Precious Moments

[chewraisins]

Hi guys.. just received a 350D kit as a wedding present..
The below pic was shot under "warm" lighting w/o flash..
Would appreciate any comments & advice on composition, exposure, white balance etc.




Cheers,
Andrew

[J-Chan]

nice juxtaposition of east and west elements..

[fjozn]

I think I would like it better if the groom is in focus too.

[Pablo]

Just that tricky bit of DOF.

I think you needed a bit more.
Great capture otherwise.

Composition is good,

White ballance could be tweeked, (but that depends on what you feel) ...it is ok for me.

It is a nice photo, keep it as I imagine it means a lot to you.

Cheers

[chewraisins]

Thanks for the advice & kind words..
I'll try shooting with higher DOF when I get back.

This is the 1st time shooting with a DSLR & there's
so much to learn & tons of information to be digested.

It is an interesting/exciting period for me due to
transition from single to married, P&S to DSLR user..

Cheers,
Andrew

[pokiemon]

i would prefer a tad sharper. also it's hard to capture 2 subjects if they are not on same plane as this will mean one of them will be out of out of focus. if that is your original intention then it's ok. if not u may want to think abt rearranging your subjects in line or smaller aperture.

[chewraisins]

Originally Posted by pokiemon i would prefer a tad sharper..

Agreed that the picture should've been sharper.. but kinda difficult for me to keep still shooting at 1/8sec handheld while squating.. not gifted with steady hands, might invest on a tripod in the near future.. wonder if PP can improve on sharpening the image.. i'll try it when I get home.

[lastboltnut]

I think the handsake is vey obvious leh....even the bride is not sharp....try shooting with a tripod and deeper DOF.

[nysheng]

i feel it's a little too warm... makes mi feel a little uncomfortable after looking at it for awhile.. plus the red in the background kinda adds to that feeling? hmmz...why dun u try PP it? add a little 'soft focus'?

[jkaiser]

Originally Posted by chewraisins Thanks for the advice & kind words.. I'll try shooting with higher DOF when I get back. This is the 1st time shooting with a DSLR & there's so much to learn & tons of information to be digested. It is an interesting/exciting period for me due to transition from single to married, P&S to DSLR user.. Cheers, Andrew

Can afford to keep 2 wives ah?
but yea, like wat the rest said, abit of a handshake, i realised u shot @ 1/6s, which def. req. a tripod

[espion]

A word on DOF: it depends on what is your intention.

For example, if you want to focus on the wife, then it is ok that the groom is OOF (out of focus), and to emphasize that it is intentional, you may even want a little more spatial separation. And then why do you want to do that? Maybe to create a image of wife reminiscing her wedding day ...

But if your intention is to show a couple, then both need to be in focus to show them as one thing ...

And then you can have the groom in focus or the chinese characters in focus, or everything in focus, etc etc

So there are many DOF compositional possibilities for you to use for your purpose.

And I may say the same things for WB too, ie what is white is whatever serves your purposes.

The greater "sin" is not to have your WB off or your DOF inadequate etc etc, but to be technically correct without a purpose or intent, if that is a meaningful thing to say at all.

[chewraisins]

Originally Posted by nysheng i feel it's a little too warm.....add a little 'soft focus'?

I'll try it tonight & see how it goes.. but then only have Photoshop Elements 3.0.. does it have such features? Only have an 1.2GHz iBook so don't think it can run Photoshop CS & such..

Originally Posted by jkaiser Can afford to keep 2 wives ah? but yea, like wat the rest said, abit of a handshake, i realised u shot @ 1/6s, which def. req. a tripod

Haha.. lucky for me 1 of them was a gift because I married the other.. forgot to mention that the gift came with a 24-70 f2.8L.. still don't dare to use the lens after realising that it costs more than the kit..

Originally Posted by espion A word on DOF: it depends on what is your intention. For example, if you want to focus on the wife, then it is ok that the groom is OOF (out of focus), and to emphasize that it is intentional, you may even want a little more spatial separation. And then why do you want to do that? Maybe to create a image of wife reminiscing her wedding day ... But if your intention is to show a couple, then both need to be in focus to show them as one thing ... And then you can have the groom in focus or the chinese characters in focus, or everything in focus, etc etc So there are many DOF compositional possibilities for you to use for your purpose. And I may say the same things for WB too, ie what is white is whatever serves your purposes. The greater "sin" is not to have your WB off or your DOF inadequate etc etc, but to be technically correct without a purpose or intent, if that is a meaningful thing to say at all.

Indeed my intention was to have the "wife" as the main focus in the picture. I gave this picture to my wife the day after the wedding & told her.."just like the pic, she's gonna be my main focus from then on.." You could imagine how touched she was..

The groom & bride shares a fixed base.. so increasing the space between them is not possible (don't I just sound like a man that's just married.. ), unless I change the angle of the shot. I've tried many angles & found that this is most interesting.

Cheers,
Andrew

[XiaoMiaoWang]

it is OOF, out of focus.

For the white balance issue, try using a cooling filter, or better yet, try a high key B&W treatment for this picture.

[nysheng]

hmmz...Elements 3.0 should have such filters... maybe u could use a tripod and try manual focusing? den u can experiment on focusing on the bride, groom or both(which u have to increase the aperture). i heard of a shop around ang mo kio which sells cheaper Photoshop CS....