Groom and best man... best way to improve it?

[toasted75]

First time that I've had my camera at a wedding... apart from making sure I stayed well clear of the real photographer, I was mostly trying to practice getting some candid shots and attempting to keep my bearings as I moved from low-light rooms to full on in your face bright sunlight (not the easiest thing for a newbie to navigate through let me tell you!).

Anyway, I guess I wasn't 'invisible' enough, in this shot, the best man spotted me taking some photos and raised his glass - I really like the way the shot turned out in general, but there's still something that's bothering me... just not sure what.

I don't think I can increase the exposure too much more, already starting to blow out a little in places, does it need a better crop do you think? I do like the light above the grooms head, but maybe the background in the middle right of the photo is a bit too busy, perhaps I should try to clone that out a bit? Thoughts? I do like the photo, I just don't think it is quite there yet.



Oops, sorry - exif info

Nikon D90
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 90 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias -1 EV
Flash No Flash

[BigFuzzy]

Psst. check out the rules on posting.. it'll help us better give you comments/advice/suggestions

[climbhigh19]

I actually think that the exposure isn't far off at all....but to make it a little better, I would have changed the focus to the groom toasting. My eyes are drawn there as soon as I look at the photo, so having that much action blurred out is distracting.

[LeeR]

I agree with climbhigh19. I know you are trying to focus on the groom, but what he is doing isn't nearly as interesting as the best man. As someone who has shot many weddings I can tell you I went through this when I got started. I always wanted to feature the wedding couple, but finally learned that in cases like this it made more sense to go with the action. Trust me, in a wedding scenario there are plenty of times to let the bride and groom shine. It's nice to let the supporting actors get their moment in the spotlight as well.

[toasted75]

Thank you - I hadn't thought of the action being out of focus, but you're right, if the focus had been on the best man raising his glass I think it would have been a stronger photo too now that you point it out.

I've done a little more tweaking and cropped it down a bit to take out some of the distractions... also for a bit of a laugh sent the water colour filter over it in photoshop, sort of takes away the focus issue and gives an interesting effect.