What would you change in this portrait of a bride?

[Stina3246]

This is a shot I took of the bride while she was getting ready for her wedding. In this one you can't really tell she's a bride but I just liked the shot of her. How's my lighting and composition? Am I at the wrong level? should I have taken it from slightly higher? (so as not to be up her nose? ) I had the ISO at 1600 which is why it's a little grainy (very dim lighting, so that I already know.) I took plenty of others, full length etc but I liked this one.

Nikon D50
Shutter speed 1/125
F8
ISO 1600

[candleman]

having her face pointed at the camera isnt a good idea.
Inormally point the face towards thr lightsource, and then eyes only, on me.

height?
fine by me *shrug*

my only thought is..... why on earth were you using f/8?
you could have dropped down to f/4 and shot at ISO400 and had the same image.. no noise..

even if you had a kit lens limited to f/5.6 ...you could have still shot at ISO800

[oldwolf]

Originally Posted by candleman

my only thought is..... why on earth were you using f/8?
you could have dropped down to f/4 and shot at ISO400 and had the same image.. no noise..

even if you had a kit lens limited to f/5.6 ...you could have still shot at ISO800

+1 but I also would have shown a little bit of the dress. not much but enough for someone to realize she's wearing a wedding dress.

[Stina3246]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

+1 but I also would have shown a little bit of the dress. not much but enough for someone to realize she's wearing a wedding dress.

I took a bunch like this full length, cropped, looking at me, looking away etc but I used this one for the critique just because I liked it.
Also....not sure why I'd gone with ISO 1600 accept it was very dark in the room AND at the ceremony. I seem to keep getting gigs that are nearly all in the dark! This was a very late wedding....they were STARTING to get ready around 4pm. This rrom wasn't too bad but the room they had the ceremony in was baby poop green!

[Photologyst]

Hi Stina:

I like the photo. I too would have taken it at different ISO.

Did a little “tweaking” on the face: Eyes, skin, hair. Brides generally love that.

The thing that bothered me the most was that brown piece of leather furniture. It didn’t work for me because a bride is generally soft and dreamy while that couch is rough and clutzy.

I did a layered gradient fill. You might want to fill with a gauzy curtain, crop or eliminate that brown thing all together.




Bride taken by stina3246

[midnightpro]

I tried doing a crop of just her face and hair and it turned out great. I also tried to do it in B&W and it is perfect with it croped.

[Stina3246]

Thanks photolgyst, that does look nice. And I didn't even think of trying it in black and white.
Next time I'll know to keep my ISO lower. Novice mistake.
Thanks guys.

[Photologyst]

You are welcome, Stina.

Will you be posting the actual wedding photos?

[Stina3246]

Originally Posted by Photologyst

You are welcome, Stina.

Will you be posting the actual wedding photos?

I posted a few on the SYS section under "my 1st try as primary photographer."