C&C Wedding edits

[Sheiky]

I'll try to react to photo number 1 first.

The first one is definitely better when you have changed the license plate but it still grabs the attention too much from the couple. Maybe it could be desaturated a little/even the yellow color changed or something so the plate wouldn't 'pop' so much?

Good suggestion. I rarely add any saturation to a photo, so I guess the overall yellow is ok? I can desaturate the plate only of course.

First pic. Bright front end of vehicle draws my eye. I then look right to the fellow looking at his watch who seems to be in a hurry to go somewhere else. Then I notice the bride and groom after that when I start looking for other objects of interest in the photo. Not sure if that was your intent or not.

The fellow at the right side of the car was just waiting for his turn
I definitely agree with you that the composition of the shot is not that great now that I look back at it. The presence of the car(details) overshadows the rest quite a bit. Weddings are not really my thing, but since they didn't want a photographer in the first place, and I had to go there since they are my girlfriends brother and sister in law I could just as well take a few shots. I cannot change the composition, so this is the shot I have to work with. If I ever do this kind of photos again I will pay more attention to it.

I have had couples come to me after 10 years wanting a professional wedding album created.

That's pretty cool. If I look back now after just two years I notice how different I'm looking at some aspects now, so 10 years must be quite a shock

I think the licence plate is a really cute feature that they're sure to love... However, I think if you cloned it out completely it would be less distracting. It is cool though! I might also be tempted to lessen the redness in the face of the driver as he seems a little flushed.

Cloning the plate away will probably help solving the distraction, but also makes it more unreal. I personally don't care about the car, but the groom loved it so in the end it's probably the best to just leave it in. The red in the drivers face is a hard one, because my displays weakspot is showing the reds. On my display it looks great, but I have test-printed these shots and it did look quite red without adjustments. I will reduce the amount of red a little bit as well. Note that the driver also really had quite a red face plus it wasn't the warmest day

Try number 2, I desaturated the plates and the reds a little:

[Sheiky]

Alright, this is all about photo numer 2. The reason I took the blur-approach was because I felt that there was too little contrast between fore and background. The neutral look of the groom really matched the neutral look of the building. So I thought I had to make the couple stand out more.

The depth of field blur on the second looks good to me, much better than the original I would say. Is it done with the new blur tools in Photoshop CS6 beta? Maybe even a little bit of a fake miniature feel to it but I like it still. Overall the image is maybe a little greenish? And also it might look better if it was straightened in relation to the manor in the background that is leaning left a bit.

About the straightening: you are all right that it was a little off. I had orientated/cropped the image while looking at the grass on the left and right side. Obviously I wasn't standing exactlyin the middle of the lane Fixed that.

I have done the blurring with CS5. I think the CS6 tools good, but only for flat surfaces. Quick steps in CS5:
- Copy the layer for the background.(Missing pixels etc after selecting and cutting, also filling in the unblurred parts later on)
- Selected the couple and cut them to a new layer.
- Used the content aware fill to fill the gap. If you don't, blurring the image gives ugly halo's around the couple.
- Blur and copy the layer, 1 is for foreground, one is for background
- Mask the areas in both layers which you don't want to be blurred using gradient tool.
- Make sure the order of layers is correct. The selection of the couple should be on top.
- Edit it to your likings.

On the second, I like the first one untouched. The reason I like the first is when I first see the pic I think "a new married couple just getting ready to go in there new beautiful home". Of course I don't know if it is their home or not, but that is the feeling it presents. My second thought is I wish the car wasn't in the pic. Of course this picture is a captured memory for this couple, so my thoughts probably do not apply and it should be edited to give the feeling they would want to see.
If the second were a tighter cropped pic I think the background blur would have worked much better. Too much blur and not enough primary subjects. By keeping the leading line in the pic, the picture naturally draws you to the door of the house.

You made me laugh hihi Nope it's definitely not their house. It's actually a small castle Of course your house may look like this one, who knows
I agree that the car shouldn't have been in the picture, but it's hard to change. I added the blur to make a bigger contrast from the background to the couple(who are the most important thing here).
I don't really want to crop any tighter, I have another shot for that. I do agree that the blur might be too much.

The blur edit looks strange it really looks like minis ? What filter did you use.

I think it might have to do with the blurring boundaries being on the wrong place. In other words too close to the couple. Both fore and background. I've changed that.

So here's edit number 2. I mainly changed the boundaries for the blur. Now there is more unblurred space around the couple.


And another image I will combine with the shot. This one has a tighter crop already and I haven't processed it yet.


As you may have noticed, I only quoted unique opinions. I do like to thank all of you who replied!

[HDNitehawk]

You made me laugh hihi Nope it's definitely not their house. It's actually a small castle Of course your house may look like this one, who knows
I agree that the car shouldn't have been in the picture, but it's hard to change. I added the blur to make a bigger contrast from the background to the couple(who are the most important thing here).
I don't really want to crop any tighter, I have another shot for that. I do agree that the blur might be too much.

I think it might have to do with the blurring boundaries being on the wrong place. In other words too close to the couple. Both fore and background. I've changed that.

Well, if I had a house like this I would sell it, buy more camera equipment and use the money to travel. After all why would I need a house like that if I were gone all the time?

Those two pics together will be great.

[jrw]

Pic 1. Like the results of the changes. Like the composition myself with the juxtaposition of the bride and groom on one side and the timekeeper on the other. It makes for some visual tension and creates interest in what is happening. I find myself trying to guess at the details the photo alone can't convey.

Pic 3. Love the hand in hand going down the path leading to a gate.

[ahab1372]

Jan,

have you thought about cropping the first one a bit more? I think most of the roof of the building can go, maybe even changing it to a wide aspect ratio. After all the couple, the car, and the dude are the main interest.
And maybe it needs a slight rotation clockwise - I feel a little distracted by the question if the picture is not level.

Btw I think it is a great pic to have in the album, because it is not the typical wedding picture. I can imagine it brings back memories for the couple like "Remember that big old car that you liked so much? And the dude could never wait to finally leave?"

Arnt