gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Here I go again, I did some small edits here, where in raw I checked "enable profile corrections" and used the grey in my hair for a white balance. Under the basic settings of raw I selected auto to see what the results would be and then did a few small tweaks with the settings including a little bit of the dehaze option.
I thought about using the adjustment brush to brighten up the face some more but to me it just seemed more natural as there was some shade from the tree.
I guess If I wanted to tweak the photo more I could remove the dead branch from right behind her head and the power towers in the background with the lines and then the other black stick behind my shoulder. I didnt use a rule of thirds but it really looked good and still feel like I may be missing something. I would be greatfull for any suggestions or ideas anyone may have.

canon 70D
f10 / 1/250 / ISO 100 / 18-55@30mm
this was not the best time for pictures as it was around 2pm, clear and sunny skys. We had a chance to try and go walking by the river again and snapped a few photos using a tripod and my phone app. I do notice that when I preview the photo here it looks darker then what it does on my monitor, just wanted to pass that on :)

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sxrich

I think you had some goals in your mind and maybe you achieved them to a large degree. We all have different approaches and constructive criticism isn't always well received and sometimes subjective, not always. Couple things I wondered about - you seemed to have interest in the background ie river etc and wanted that part of the picture, you were concerned about white balance and then mentioned rule of thirds for composition. I felt that a picture of you two is conflicted by emphasis on the background - just my opinion and you were shooting at f10. I might try a little more "blur" to the background although you are using an 18-55 lens. The idea of fill flash comes to mind in order to avoid raccoon eyes and brighten up the faces. Just note that you will have sync speed to deal with but in the shade, not a major problem as a rule. I might try shooting this at 55mm, moving your tripod accordingly. So, just my two cents since you asked. I've shot in similar situations and i think you did a smart thing by moving into the shade. Here is a pic I shot years ago with similar challenges with fill flash. Maybe not the best pic. also, big difference in the image that you was the download. brightness and color temp.

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gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

thank you so much for the input, I think we shot a f10 to try and focus the background some more as the wife likes the river, I agree shooting at 4.5 would of given more focus to us and not the background. I had a flash with me and didn't thing about it since I had shot at a f10, at the lower one I don't know if I would of even needed the flash, but I will work on that more. It was kind of a bad time to take photos as it was the hottest part of the day and with my issues we cannot walk all that far. One time we will try to take a lunch and go early and not feel kinda rushed from the heat... we had taken a lot more photos of us cutting up and goofing off but she said I don't need to ask about those :).
I guess you can say my goal is to always improve, and the info I get just excites me to strive to do better. Your picture is wonderful and I hope that the next photo I post will show more of what I have learned :)

thanks you all

Joe Blow

I suggest bringing up the shadows in your gamma. I find the dark faces are too distracting.

Although you could have used a flash, leaning a 2'x3' piece of white cardboard against the tripod would also throw a lot of light on your faces.

fourg1b2006 Loc: Long Island New York

I think that using a little fill flash would have done the trick. It is a lovely image.

d3200prime

Not a bad shot but the shadows and the bokeh need some work. It's really hard to think how the shot should be taken to make it look its best for many folks but if you take the time to learn and put into practice proven practices you will amaze yourself. Look and study the picture sxrich posted. Fill flash is your friend.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

The towers in the distance don't bother me but the tree growing out of her head does. Sometime moving just little can solve these problems ( I won't post any of mine with simillar problems). Fill flash might solve the faces in shadow. Don't worry about the rule of thirds, it's a rule, not a law

ab7rn Loc: Portland, Oregon

Looked dark, until I hit download. Then it looked fine.

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

thank you all for the suggestions, I will work on these suggestions, I have a couple of weeks until the wifes surgery and I will be trying to take more photo's. I am glad you see that I am trying to do this right with the shot and less with editing. I could fix a lot of that with Photoshop but to understand what to work on to with shooting the picture it will make it better :) That is why I like this group as I am learning so much. some of the photo's could be better if I had some better lens's and one day I will :)
I look at a lot of the wonderful photos that have been shared and it encourages me to do better, it helps me to look at things I wouldn't usually look at and to enjoy the beauty of what is around me.
One day you will say "wow" look at his photo's :) and it will be because of all the help you all have given me:)
thank you

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

You have enough info in your photo to fix it without reshooting, if you do post processing in Photoshop (or, probably, some other program) First I cropped and straightened, to emphasize what's important. Then, I selected you and your wife, adjusted color, contrast, and tones, lightened some of the darks around the eyes. I then switched the mask to the background, and toned down the saturation overall, adding a bit of saturation back into the river and some of the brighter leaves. I'd be glad to post this, or to PM it to you.
It's a fine shot of a good moment, and deserves to be fixed and shown.

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Hmm, I have not really went into full edit of the photo yet but your ideas have peaked my interest. I had considered doing a mask and creating a curves adjustment layer for us and then remove the dead looking branch from behind her head and what looks like a branch kinda at the top center of the bush behind my shoulder. I had not thought about lowering the saturation of the background and then bringing up some of the leaves, my first thought was to maybe use a gaussian blur so we would stand out more. Then maybe create it as a smart object and desaturate and run a hi pass filter and duplicate it a few times to increase the sharpness after adding the color back. I still have issues with editing as sometimes I overkill the work.

Yes I would be interested in what you would edit but to help would you want the raw picture as it would seem you have a lot of experience with photoshop and having the raw photo would make your work easier? and I could get the psd when your finished so I could see the steps you did and learn even more :) sorry I am getting excited and well a little greedy as I am learning more :) let me know and I will set something up so you can get it from me :)

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

Unfortunately, Photoshop does not preserve the history when it is saved, so my working on it and sending it would not help. Fortunately, there are usually several paths to correction, so If I give you general directions, you can play around. That's the best way to learn, anyway.

Here is what I did. If you like it, use the Quick Selection tool to select you two, then Select and Mask to get a more accurate selection. All tools have tutorials if you google them. And/or, send me a private message (can attach photo) here if you have problems. After you get the selection, I will walk you through various steps.

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gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Well I have done a couple edits and without giving to much info I would be curious which one you like better and why :) the reason I ask why is I was experimenting with some different editing steps I am not use to and really curious if I am on the right track or if there is something I am missing. If I have done bad please let me know as it helps me learn.
Again downloading them may look better as they still look dark on the preview :/

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