4 of the way through the unnumbered set, forces the eye off to the side,m to look at a rail fence and some coniferous trees. I'm not sure is you're trying to follow some type of rule of thirds interpretation or what, but it's not working. I liked the shot of her sitting astride the rail fence, but the bright area behind him is exceptionally distracting; perhaps you could burn that down carefully. I think overall, you did the right thing with this type of natural light. You used the light pretty well. On-screen, I looked at a few of these at the largest size on Flickr; the sharpening used seems rather overly sharpened; it looks a lot like Lightroom's rather coarse default sharpening for on-screen images.

 

[vintagesnaps]

The first one cuts her off just above the bottom of the shirttail which I think makes for a distraction that draws the viewer's eyes to it. I would have tried shooting that photo from a vantage point more to the right - from the angle used it shows more of both of her legs (which seems to add weight) and mostly just his leg that's closest to the camera; from straight on you might have gotten them both in profile if that's what you wanted, then could have framed the shot with space to the left if you didn't want them centered.

In that one there seems to be too much space below their feet, but in a few others there is too much space above their heads and too little space below their feet, or just too much space in general. Looks like you're getting some good photos of the subjects but still need to work on framing photos. I think the ones of them on or beside the fence are some of the better ones. If you were interested you could do a search on the Elements of composition in art, that should take you to some sites that cover the elements like space, shape, line, etc. and how to balance the various elements - I think composition can take time to learn and get good at consistently.

I agree that you might need some adjustment in exposure and/or processing. Overall you seem to be on the right track and probably just need to keep practicing and developing your skills.

 

[PropilotBW]

If the client wants a "yearbook" style album of photos, #1 and #2 definitely add a little variety to the set...and you already know who's feet they are. Sometimes different is good.