Can't make up my mind

[SusieMet]

I was second shooter on a wedding today. I really liked this shot and I made two small adjustments to it, but I can't make up my mind what works better.

Here's the original

And here are both of my edits:


On this one I cropped and changed to B&W and added a soft focus to it.




On this one I cropped and aged the photo using Paint shop pro. Then erased the aged look on just the red parts of the photo.

[BabetteKD]

The first edit is better. It's cropped in nice and tight and gets rid of the distracting background.

[SusieMet]

Originally Posted by BabetteKD

The first edit is better. It's cropped in nice and tight and gets rid of the distracting background.

Thank you Babette. I really like the "look" of the second photo. Do you think I should apply that look to the tighter crop?

[RoyL]

The first one is nice but that second one is absolutely shocking. Nothing that you have done to it works, and the work around the red is a bit sloppy,sorry.

Forgot to say the first one is a nice intimate crop. You did a nice job. If you posted this image on the Critique thread someone will give you a tip on making the bling really sparkle, make it even better.

[Jim Poor]

If you really want to do the selective color treatment, I would recommend only leaving the grooms tie red. The way you have the second phoot cropped, the red on the bride is in a really bad place and draws to much attention. This is doubly true if the bride has any inkling of "body image" issues.

[windrider86]

This really is not the critique section but rather a section for sharing editing skills.
If you are wanting critique I would be happy to move this for you.
Otherwise, thank you for sharing how you did this!

[unfo]

Agree with Jim, it would look better if you cropped the second as tight as the first, and maybe toned down the red a bit. Too distracting as is.

I'm confused, isn't this the critique section?

[windrider86]

it is the critique section. this thread just got moved from another area

[oldwolf]

I like the first one better. It's a more intimate shot. The red in the second one is just too bright and saturated.

[FotoMike]

I really like the red tie, but agree that the red around the bride is a bit too much. Maybe a tighter crop is in order like the 1st shot. I would like to see something with a little of both images in it. I like the effect of the 2nd one better and the crop of the 1st one.