Madison I see what you are saying now but hey dont critique any of my work you may make me sell my stuff and give it up...... I am just kidding...
Madison I see what you are saying now but hey dont critique any of my work you may make me sell my stuff and give it up...... I am just kidding...
Oh, quick comment about Madison...
The internet is a big place and us native english speakers have a tendancy to think everyone else speaks it fluently and understand the nuances of the language. We're being arrogant/ignorant.
People need to stop and consider the possibility that they are communicating with someone from the other side of the world. I 'speak' (i.e. internet communication) to people from other countries regluarly and, my little soap box post here aside, I make the mistake sometimes too, even with people from the UK. While they are obviously english speakers, even the differences in our languages can cause offence.
It'd be nice if, in forums, people posted their location and native language tho. Would help stop the misunderstandings.
Originally Posted by RBarrz
Well: I say these things to make people more aware. Wanted to have a blurry background? Shoot it that way, don't do it in postprocessing. Wanted to photograph flowers? Take a shot where they are more prominent and in detail. Wanted to photograph the bride? Make sure we are looking at the bride and not a little blotch of color, and also make sure we see enough detail in the face of the bride (see the difference in the two pictures). It's about choices when shooting. This is what makes a photographer/an image good or not (in my opinion).
BUT, like I said, I am just one person with one opinion and it does all boil down to taste so there are bound to be a lot of people who will love the image: seriously! So read my critique, and discard it if you don't agree. Or speak up and tell me I am wrong. Everybody should express their opinion. That's cool.
Also: think from your clients perspective. Photographers (or former designer and art directors) can be very critical of images, where as the average clients look at them in a different way. I am sure the woman in thic picture likes it. Because she doesn't have the same way of looking at it as photographers do.
So please never get discouraged when I say something like this. Don't sell your stuff and give up. Read it, agree or disagree, and keep it up. 100 photographers will take 100 different approaches and everyone should shoot it the way they feel is right. But my critique (see the larger post) about this image remains.
Thanks for the good discussion. I posted this because I knew it would draw much of the criticism that it did. I see a lot of the C&C on this website in critique of the backgrounds being too busy or not blurred enough. Now I like a good background blur as much as the next photographer but sometimes the customer wants the background. This location is an old Spanish mission in Goliad, Texas. Lots of history here. The walls behind her are the ruins from the original mission and the building to the back is a reproduction of one of the original buildings. About 95% of our brides prefer their bridals to be on this location. This is probably one of the busiest backgrounds on the mission grounds and not my favorite but seems to be a favorite of our customers. I usually only present this shot in color but we have had a drought and there was no green so I converted it to B&W to keep it from looking dead. The bride wanted the flowers in color. As a matter of fact about 50% of our brides ask for B&W with flowers in color. Must not be too dated in south Texas. Just old fashion country folks I guess. Also about 50% of our brides get a 16x20 enlargement of this same spot with this messy compasition. Most in color but some in B&W. This particular bride got this in a 24x30 and people were standing around it at the reception raving about how beautiful it is. I think some of her brides maids are wanting us for their weddings. There are of course photographers with many different styles and customers choose the photographer that fits the style they like. At a bridal shoot like this I take close to 200 shots many of which fit what many of you suggest. Business is good and we are turning down potential customers because we have as much as we can handle. Here is another example of a bridal portrait from the same location. As a matter of fact the wall here is the building in the background of the photo above.
Mark
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Mark
I totally agree with you if you want a shot to capture a subject a specific way you definitely should shoot it as such. I am not selling I was just joking I like to see how others shoot and the many different opinions that may arise in discussions. I love this hobby and as you state and wish to gain greater knowledge of what makes a good pic when working for a client. I have the habit of over-post processing my pics right now. Maybe its just a phase or maybe I spent too much on CS3 and want to make artsy shots out of the ordinary. I will really appreciate whatever criticism from the trained and untrained eye. Sorry to go off topic but now that I have a better rig and alot of ops here in Japan I will be posting alot more images. Nice shot clemmb..... I wish i had more pics when I was in texas alot of great locations to shoot! Tremendous history there.
Well, I think the best bridal shot is what the bride likes the best. Her day, her choice.
If you're interested in what I like, which doesn't matter more than any weight you choose,
In the original, I like the composition of the bride herself. I like how she's standing. I don't mind that she's not looking at the camera, and I like how she's looking to be looked at, but just a little self-conscious. I agree with the consensus about the background. I don't really care about the flowers. If they're in color and she's not, I think, for me, it's a little distracting, and more of a novelty, but something of interest too perhaps. i'm kind of on the fence about it. It's fine, butif I was going that route, I probably would have gotten closer and lower and put the flowers in more prominent perspective.
In terms of the background, I'm on the side of the scale of distracting. If you could do shallower depth of field, that might be good. If you could simply overpower it by using very bright close flashes, to put the background more in the dark, I think that'd be good too.
But, again, as others have said, my comments are only reflecting what I would have liked. The bride rules.
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