Lake District Engagement Shoot

1. That path crossing their faces is very distracting. I wouldn't mind background being a bit more out of focus too.

2. Need more on the bottom and the blown white sky is an absolute pet hate of mine.

BOTH the processing is a bit too gritty for me with some colour cast (cyan??) which may or may not be intentional but it doesn't suite the mood of the image.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
1. That path crossing their faces is very distracting. I wouldn't mind background being a bit more out of focus too.

2. Need more on the bottom and the blown white sky is an absolute pet hate of mine.

BOTH the processing is a bit too gritty for me with some colour cast (cyan??) which may or may not be intentional but it doesn't suite the mood of the image.
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Thanks for so expertly reminding me why I very, very rarely post here any more :ROFLMAO:
 
It is tough trying to get' The Perfect' image as you need to be a master of light, composition, manage people, have some luck with weather, choose the right time of the day, and well organised with clothes, props, spare batteries, memory cards etc, etc. So please do not be put off posting on here again.
The other question to be asked is did the couple like the the photos ! ?

No 1, needs some more dramatic light as the scene is flat and I do agree about the path. I think if you had moves 2 or 3 meters left you would have had a cleaner composition image.

No 2, to stop the sky being blown out you can in the future either use a flash like an godox AD200 to help 'pop' the couple and lower the ambient light level to control the high lights. Either that or use a reflector to bounce some of that lovely light on to the couples faces.
IMO No 2 could have been a really good image if the sky was not blown and a touch of warm light on the couples faces.

I would have cropped in with a zoom lens more on the couples faces with slight blurred back ground. This might have given you more control of the ambient sky brightness level, depending which metering mode you used will have effect on the outcome.

Good effort though.
 
Tysonator said:
It is tough trying to get' The Perfect' image as you need to be a master of light, composition, manage people, have some luck with weather, choose the right time of the day, and well organised with clothes, props, spare batteries, memory cards etc, etc. So please do not be put off posting on here again.
The other question to be asked is did the couple like the the photos ! ?

No 1, needs some more dramatic light as the scene is flat and I do agree about the path. I think if you had moves 2 or 3 meters left you would have had a cleaner composition image.

No 2, to stop the sky being blown out you can in the future either use a flash like an godox AD200 to help 'pop' the couple and lower the ambient light level to control the high lights. Either that or use a reflector to bounce some of that lovely light on to the couples faces.
IMO No 2 could have been a really good image if the sky was not blown and a touch of warm light on the couples faces.

I would have cropped in with a zoom lens more on the couples faces with slight blurred back ground. This might have given you more control of the ambient sky brightness level, depending which metering mode you used will have effect on the outcome.

Good effort though.
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Brazo said:
With respect the comments are valid and were said constructively, there’s many reasons not to post on these boards but considered feedback shouldn’t be one of them.
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Thanks for the feedback. Although, and admittedly it's my mistake, I didn't realise that critique was to be forthcoming unless specifically asked for. The intention was just to share a few images with likeminded folks.

If I'm going to be completely honest (and why not eh), the feedback I got was what I'd class as old fashioned camera club rhetoric. A lot of it probably more suited to landscape photography, which may well be where the skills of the person offering the critique lies.

I'm not for one second saying that I know it all, far from it - but put it this way, if I was just starting out and was to take any of that on board I honestly believe it would be more detrimental to my progress than beneficial. In fact, come to think of it, when I started out I actually did worry about all of those things and I've no doubt it held me back from making proper connections with the couple....."just hold that pose for another 5-10 minutes while I fart on setting up this off camera flash that I've lugged half way up a mountain". Honestly, if I ever come across a client that's in the slightest bit perturbed about blown out sky then I'm probably taking on the wrong clients.
 
danny_bhoy said:
Thanks for the feedback. Although, and admittedly it's my mistake, I didn't realise that critique was to be forthcoming unless specifically asked for. The intention was just to share a few images with likeminded folks.

If I'm going to be completely honest (and why not eh), the feedback I got was what I'd class as old fashioned camera club rhetoric. A lot of it probably more suited to landscape photography, which may well be where the skills of the person offering the critique lies.

I'm not for one second saying that I know it all, far from it - but put it this way, if I was just starting out and was to take any of that on board I honestly believe it would be more detrimental to my progress than beneficial. In fact, come to think of it, when I started out I actually did worry about all of those things and I've no doubt it held me back from making proper connections with the couple....."just hold that pose for another 5-10 minutes while I fart on setting up this off camera flash that I've lugged half way up a mountain". Honestly, if I ever come across a client that's in the slightest bit perturbed about blown out sky then I'm probably taking on the wrong clients.
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I always thought that on here if you didn’t want critique you were supposed to post in the photos for pleasure section. I could be wrong though.
 
Mistake or not, you should be able to accept constructive criticism even if you do not agee. Photography is very subjective.
 
Photography is such a subjective subject that posting pictures for critique requires posters to have their ‘ big boy ‘ pants on. Like a moth to a flame opinionated self proclaimed ’experts’ whose only qualification is #number of likes on this and similar sites will dismiss peoples efforts with comments that they would never use ‘face to face’
Allied to this is a poor choice of ‘sympathetic’ english to say their piece.
Remember, especially online, it is not so much what you say but how you say it.
 
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Yes blown highlights matter not to clients in the real World. I know a female professional who was just starting out a couple of years ago, having been through the 'distinctions process' where blown highlights by and large lead to a failure. She was concerned that her beautiful child portraits with blown highlights were not to professional standard - and I reassured her that such 'rules' were only meant to teach people to learn to control highlights for distinctions panels - but commercially, who cares! The parents rightly love her images, full of blown highlights - and they hang proudly on the walls.
sorry I'm taking it off topic, but you know where I'm coming from.
 
I know you're not after crit @danny_bhoy so I'll just go with

1 - I quite like it overall, but I do really like the connection you've captured between them

2 - I love it - if there's a niggle at all its that the far hill runs slightly through her head rather than just above, but that's more personal choice. Its a great shot

And I even like the PP and don't give a toss re the blown sky, if it is actually blown that is rather than just featureless :)

Dave
 
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