Wedding Photo

[redbutt]

At my brother's wedding, the photographers were way cool and let me tag along with them during the photo session (I think they were also a little bit more friendly to me when they saw the D30 in my hands). Anyway, this image I think came out pretty nice. They threw the brides veil over both bride and groom, and this little intimate moment, just kinda happened. Photoshop tweaks include simulating a green lens filter and tweaking the contrast and brightness.

http://www.pbase.com/image/9801276

[eland]

Hi

Your wedding picture is very nice indeed. A good idea to photograph the couple under the veil. The out of focus veil adds a pleasant and different touch.

Personally I would have done some more work in PS if that is your editing program.
There are close vertical lines in your brother's hair.
Maybe from the veil but not obviously so and I'd sure remove them or at least soften them.

I would also lighten or remove the lines on the bride's neck.

When photographing people, particularly women, always try to avoid having the head tilted and causing unattractive lines in the neck.

Also I would soften the "crow's feet" at the corner of her eye.

I'd lighten the dark spot on your brother's ear lobe too.
It's a distraction in what is basically a high key photo.

I might also question the use of the pseudo green filter.

It might have raised the contrast too much in what should be a soft focus gentle portrait of the couple under a veil.
Your brother's face is rather too spotty looking and there is a lack of tone and roundness in the bride's face.

I really don't think that filter effect has worked in your favor at all.

For me the overall picture idea is excellent, and the intimate composition is very good indeed.
Facial expressions are first class.

I would humbly suggest going back to PS and giving lots more attention to detail.
Often we stand or fall as photographers by how much care we take with the small details in the image.

Kind regards
eland

[slejhamer]

Hi redbutt,

You have captured a wonderful, intimate moment. I'll bet the original of this photo is as good as those caught by the pros at the wedding. Congratulations.

Regarding your retouch, Eland's comments should be taken into consideration. The high-contrast green filter effect and subsequent additional contrast adjustment have made your image very hard and somewhat unflattering. I think a good soft-focus or diffusion filter that retains detail while fuzzing out the highlights would be much more flattering to the bride and groom.

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of giving your photo a little more processing and came up with the following as an example of what I'm talking about. You can obviously do much better with the high-resolution original. In hindsight I think a warmer gray quadtone would also be nice, but I didn't apply it here. Food for thought, anyway.

http://members.cox.net/mschlesinger/wedding.jpg

Cheers,

[redbutt]

Hey, guys,

Thanks for the comments. Mitch, for some reason I can't see a link in your reply (maybe I have a funky setting in my preferences for the forum...is that possible?)

Anyway, in the interest of collaborative effort...have a look at this...more like what you both are driving at?

http://www.pbase.com/image/9862470

This eliminates the green filter and is MUCH easier on the contrast....

[slejhamer]

Funny - you can't see mine, I can't see yours. This is what I get on your link:

"Bad Image Reference
The Image ID specified in the URL does not exist. It was probably deleted, but verify the URL."

Well, try linking to mine directly:
http://members.cox.net/mschlesinger/wedding.jpg

Let me know if that works. We'll get it right eventually!

[redbutt]

Got it now...

Yeah, that is a neat idea, although I'm not a big fan of that kind of thing. This is certainly the right subject for that effect though...well done.

Reposting the link to my updated effort....

http://www.pbase.com/image/9862470

[slejhamer]

Very good: The fine mesh of the veil is much more apparent, and the lighting is softer. Also the highlights on the bride's tiara and hair are not overdone as they were previously. Like I said before, I'll bet your shot stands up to any of those taken by the pros at the wedding!

[Leighow]

I would say that Mitch's version is just super. It carries the B & W seems very appropriate and ageless here.