Young couple

Looking to improve my work. Please critique with comments on how I can improve.

1.

The first two you have them off center, which is "good". #3 is dead center with a lot of head space. #4 is on the left third but so much head space that adds nothing to the image. Just my thoughts.

Processing is personal and obviously this is your style. It doesn't work for me as I like a punchier/contrasty image.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. The processing is something I am "trying on for size" so-to-speak. I normally don't care for it myself. Just giving a whirl at something that has been popular in my area. I could go either way on it, I guess. I prefer "actual" colors but if a client wants something different then I'll oblige.

I appreciate the comments on the crops. I will play with those a bit. This is what I need to get better.

Tried a couple of cropping & edits. I welcome critique on these as well.

I think the edits directly above are a big improvement on the originals. Nice work. One minor critique I have is in the first photo in the original post. They are sitting on a paved road, which to me seems a little unnatural. I would have stood them up here and maybe shot them waist-high. Also, I would have shot the "kissing" photo more front-on to capture more of his face and the kiss.

Once again, minor complaints. They are great images!

Thanks, Chris, for the critique. I agree about the kiss shot. Thanks also for the perspective on the "road" shot. I need to remember how it will appear to the general public. It's not a road but more of a paved path...it's in a local park. But I can see where someone who doesn't know this will feel the awkwardness. Perhaps them walking down the path would have been easier to convey comfort.

IMHO, your skin tones are all over the place...as I'm a youtube fan, take a look here....http://www.youtube.com ….1.11.youtube.-cl_DR0SjmI

chauncey wrote in post #16423658
IMHO, your skin tones are all over the place...as I'm a youtube fan, take a look here....http://www.youtube.com ….1.11.youtube.-cl_DR0SjmI

Thank you. I've not studied this area of editing (nor was I really aware of it). I appreciate the link.

Brenda - your re-edits are much more to my tastes and the skin tones (as mentioned above) appear to be consistent and consistency for a shoot generally works best. Finding a style to your liking is also necessary. Shooting a white balance target would help and is easy to do and will give you a consistent starting point/reference for edits.

Find some posing and or composition information. Start with the rule of thirds.

Thanks for your comments, Dave. I will continue to study.

I also like the repost as far as the color saturation goes, but remember is not always what you like but what sells. Exposure is spot on, and I would guess fill flash was used in the last one and it looks great, no dark eyes. They look a little stiff in most of them, him more than her but then some people pose better than others. The 4th one I don't care for his posing, not a big fan of seeing hands with no arms or just fingers, and the head tilt looks awkward according to his left eye. I would have turned his head more so you see more of his left eye or turned his head away and not look at the camera at all, but overall very nice pic's.

Thanks for the comments, Talaska. You are right about what sells. I was experimenting a bit with a LR preset to create a look that seems popular. However, when I've shown shots to my clients with and without the "look", they choose the classic look instead.

I did notice the missing hand in the last one. And I've learned from another of my critique threads that I have to watch for the peeking fingers.

He was a bit more stiff than she. She is my daughter. They both live out of state from us and he doesn't know us too well yet. He may have been more relaxed with any other photog.

Nice images overall. I like your cropping and edits in post #4; they seem more consistent than the first few. Just remember that photography is just as much an art form as any other, so stay true to the vision you've been given. Work to perfect that vision, and you'll eventually find the clients who appreciate your art form. But that's just my 2 cents!