Let me have it

first of ...congrats on great capture ... second..i think you should stick to your pp ...mizuno's conversion being very nice doesn't give the justice to the mood of the picture, I think. This mood comes from dramatic lighting both in BG and FG not from excessive noise and BW conversion ...BW conversion + some extra grain could work great in case of natural lighting but in this case i think Tim presented it just right ...and when it goes to blow out ...well again ...that's what creating this picture ..dramatic light during sunset ..and that's how sunset looks, parts of the sky are blown out even when you look at it with bare eyes ..i guess....

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Regarding Matts the advice i've heard from judges is to use white or cream, though for this image I may check with a few people and go with black. I paper with texture might be a good idea. I think it deserves to be color not B&W too, the sky's great. yes part of the sky's blown, the dynamic range is just too high for any camera to capture. I'll consider reducing the shadow from the flash, and i'll probably get rid of the little distractions too. Also I didn't actually set the exposure, Stu set it I just picked up the camera, arranged the couple and lights, and hit the shutter button.

I didn't think i'd put wedding photos up on the walls of my office where I meet customers, but I think I will put this one up. 30x20". Plus it's going on my new business cards.

great capture tim, i also like your processing the best.

Ok first off great image, you should be proud of it ! As for the competition theres several aspects in your image that may be held against it, and hurdles ive come accross
- As youve stated the blown sky
- their expressions, his face is a little to shadowed, ive been told several time in portraiture/weddings seeing the face is extreemly important and visably lit.. and the bride thats just the angle.
-The shadow line on the beach although it adds to the image it also distracts, maybe try a slight silhoutte
-DOF im searching the background, i like the waves but its not leading me to the image, same goes to the blown sky its dragging me away from the central subject.
-finally the crop , i want to see where the dress is going, also if your the judge and this is an image thats thats delivered to the bride..We should be seeing the entire dress, we all know how fussy brides are about their dresses.
Now if i was going to put it on a wall and its a worthy shot, id print it as a pano and elongate the left side of the photo . Ive attached a light edit, a little overstated but food for thought maybe....
T

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Thanks Toby, I appreciate the feedback and I like the edit! The whole dress was in the shot, but the horizon was an an angle and I lost part of the dress straightening it.

u got a copy of the before then?

Toby, I really like your edit.
Tim, I know nothing about entering in a contest but I think you have a good chance of placing. Keep us posted.

Bobster wrote in post #3826594
u got a copy of the before then?

I'll grab one when I get home and post it

Kai wrote in post #3826675
Toby, I really like your edit.
Tim, I know nothing about entering in a contest but I think you have a good chance of placing. Keep us posted.

Ta

I sent it to my mentor, a master of photography of the NZIPP (an earned title here). He said he likes it but things that will count against it are that it was posed, that the pose is average, and that the sky's blown.

Did you end up sending this image in, Tim?

The annual awards were on the same week I took this shot, so may have to wait until next year. I asked my mentor, head of the Wellington NZIPP, he said it was good but wasn't sure it would do well in the awards. I'll probably send it in anyway, only costs $75 or so per entry.

Tim, I enjoy this shot a lot but there are 2 things that really stick out to me.

1 - blown out sky - this doesn't go over well with the judges

2 - shadows on the brides chest

Regardless of those nitpicks, I love this shot!

The overexposed sky does distract me personally although I like the rest of the image especially after all the other little distractions were removed.
The main thing is not that you will be critted because they are there but the will distract from the real subject and beauty (feeling) of the image......my 2c