WPC 1548 - Sharing* CRITIQUE: skinneywater 's WPC Entry has been selected for the Photo Critique Forum* to find out what could have done to make it better. Be nice, but be honest as...

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

skinneywater's WPC Entry has been selected for the Photo Critique Forum* to find out what could have done to make it better.

Be nice, but be honest as this may help everyone with their craft. Thank you everyone!

From WPC 1548 - Sharing* RESULTS http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/photo_contest_ratings.jsp?pcnum=198

* If you are new to the Photo Critique Forum please read the Section Rules http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-279264-1.html
.

Sharing Sisterly Love - Abigail's Wedding. This Fuji x100s picture was taken at my daughters Abbie's wedding last Friday. The November wind lightly blows a few strands of Mels (left) hair across her cheek and even curls some by her lips. Both have soft eyes looking their perspective places. Maybe it's the slight tilt of the Mel's head or Abs just looking glancing down at her flowers. Its so gentle and loving...soft. A wonderful moment in timeunplanned. Weather was 40 degrees and breezy - downtown Grand Rapids, MI. ISO 400, 23mm, F2, 1/500 .

(Download)

R.G. Loc: Scotland

IMO the image's only weak point is the B&W rendering. It needs to be brighter and a bit more contrasty (especially in the mid-tones), and there are ways of doing that without losing the highlights. And I'd probably experiment with making the faces slightly brighter than the rest of the image (that needs to be done so subtly that it's not noticeable).

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

It is a beautiful photo. I love the gaze of both the women. It causes your eye to travel from one sister to the other tying them together. The composition emphasizes sharing this happy moment between sisters. Maybe they are reflecting on how their lives and relationship is going to change.
I do agree with RG that this needs some work in PP. It is a bit muddy now with the women's faces blending into the backgrounds. Lightening them would draw your eye to their faces equally as to the flowrs.

skinneywater Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Thank you. I am just beginning my journey with photography. I had my camera set so when I took the picture, 3 versions were taken. Versions with the normal, under and over exposure.

I preferred this picture, which was slightly under exposed -0.67 (I think) b/c it was November and it just felt this was the mood for the photo.

Since I am new to the hedge, I really didn't post process submitted pic as I wanted to stay within the rules. I have other versions of the picture with changes in PP. And perhaps they are better.

At this time, my PP is limited to the simple version of photo editing that comes standard on Mac Book. I have not invested yet in a photo shop or light room, or even a free version like GIMP.

I would welcome your recommendations on PP software. I am not a pro, but may think that GIMP may be a good way to go. I love to study and learn things.

Also, I would enjoy it is some from the Hedge would PP the photo and see how it could really look.

Thanks.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

skinneywater wrote:

Thank you. I am just beginning my journey with ph... (show quote)

I would look into the Photoshop/lightroom package. It runs just over $10 per month if I am correct. Gimp is good also and free which is a plus.
You can always post process photos posted on the hog. Not only can you it is expected that you do.
If you want others to work on this post it in the post processing section. Those people will give you all kinds of ideas.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Please repost here in another thread when you PP it to your liking, I would love to see what you come up with.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

skinneywater wrote:

Thank you. I am just beginning my journey with ph... (show quote)

The Gimp is good but has a very steep learning curve.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Graham Smith wrote:

The Gimp is good but has a very steep learning curve.

Do you think it is steeper than Photoshop or Lightroom?

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If he/she bought Photoshop Elements it would allow them to learn basic editing in ACR, and if he/she wanted to get creative, there would be heaps of stuff in the rest of it, including layers etc.

Everything that they learned in ACR would be easily transferable to other editors.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

Country's Mama wrote:

Do you think it is steeper than Photoshop or Lightroom?

Definitely.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

In the contest/challenge you can do minor PP. They don't want you to take a photo and make artwork out of a normal picture, it should resemble what you snapped pretty closely but a bit of PP to set the exposure, white balance, a bit of vibrancy and a crop are just fine.

Frankly if you snap in "P" and ride your exposure a bit you can simply take the jpeg out of the camera with very nice results.

Yes I shot manual for portraits and landscapes but when it's fast paced time and your looking for emotion I shoot in "P"

The facial expressions are nice, not normally scene so it's 'fresh'.

With that being said I agree with some of the others that the faces get lost in the picture. A bit of work on facial exposure and the picture would be better and I agree, color.

A biggie to me is not having a tree growing out of someones head. Sometimes when it's canid you can't get around it but if you can try to avoid the tree/branch growing out of someone's head ;)

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Country's Mama wrote:

Do you think (gimp's learning curve) is steeper than Photoshop or Lightroom?

Absolutely!

Dave

RickH Loc: Toronto, Canada

Two comments: 1) the image needs brightening; 2) there is a distracting white blob near the left eye of the woman on the left.

jim hill Loc: Springfield, IL

Graham Smith wrote:

The Gimp is good but has a very steep learning curve.

Truer words were never spoken. I tried it before purchasing Serif. After several tries I deleted it from my system. It's not for lazy dummies like me.

jim hill Loc: Springfield, IL

St3v3M wrote:

skinneywater's WPC Entry has been selected for the Photo Critique Forum* to find out what could have done to make it better.

Be nice, but be honest as this may help everyone with their craft. Thank you everyone!

From WPC 1548 - Sharing* RESULTS http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/photo_contest_ratings.jsp?pcnum=198

* If you are new to the Photo Critique Forum please read the Section Rules http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-279264-1.html
.

Personal preference: It should not be tampered with except to get rid of the white dot by the left eye of the left hand woman and a tad more brightness.

It's a lovely moment.