Tossing the bridal bouquet

[robinlxz]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
-Moment for snatch (In fact I use continuous shooting, but I still confuse which moment is the best one after shot)
-Exposure/WB (with sun shining the shadow on face is quite obvious, but in all photoes there is no one with bride's whole face brightened)
-Postproduction (while in many wedding photography I saw, there are often some special tone used, and I am curious about that)

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
-Show the happiness on wedding.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
-At morning about 11:30 a.m., with D300s, 16/85 lens, f/3.5, 1/2000s, 200 ISO. After celebrating their marriage, we moving to the buffet.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
-I personally satisfied with the atmosphere described by this photo, when everyone turn their eyes on the bouquet. Although the brides figure is not as good as when she just throw it, those girls are more vivid in this photo.

Thank you for viewing.

 

[SilverPine]

All the necessary elements are there, smiling face from the bride, bouquet just about the right position - not too high and too low and also let you guess who got the bouquet. Usually the location and time of shooting wedding photo is fixed nothing you could do, but expo is over by 1/3 of f/stop, use CPL may cut down some unwanted reflection from the glass windows or convert into B/W color is another option. Composition, I would prefer to step forward three steps to have a better view of bride's face.

 

[robinlxz]

Thank you for your suggestion. You are right that this photo is somehow over expo, I will try to fix it from RAW. For the brides' face, I also hope to get a better view, but when she look at my side, the bouquet is still high in the air while girls just standing and watching, and an extra wide lens may solve the problem.
And I really didn't notice the reflection, I'll try CPL when possible, thanks

 

[SilverPine]

This photo I prefer to be B/W, expo -2/3 f/stop and up the contrast and use green filter if possible. The B/W will remove all color so that our eye will look for emotion elements like face expression, body language and etc. Good job and the photo well taken.

 

[robinlxz]

All the necessary elements are there, smiling face from the bride, bouquet just about the right position - not too high and too low and also let you guess who got the bouquet. Usually the location and time of shooting wedding photo is fixed nothing you could do, but expo is over by 1/3 of f/stop, use CPL may cut down some unwanted reflection from the glass windows or convert into B/W color is another option. Composition, I would prefer to step forward three steps to have a better view of bride's face.

Here is my work after your suggestion

 

[XavierShoot]

Good shot bro! nice expressions on the girls faces. if possible pp the trees away, you might consider the exit sign above the door, the lamp on the wall, the spot beside the pool, personal preference of the pic to be "clean" hehe~ overall all the elements of a happy event is there

 

[robinlxz]

Good shot bro! nice expressions on the girls faces. if possible pp the trees away, you might consider the exit sign above the door, the lamp on the wall, the spot beside the pool, personal preference of the pic to be "clean" hehe~ overall all the elements of a happy event is there

Thank you for your suggestion! I even didn't notice those details. I will try for the lamp and the exit sign, but trees, hmm, it's challenging.

 

[de nise]

Nice. I prefer the original one. The 2nd version looked a bit too 'well done'.

 

[robinlxz]

Thanks for your opinion

 

[nitewalk]

I prefer the original version. It works for me. The friends of the bride appears to be more shadowed in the second version. The blue is a little too strong in the second version, which for such a joyous shot, I'd think the blue doesn't quite work well. I like the candid and joyous expression of the friends. I'm alright that the bride's face is not seen as this is possibly just one of the shots of the entire series of the wedding, and in this case I'd think the bride's friend should take the attention with the anticipation of the flower.

 

[robinlxz]

Thank you for your suggestion. I think the blue is because of -0.4 expo from original one, and the light reflected by swimming pool also turns like blue.

 

[nitewalk]

Thank you for your suggestion. I think the blue is because of -0.4 expo from original one, and the light reflected by swimming pool also turns like blue.

The original is ok, if going by what u said. But the second version looked like the wall just got painted blue.

 

[SilverPine]

B/W may be another option of present this photo, I am not good at photo editing, the best result is B/W photo with the bouquet keep it original red:

Please let me know if you wish to delete the above photo.


​

 

[robinlxz]

B/W may be another option of present this photo, I am not good at photo editing, the best result is B/W photo with the bouquet keep it original red:

Of course let the photo be there, thank you Nice try! In fact I've done similar job, and wonder that if we keep both bride and bouquet with color, would it be even nicer.

 

[JGHan]

Gap between the bride and the guests is too far. How about isolating the guests instead?

 

[oracle0711]

You sure doing that will make the picture look nicer? What is the point of this picture if the guests are being isolated?

Gap between the bride and the guests is too far. How about isolating the guests instead?

 

[catchlights]

you have to define what is this photo about, if this is a reportage photo, keep it as it is, refrain from editing except white balance fine tuning, level adjustment, and cropping.

IMO, you should put more efforts on practising on compositing, finding unique/interesting angle, capture the moment instead of trying "adding legs to a snake" with photoshop.

anyway, you are not sending this for a competition print, so don't waste your efforts try to beautify it.

 

[JGHan]

You sure doing that will make the picture look nicer? What is the point of this picture if the guests are being isolated?

why not? The actions and expressions of guests look candid enough to warrant a pic. Maybe a try?

 

[Jiannn L]

why not? The actions and expressions of guests look candid enough to warrant a pic. Maybe a try?

How about you show a photo to TS or oracle0711 what do you mean by 'How about isolating the guests instead?' ​

 

[robinlxz]

why not? The actions and expressions of guests look candid enough to warrant a pic. Maybe a try?

While in fact I do try it on another photo, with girls' actions are more various. The photo is more vivid but somehow the "story telling" feeling is weaken without bride there.
Thank you for your suggestion anyway.