Selective Colouring

[DAG123]

Something from the weekend

[35mm]

I think it is beautiful just the bottom of the dress is too blown out and it takes a lot of the focus

[DAG123]

I am going to use this as the first image (8x10) in their album and utilize the bottom of the photo where it is blown out to add the B&G's name and wedding details...trying to make the best of it!

It actually did have a bit more detail near the bottom before I made it B&W. I also made a copy with the bottom cropped out and it looked better.

[E3_Photo_Studio]

It's VERY beautiful, and the Bride will probably cry when she sees it. :) I do agree that the bottom of the dress should be cropped a little, but it still looks gorgeous.

[mackb]

I don't comment on pics a lot, but my wife is at the CPU with me and she said....WOW that's good!....ok now I feel I should comment too,...I like it, the red looks a little dark, but might be my screen.

[song4themoon]

I absolutely love it just the way it is.. I dont think its is bad at all that the bottom is blown out.. to me it actually works perfect because thats where the flowers are.. so you dont take attention off the flowers.. its goes neatless from attention to the dress to attention to the flowers.. I really like it

[NickSimcheck]

I like it too, but I think it might look a little better if you faded the color ever-so-slightly. A bit to contrasty for me, BUT contrast is the whole point, so take my advise with a grain of salt.

[DAG123]

I like it too, but I think it might look a little better if you faded the color ever-so-slightly. A bit to contrasty for me, BUT contrast is the whole point, so take my advise with a grain of salt.

I actually turned up the saturation a bit on the reds...

Hey, I think this type of photo may appeal to Brides more...and that is our market so why not use the effect ;) .

This Bride and her Mom loved it and I have shown it to another potential customer (bride) who I think might be sold ny her reaction to this stuff as well. Cater to the client I say...

[tim]

What are you trying to achieve with selective color? The problem I see with selective color as most people use it is they're trying to create "cool" photos, not good photos. I would suggest thinking about your aims and motivations.

Of course customers like the "gee whiz" cheesy shots, and as they go, I quite like this one.

[song4themoon]

Tim,

first time I have to disagree with you. The selective coloring is sooooooooooo popular with brides. 9 out of 10 couples that come for an introduction meeting ask me if I can do that.. they saw it somewhere and love it.



Oh I agree with previous poster that toning down the saturation a bit would give it a better, softer look

[Bakewell]

What are you trying to achieve with selective color? The problem I see with selective color as most people use it is they're trying to create "cool" photos, not good photos. I would suggest thinking about your aims and motivations.

Of course customers like the "gee whiz" cheesy shots, and as they go, I quite like this one.

This is sooo popular now that Canon has this "built-in" to their top PowerShot model and is called Color Accent and is available in both still and movie mode.

[MichelleM]

Yeah, a bride of mine wants selective coloring on some of her proofs.

I agree on the toning down of the color a bit. Also take some time to clean up around the greens...it's all the blue tone from her dress behind there.

[jillybean]

I love your idea and the composition- you can always work on the rest to please your eyes and the clients.

[Su-Hannie]

This is a very good selective colour photo. I like it!

[DAG123]

I would suggest thinking about your aims and motivations.

My aim and motivation was to create the 'cheesy' shot that the Bride wanted.:lol:

[MrScott]

Not sure if you cropped the origional down, but you've cut off several of the flowers with the border. IF they are in the origional it might be kind of cool to have them "falling" over your first dropshadow on the right...

Here's the other thing that catches my eye - the contrast makes the flowers look added to the picture. To illustrate this, I have to ask why are they on the brides backside? There are no hands and it looks like you just "burned a shadow" onto the back of her arm.

Don't get me wrong, I love the effect - but this just seems very strong. I guess what I'm getting to is that the detail of the dress, flowers and the addition of rings, invite, building/church would make for a greate intro/collage. But, with just two of these items I would expect them to be in a natural pose.

If your looking for ideas, some of the most inspirational menu/title/cover ideas that I've come across lately have been in the video editing magazines. "Event DV" comes to mind the most, since they and others have the instructional pages like PhotoShop User.

Keep up the good work.

[DAG123]

MrScott:

Your thoughts on this are very good, I am going to rework it with your suggestion of a montage for an intro page in the album...thanks for the idea.

As for the flowers...they were held under the Brides arm as she spoke with guests, just a quick unplanned shot. Now that I look at it more I think I should not have saturated the reds so much, I was attempting something that maybe didn't work as well as I had imagined, in the original they are deeper red.

Thanks for all the suggestions, critiques and approvals from everyone. I certainly do not have the skills that are shown here by many of you and that is why I come back over and over again to learn and look at all the great work.

[Bakewell]

My aim and motivation was to create the 'cheesy' shot that the Bride wanted.:lol:

Otherwise tought in "Marketing 101" as how to be financial successful!

[tim]

Tim,

first time I have to disagree with you. The selective coloring is sooooooooooo popular with brides. 9 out of 10 couples that come for an introduction meeting ask me if I can do that.. they saw it somewhere and love it.

Oh I agree with previous poster that toning down the saturation a bit would give it a better, softer look

Like I said, customers like it, but I would suggest choosing the photo that it's done on more carefully, and to use it sparingly. Like metalic paper it has a "gee whiz" effect that gets old, quick. If cameras are starting to do it automatically then that's a good sign that professsionals should drop it and move along to something else.

[Bakewell]

Like metalic paper it has a "gee whiz" effect that gets old, quick. If cameras are starting to do it automatically then that's a good sign that professsionals should drop it and move along to something else.

Interesting, I would think just the opposite. If the customers want it then the "Professionals" should provide it - If they want to keep their customers happy and produce more referrals...

[MichelleM]

I use the trendy things sparingly as to not 'date' the album, per se. But, yes, you have to give the client what they want...but it's up to the professional to make it less cheesey. ;)

[tim]

Interesting, I would think just the opposite. If the customers want it then the "Professionals" should provide it - If they want to keep their customers happy and produce more referrals...

Do you want to be on the leading edge or the trailing edge of the progress curve? Remember this is the wedding photography forum, which is a professional occupation and an art. There are plenty of cheap guys with a camera around, if people want cheesey effects sure one or two, otherwise leave the customer for the bottom feaders, the guy with a new XT doing weddings for $500.

I was at a 4 day photography seminar this past weekend, I saw a bunch of amazing albums from photographers who are at the top of their art in this quarter of the world, and I didn't see selective color once. Color and black and white sure, images from good photographers don't need anything cheesy to make the albums look great.