please critique my wedding retouching

[cjcastan]

Hi all,

wanted to get some good constructive feedback on my wedding style retouching.

thanks in advance

before 1

after 1

before 2

after 2

[pixelzombie]

i would've cleaned up the garbage in the street of the 1st shot, the sky seems a tad over saturated...

[dataflow]

what you have done is good.

but like pixelzombie said you should of cleaned up the garbage in the street of the 1st shot

and i would remove the big spotlight plus all the little light spots on the floor of the second image.
i think those lights take the focus off the subject in the middle.

if its to hard to remove the spotlight i would atleast reduce the brightness of it

[i-inspire]

You're results are good. The only thing I would say is remove the garbage can, like everyone else said, and make the ceiling level in the second one.

[0lBaldy]

I figure that you are not the photographer so will not comment on the hidden person in pic #1 or the three headed lady on the right.. (I would never have shown this picture to the client)

As far as retouching: I agree with Pixelzombie, if you are going to go to the trouble to get rid of the dude and tent then why not clean up the other side, clean the street and get rid of the photo equipment bag behind the girls and clean out the crap in the tree line.. the suit jacket is inside out and needs fixing.. lots of wrinkles to be smoothed out on the dresses and suit.. also if this picture is going to be shown to the client remove unflattering pooch and bellybutton on one of the girls

Pic #2.. I will keep it very simple.. Straighten picture and get rid of that distracting, annoying flash highlight.. If the purpose of the crop is to show the couple AND the attendant people then in the B/W version the audience should be recognizable.. For a horizontal shot I would have cropped right behind the couple cutting out the people behind them (or if you are looking for secondary sales .. offer both versions but either way the audience should be recognizable)

For Retouching Look at all the little details with a critical eye and when you are finished ask someone else to look at the pic to find things wrong then after you fix those, come back to it later and re-evaluate it again.. then get a different pair of eyes to pick it to death again and remember they are not commenting on your work! just finding things that, in their opinion, needs to be done!

[cjcastan]

thanks for the words, I'll have to be more mindful of things like you guys are talking about.

I've been playing photoshop for a long while but always doing whatever the photogs specify - (remove pimples / objects / etc.) I'm trying to grow as a retoucher and grow creatively .I appreciate the help.

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by pixelzombie

the sky seems a tad over saturated...

I think it suits the photo. It's only a problem if it's too bright to be printed (ie outside the printer's gamut).

[disinimCS3]

I THINK YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE DARK AREAS, I CAN NOT SEE ANY DETAIL ON THE BLACK SUITE...


everything else i like it

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by disinimCS3

I THINK YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE DARK AREAS, I CAN NOT SEE ANY DETAIL ON THE BLACK SUITE...

I can see detail ... disinimCS3, is your monitor calibrated?

[pixelzombie]

Originally Posted by Damo77

I think it suits the photo. It's only a problem if it's too bright to be printed (ie outside the printer's gamut).

it takes attention away from the people in the shot, but i could be a sucker for blue skys as my eyes are drawn to that area of the photo...

[disinimCS3]

im not watching with my eyes... im watching it with values... the dark areas on the grayscale photo coul be better, the photo can have a bit longer spectrum, am not tlling i can see the rought areas on the pants... but i want to see those things are hiden on a normal shoot with out "retouching"