What’s Your Preference?

scootermcq · #1 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 03:26 PM

Ok, so my wedding I was so worried about the rain turned into a hugely bright day. Where possible, I shot in open shade, but the b&g wanted this shot on the steps. It was one of the reasons they got married at this location. To be honest, I wanted the shot too.

I hit them with 320 w/s of studio strobe running off of a battery pack, no diffusion, just full power head on nuke em to try and lift the shadows. There was no way to hide em with a diffusion panel, because of where they were located and the shot we were trying for.

Needless to say, I am disappointed in this shot. The specular highlights are killing me. Some blowout of the highlights, etc. etc. I was showing it to my wife and her comment was how much she loved the shot. I showed someone else and their reaction was the same.

My question is.... am I being too critical, or should this shot be destined for the achieves?

D300
35mm
1/250
f/9

BuddhaPi · #2 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 03:34 PM

Bear in mind who this is coming from

I like it, particularly the symentry, the windows on the far left seems off to me, only because there are none on the right, and I think I'd like to see the tops of the window arches not cut off..the lighting looks ok IMHO, but again what the hell do I know?!

ajax_andy · #3 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 03:41 PM

What else could you do?

I think its good to be so self critical, but its not a fashion shoot where you can control things. In this situation sometimes its making the best of it, and they wont be looking at this pic thinking "hmm the shadows on our faces just ruin the whole picture".

I think the couple will be really happy with the shot, so i'd use that as a baromemter of whether its a good one or not.

Saying that I think you need to rotate the image half a degree to the left

Niresangwa · #4 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 03:45 PM

I think that with some work it could be brought up to your level of satisfaction, but it's already beyond the pedestrian level of expectations... we're always hypercritical, because we know the issues before we even release the shutter.

That's not to say that the deficiencies aren't there, just that 1) you have to be more forgiving in the circumstances, 2) you can with some post work ease up the problems and 3) the client and moreover any regular onlooker isn't going to see the problems anyway.

The thing I would be bothered about with this image would be how much detail in her dress I'd lost. The harsh tonal changes on their faces can be fixed rather easily (though time consuming) with some dodging and burning... it won't eradicate the lighting contrast, but can soften it some.

Depending on how handy you are with B&W conversions, it may be your friend here, as the colour tones are pretty dull given its 90% concrete/stone, and a warming effect (I'd probably use a yellow heavy CB layer) rather than a traditional orange warming filter...that would help either way in B&W or colour... with the exposure being so high, it's bordering on washed...

I would also try some alternative crops on this one as they feel a little lost in the frame. Obviously they want the grandiose setting, but a wider, letterbox crop might give the models more priority in the frame.

Was the reception at this location, or did you move on? Just asking because a couple of times, I"ve had to admit defeat and go back out later in the evening for the shot I wanted. It's something thats not always easy to manage, but dragging the B&G out of the reception for 5 minutes to catch sunset pictures etc is worth it...

scootermcq · #5 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Was the reception at this location, or did you move on? Just asking because a couple of times, I"ve had to admit defeat and go back out later in the evening for the shot I wanted. It's something thats not always easy to manage, but dragging the B&G out of the reception for 5 minutes to catch sunset pictures etc is worth it...

Moved on to a Marina for the reception, so no love there. Had a 1 hour window for the permit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

Bear in mind who this is coming from

I like it, particularly the symentry, the windows on the far left seems off to me, only because there are none on the right, and I think I'd like to see the tops of the window arches not cut off..the lighting looks ok IMHO, but again what the hell do I know?!

Couple suggestions on the crop and that's great feedback. I did this at 5:00 this am, and cropping to a specific size I needed I guess I was not thinking straight, so I will play abit and see what comes out.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Steve I like your B&W idea, and that might just be the ticket. I will give it some love tonight and post what I come up with.

candidrachel · #6 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 06:05 PM

What bothers me most about this shot is the brides pink arm and the weird orange shadow on her dress. My eyes keep focusing on those rather than the beautiful shot that this was intended.

I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination and I take my hat off to you Scott for doing great under extreme conditions.

SaraJean · #7 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 06:09 PM

I hope you don't mind, but I took a few seconds and pushed this image though LR because I honestly love the composition, you nailed that. I also know the pains of "nature" not working for your shot.

This was a very quick fix, and give that the image was small I can't really see the details, but i just cooled down the photo with a (very light) blue in split toning, and added a graduate layer to bring the exposure down a bit, mainly at the top where (I personally) found it the most distracting.

Anyway, I think that those 2 seconds in lightroom made a huge difference, and made the photo one the couple can hang on the wall for years, instead of store away.

Niresangwa · #8 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaraJean

I hope you don't mind, but I took a few seconds and pushed this image though LR because I honestly love the composition, you nailed that. I also know the pains of "nature" not working for your shot.

This was a very quick fix, and give that the image was small I can't really see the details, but i just cooled down the photo with a (very light) blue in split toning, and added a graduate layer to bring the exposure down a bit, mainly at the top where (I personally) found it the most distracting.

Anyway, I think that those 2 seconds in lightroom made a huge difference, and made the photo one the couple can hang on the wall for years, instead of store away.

This was nicely done. Honestly with half an hour and a little ingenuity you should be able to pull 2 or 3 really nice versions of this shot out of the original..

scootermcq · #9 (**permalink**) 06-06-2011, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by candidrachel

What bothers me most about this shot is the brides pink arm and the weird orange shadow on her dress. My eyes keep focusing on those rather than the beautiful shot that this was intended.

I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination and I take my hat off to you Scott for doing great under extreme conditions.

When I got the email about your post, I was thinking, "what the hell are you talking about Orange Shadow?" Looking at the image, something has gone wrong from my original at home. Must have been something I did in my 5 minute touch up at 5:00am. I will get rid of that! Thanks for the input.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaraJean

I hope you don't mind, but I took a few seconds and pushed this image though LR because I honestly love the composition, you nailed that. I also know the pains of "nature" not working for your shot.

This was a very quick fix, and give that the image was small I can't really see the details, but i just cooled down the photo with a (very light) blue in split toning, and added a graduate layer to bring the exposure down a bit, mainly at the top where (I personally) found it the most distracting.

Anyway, I think that those 2 seconds in lightroom made a huge difference, and made the photo one the couple can hang on the wall for years, instead of store away.

Thanks for the ideas, and no.... I don't get offended easily or at all. That is why I posted in critique. This is a great forum and I certainly don't have all the answers.... where everyone who replies has an idea or two that I can take from. I will definitely be playing tonight and using some of the input to see if I can't make something I am not embarrassed to post, but more importantly, present to the couple.

scootermcq · #10 (**permalink**) 06-07-2011, 12:46 AM

Ok.... took some of the feedback and came up with these. I hope I don't get my hand slapped for posting 3 images, but they are based on feedback from a single.

Changed Crop
Removed blown spots on dress
Dodged & burned faces
Orange shadow gone
Did a B&W converson
Did a bleach by-pass (which is the one I kinda like)