Critique this

[jwdrums]

Hi, critique this for me, need feedback on the photography and post-pross work. Big thanks!

~JW




Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[sybren]

Hi JW,

Your post sounds rather demanding. I'm sure that with some friendlier words and some more text (like what you want to achieve with the photo) people will be more willing to offer you critique.

[jwdrums]

Hi, I apologize for the short, unfriendly and demanding post earlier. That was not my intention, as stated by Sybren so don't let his reply fool you otherwise. I was a work and only had a few moments to post a photo I recently took so it was a quick post in between some day job duties

I guess the ultimate achievement would be, if you were the couple in the photo, would you be happy with it? If not, what would you do to make it better.

All feedback welcome, even yours, Sybran.

Talk soon, JW

[DCBarner]

If I were the man in the picture, I would be very pleased. You have captured the natural beauty of the woman and also shown clearly my (the man's) affection for her. It is not a show-y picture. It's plain, and very good. I love story pictures. This is one.

Dane


Thank you for restating your critique request so well.

[olgabe]

I like it, especially the woman. The man - I got one little question mark, to me his angle of looking at the woman looks just a bit strange - he's not leaning forward enough to see her face, yet he seems to try and look at her. Maybe it's just me though - if I was the client, I would not complain about it, but since you asked for a critique, I'll be picky
I think the exposure and composition are great, and their skin tones turned out well - with a tad of blue reflection from the environment.. real nice!

[jwdrums]

Thanks for the feedback; I did not notice the angle detail but I see what you mean. Thanks, JW

[TerryMC]

I find the woman is more the center of attention in that photo. Maybe a tight crop would make a difference.

[naeno]

My immediate reaction was, "Cute picture, but there's a lot of blue in the background". I would suggest a vertical crop. It would really help bring all the focus on them and not so much on the background. Her eyes are very beautifully done!

[ttosifa]

The faces are very blue. Maybe you like that, as the above poster did.

Your CMYK numbers are way out of line. In the highlights, your yellow (opposite of blue) is often less than 1/3 of your magenta, when yellow should be slightly HIGHER than magenta. Likewise, your cyan (bluish-green) is too high. So, for more accurate skin tones, you need more yellow and red.

If you like the artistic blue tone, then you don't need to change anything. But you lose a lot of contrast because everything is blue.

Here's a quick example of what I mean. I wasn't very careful with it, but it will give you an idea of what the picture would look like with more natural skin tones.

[jwdrums]

that makes a big change...this looks great now. How did you do it?