caron2 Loc: Georgia

Will probably spend a big portion of my day learning, watching Peter Hurley tutorials on you tube. They are great! Wish I could afford his dvd. Thanks for the tips everyone is giving on here. So glad I signed on :)

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

Yep I second that thanks every one. I will check out peters tuts

gchaddy Loc: Bolton

I've learnt a bit from a guy called PhotoGavin
Also on you tube

briace Loc: liverpool uk

is that a bit better m8

Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

This second pic is a better example of "too harsh of flash"
His shirt is washed out (could've told him to button jacket too)
The ambient light was probably enough for the background so your subject only needs a little flash to light the face. Most times I use the slide out reflector card on my flash, with the flash angled 30 deg. less than strait up, then turn the power halfway down.
Sometimes I use a slide on diffuser.

dawgtired Loc: Raleigh, NC

Why were they having a prom in July?

My comments are to agree with another post that number 1 should be cropped. There is too much space to the right of the young man. In both pictures the light is way too harsh. I don't think it had anything to do with the fill flash. Fill flash is used to fill in the shadows or to give a highlight to the eyes. I wasn't there obviously, but my guess is with this light, there were no shadows and I don't see a catch light in their eyes so I'm not sure fill flash did anything here. It would have been better to find a shady spot with some directional light.

In the first photo her left hand looks like she is trying to pull the top of her dress up. I think you could have posed them a little more intimately.

Also you should have used a very shallow dof to separate them from the background. That may have helped blur the lines from the road running across the picture.

One final comment is that this type of frontal pose is not flattering at all to someone with a round face. It would have been better with a 2/3 pose and the light coming from from the side furthest from the camera. Just my two cents

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

My thoughts - The pictures are good. I think you could have found a place to pose them that didnt look like they were standing in the middle of the road. Like others I would have included all of them or another shot that was from the waist up. The half shot would have let you blur the background. ( shoot lens zoomed out as far as it will go and wide open and seperate the background as far as you can from them). Just me but the hands on the boy make him look like he was Adam in the Garden trying to cover up. Also both M & F look better with one shoulder a little toward the camera and not square unless you want a football player look. - Dave

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of correcting the color (shifted the light towards the yellow in LAB mode), sharpening a bit, and cropping a lot. Since it was a prom, you were shooting in the early evening (5:03 PM, to be exact).

He looks very self-conscious, and doesn't seem to know what to do with his hands. And for some reason, her left hand is pulling up her dress. Getting it in the shot adds a distracting element.

Prom picture

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

It's easy in Photoshop to ad lens blur to the background.

Sac-Jack Loc: Sacramento, Ca

You did a very nice job on the picture's for sure and I'm one that does not us a flash when I should. In some case's I have had some the face of the person dark and the other side look normal.

bawlmer Loc: Baltimore, MD

I didn't do anything with blurring the background, but I worked on the colors to warm them up a bit, as well as a little dodging and burning on his shirt to make the highlights a bit darker. Hope you like what I've down with them. :)

jmarazzi Loc: Moving around to stay out of the HEAT

Definitely agree about either finding a different location to shoot the couple, or changing the angle of the camera. The first thing my eye went to was the road.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Try this: Grab one of your two subjects, whichever one you can boss around the easiest. Take him/her outside in daylight and hold your photo up to the face and compare color. You might be surprised.

ALYN Loc: Lebanon, Indiana

You're not great on spelling, either.ALYN

JOHN438 Loc: West central Florida

Gary, just go on picasa and play around with the editing tools..it is free and easy.