engagement shots

I shot some engagement shots for a friends sister not too long ago. The day was extremely sunny, which I truly hate. I'd rather have an overcast day to shoot outside with. Please let me know what you think.

1.

I love 2 and 3, did you do any post processing on #2? Could use a bump to levels and sharpening I think, and perhaps a tighter or different crop.

Thanks. I did just some very slight adjustments on #2. I was wondering if I should've gone a little further. I guess maybe I should have to give it a little more "pop".

I'm sure you know the shadow on her face is distracting. As you improve you'll started looking at the setting closer, but for now I belive it kills the image. I might suggest a tighter crop on image 2 to remove his belly. Crop thight to see their faces and her hands around him.

If your shooting RAW, bump the exposure for image 3...

Great try. Across the board I would also look at adding some saturation (color only of course) and maybe even a little contrast (Color or B/W) to help make the images POP. They are a little flat.

Hey Jamey - color and saturation are just fine the way they are. I think they look great, I didn't see the ring at first in #4 though. Did you use the tammy or the 70-200?

Jwreich wrote in post #2315222
I'm sure you know the shadow on her face is distracting. As you improve you'll started looking at the setting closer, but for now I belive it kills the image. I might suggest a tighter crop on image 2 to remove his belly. Crop thight to see their faces and her hands around him.

If your shooting RAW, bump the exposure for image 3...

Great try. Across the board I would also look at adding some saturation (color only of course) and maybe even a little contrast (Color or B/W) to help make the images POP. They are a little flat.

Yes the shadow is very distracting. I used a diffuser above them when I could to get even light on them, but couldn't with this shot.

It's hard to tell what's flat and what's not. They look pretty good on my screen, but I know screens are different from one computer to another. They tend to print out okay, but I'll try bumping them up a little.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Sledhed wrote in post #2317099
Hey Jamey - color and saturation are just fine the way they are. I think they look great, I didn't see the ring at first in #4 though. Did you use the tammy or the 70-200?

Thanks Chris. The ring in #4 is on the edge of the stone in the foreground. I used the Tamron for these. The shoot was before you sold me the 70-200 (which I love, by the way).

Cinci i like the shot of them both with the ring (no 3) but the last one really does not work...scrap it...you can hardly see the ring.
2 is nice too - needs a tighter crop IMO though, but nice colours...you did well with the circumstances of a sunny day

PIXI_666 wrote in post #2318540
Cinci i like the shot of them both with the ring (no 3) but the last one really does not work...scrap it...you can hardly see the ring.
2 is nice too - needs a tighter crop IMO though, but nice colours...you did well with the circumstances of a sunny day

Thanks. I agree about the last one. The ring does get lost easily. I was just experimenting with that one anyway. Question.... When you say #2 needs a tighter crop do you mean at the top or at the bottom to hide.. ummm..... the belly? I generally leave extra at the top to allow for the different size crop dimensions of the prints - i.e - an 8x10 loses two inches from the 10" dimension when cropping for prints. I do agree think the blown out background is a little much, but it leaves room for crops.