High School Formal.

[emilykw]

Hi guys! This is my first post here. I'm 18 years old and have only been doing this photography thing for about three years now, so I'm a little nervous about putting myself out there!

Basically, I'm on the fence about this photo. I've edited it quite a bit and I don't have Photoshop so I can't edit it much more without overdoing it. In addition to critique I'd like to know how I can improve this by editing it! One minute I like it, the next I'm not so sure about it!

The story behind this photo: This photo is of my younger brother and his girlfriend before their semi formal the other night.



As for stats...:

Canon Rebel EOS t2i
Exposure: 1/30
Flash was not used.

[TheMoons678]

Welcome to DPS! I like the mood of the B&W and it seems the composition is almost there.

For some reason the cutting off her head and showing none of his is awkward. Maybe if you had angled it to slightly reveal both of their mouths it could have captured what you were going for.

By cutting his off completely you are putting the focus on her. What about her are you trying to convey? If focusing on her, maybe a tighter crop on her would have been better. Just some ideas i'm throwing out there.

Edit: Also include what ISO, aperture, exposure compensation, etc... in the EXIF info.

[ctcook]

+1 on the extra EXIF info

I like the mood of the B&W as well. The composition is a good thought, but it is also distracting for me to see a partial of her head and none of his. Maybe you can crop in to focus on their hands.

[oldwolf]

I think how you cropped her head is fine. His head not being there gives the picture a sense of their height difference. The thing that bothers me is that he's a floating tie with hands.

Have you tried using GIMP to post process? It's a free program and does just about everything PS can do.

[emilykw]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

I think how you cropped her head is fine. His head not being there gives the picture a sense of their height difference. The thing that bothers me is that he's a floating tie with hands.

Have you tried using GIMP to post process? It's a free program and does just about everything PS can do.

I'll definitely try that program!

He does look weird as a floating tie, but he's standing so awkwardly in the photo it discourages me from brightening him up a bit! I'll definitely play around with it some more. I guess the awkwardness could add to to the photo in a way, I suppose!

Thanks for all the tips