1st Bridal Shoot C&C welcome

[dkenney]

To Neat Image or to not Neat Image. What is your opinion. Your feedback is very welcome. This is my first client, hopefully paying client. ;)

[i2iSTUDIOS]

What ISO were you shooting at and why?

Pic 1, focus is not on the face, maybe sharpening it up might help.
Pic 2 is nice but it's a bit too tight but I'd like to see more of the top of her head.

[dkenney]

Thanks for your feedback. ISO is 400. Why? Because I forgot to check it before my shoot. Now that I have testified to that, I would hope that would embarrass me enough to not do that again. There is no help for the second pic, it was shot that tight. :(

I have a hard time getting the photos posted very cleanly... I have to take it down to 540 width and save as quality 8. it looses quite a bit. I just can't get it any bigger and stay under 100 kb. I am new not only to photography, but saving for posting as well.

[i2iSTUDIOS]

well, there seems to be quite a bit of grain in the 2nd pic, ISO 400 shouldn't have that much grain so either you brightened up the image or added sharpening to the 2nd picture. Resizing to 540 and saving image quality 8 isn't that big of a deal, I do 580 at 6 quality all the time and they look fine.

Keep shooting, the more you shoot the more you'll learn. :) Continue to post and get feedback, it's the best way of learning, learn by doing. :)

I've shoot at the wrong ISO before and it sucks. :( I even see the ISO setting in my view finder and some times i'm just too busy when I'm at an event, but **** happens. Try using an online image hosting site to host your images, they usually work better.

I use smugmug, you pay for it but it really is very friendly to use. Here's a $5 off coupon if you decide to use it :)

http://www.smugmug.com/?referrer=PJf6X72Bo7SMc

[joekr]

They look like a good start. I'd try and sharpen up the first one a little using an unsharp mask in PS. There is also a hot spot on her cheek that can be easily resolved in PS.

The second pic looks very nice. If there is actual noise due to the ISO, you could run the shot through noise ninga or something comparable to reduce it just a little.

Looks like a good start!

[Titus213]

Both look pretty good to me. Forgetting to reset your ISO is unforgiveable - I do it all the time and never forgive myself. :oops:

Picture #1 may be suffering motion blur as the shutter was down to 1/15. Since it was at f22 I'm not sure what you were doing...it looks a bit soft.

#2 looks fine to me. A bit tight on the crop but I like it. Also looks like an unnatural background in #2.

[krista]

I like #2 - I converted it to b&w and the noise wasn't as noticeable. Also - just a thought, try cropping in just slightly on the right to lose the arm. I like tight crops, but when there is part of an arm only it's a bit distracting. Just an idea...

[dkenney]

Thanks so much for the feedback. That is exactly what I need.
I attempted to sharpen the b/w and worked on the hotspot. Her shiny makeup and tan was killing me. I have so much to learn. I recropped the second shot, but I am not sure I like this one any better. Lesson learned here is shoot wider, crop later. I hurt myself by not allowing more in the frame to begin with.

Please let me know if any of these changes are better. I love all of your suggestions. Thanks so very much. i2iSTUDIOS, thanks for the coupon. I am going to check that out today. Right now I host at Fotki.

joekr, how do you remove hotspots? I used the dodge highlights. Wasn't sure if that was the best way to do it.

Thanks again!

[krista]

What a difference!

That second photo just pops now! Excellent!

[mackb]

Nice job, I think the bride will be happy!

[dkenney]

Thanks Krista! My initial intention with this shot was to show off her beautiful dress detail. I do appreciate your help. I hope she loves it to. She will view her photos this weekend.

[song4themoon]

I liked the second a lot, the first is better sharpened, but the background is very distracting. A very wide aperture could have fixed it by blurring the background... pp will probably look fake now... overall great job for first time!

[peatoire]

Thanks for your feedback. ISO is 400. Why? Because I forgot to check it before my shoot. Now that I have testified to that, I would hope that would embarrass me enough to not do that again. There is no help for the second pic, it was shot that tight. :(

I have a hard time getting the photos posted very cleanly... I have to take it down to 540 width and save as quality 8. it looses quite a bit. I just can't get it any bigger and stay under 100 kb. I am new not only to photography, but saving for posting as well.
The way to post optimum quality on here is to size to 800 then use the 'save for web' funtion near 'save'. Then you just play with the quality numbers until you get it below 100kb. If you just save in photoshop the icon it saves takes up too much menory.
Also just tweak it with a bit of USM before you save for web for the best results. Try 100% 0.6 pixels 0 threshold.
HTH
Andrew

PS. I'm assuming you're using photoshop, sorry if you aren't
PPS. I'm terrible for not checking the ISO if that makes you feel any better :-)

[dkenney]

PEATOIRE, thanks for the help with resizing. I was told before not to "save for web" becuase it takes away the EXIF info? So new to all of this, I don't know which is more important or if it's just preference. I appreciate the USM #s as well. I am going to work on some of my other shots from this shoot taking into consideration all of your advice :)

MACKB and SONG4THEMOON; thank you both for your comments!

[peatoire]

Glad to be of help, just remember tho' the size of the file changes the requirements of the USM settings. My example was for a web sized image.

BTW. Yes it does strip the EXIF. but the way I see it is you could always post the main EXIF points if someone needed to see it. You'll still have your original.

I would take a guess and say most folks here use 'save for web'

[dkenney]

I did not know that peatoire. I "usually" do USM prior to resizing. What would to do to a file that is closer to 32x48? And yes, I am using Photoshop CS2.

[peatoire]

There are many schools of thought here. Some start off with a huge amount, say 300 at .2 pixels.
I don't subscribe to that one as I've noticed it bring out noise too much on high ISO's.
on a full res pic I start of with 150-200 at 1 pixel and a threshold of 3.
Each image needs looking at individually though.
The more you bump up the threshold the more it ignores the small areas of detail so it's about finding a balance between getting a sharp pic and not sharpening the noise.

[dkenney]

Nice, thanks so much! I have so much to remember now in PS. I may forget to take off my lense cap next time. :)

[peatoire]

Also, for every downsize, the image will need looking again for sharpness. As you scale the image down it does get slightly softer.

[peatoire]

If you are fairly new to the Post production stuff go here: http://www.radiantvista.com
They are a great source of info on the most useful stuff on photoshop. It's all free with downloadable video tutorials. ( a good one on SmartSharpen in CS2)

[dkenney]

hooray! thanks again. I had no idea the pics softened when I resized them. I am going to that link now. Thanks for being so helpful to me!