Need an opinion

[sara03]

Hey everyone, I'm new and I'm just looking for some opinions on which way I should go with some wedding photos I took. It was my first wedding I did as a favor for a friend and I'm afraid the lighting got out of hand for me. I'm putting up the original photo to see if from scratch theres something different I could do. I'll post my retouched ones when i get home on my comp.

I didn't do anything with her hair other than tame the flyaways, she's seen these photos so she's gonna notice if theyre different.

She likes to look as much as herself, doesnt like the dolled up studio photos so I just did minimal air brushing, but do ya'll think I should do her as a glamour shot just so she can see if she likes it?

I opened her eyes a little bit but having a little trouble perfecting her smile.
Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Again, the photos I'm putting up right now are unretouched.

[igot2pman]

Most of the corrections below were just pressing AUTO in levels.

Straitened the BG, Brightened and corrected with levels, brightness and contrast, re-applied warmth with warming filter. Also cleaned up that lint.

For the straiten, I made two copies of selections of the FG and BG. rotated the BG and filled in the blank spaces

Then i did something a bit more creative.

Your main problems here are slanted BG and a minor fix in levels. On a positive note, i really like your compositions and BG's.

-Keven

[sara03]

When I did my retouch I did straighten the image, but I never thought of making a copy and filling in, I'll def have to give it a try! I really like what you did in that second one.

Anyone think I ought to add some hair strands to this one? Her hair was half up and half down and curly and it just looks like its a bun.

[igot2pman]

I have been working on this effect for a little while now. Decided that i would test it on your image. Just relized the box is uneven... but as its a test, not going to bother fixing it.

only add the hairs if you can do it well... you dont want to cheep up the image.

Hope you like,
-Keven

[skydog]

curious...on photo number three...what light did you use? a stobe? type?

[RokcetScientist]

Originally Posted by sara03

[...] do ya'll think I should do her as a glamour shot just so she can see if she likes it?

You know her, so you can make that decision much better than we can.

I'd do both: one version with the obvious touch ups (rotate, crop, auto levels, shadow fill, eyes, hair, skin desaturation, contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc. – see Quick & Dirty versions here, here, and here – and, if you're confident of your skills, and got better originals than these, a glamourized version, where you also take off 20 pounds, remove moles, and other imperfections, smooth out lines and wrinkles, etc., etc.
Then I'd let her choose.

BTW, your standard rotation deviation is a remarkably consistent and exact 2,6 degrees to the right in all three photos. I had that too. Now a grid in my viewfinder virtually eliminates that. I recommend it.

[Aleksman71]

Just a example what would I do.

[sara03]

Originally Posted by skydog

curious...on photo number three...what light did you use? a stobe? type?

I'm pretty much an amateur photographer as you can probably tell, lol.
But I used the Nikon SB-400 flash. It's only got one setting. I think it's a great little flash, it's really stepped up my indoor and outdoor night shots. I'm so glad I decided to get an external flash. The wedding was the first time I actually used it! lol.

[sara03]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

I have been working on this effect for a little while now. Decided that i would test it on your image. Just relized the box is uneven... but as its a test, not going to bother fixing it.

only add the hairs if you can do it well... you dont want to cheep up the image.

Hope you like,
-Keven

I like that!!!! I'm gonna try and see if I can do that!

[sara03]

[QUOTE=RokcetScientist;224268]You know her, so you can make that decision much better than we can.

I'd do both: one version with the obvious touch ups (rotate, crop, auto levels, shadow fill, eyes, hair, skin desaturation, contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc. – see Quick & Dirty versions


This might be a really dumb question, but how did you change it to such a bright blue sky without darkening the highlights? What I've tried makes her too dark.

[sara03]

Finally got a chance to post my retouch. I know I still have to change contrast and brightness but just wanna see what yall think so far

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m..._06399copy.jpg

http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m...t=DSC_0638.jpg

[igot2pman]

Originally Posted by sara03

Finally got a chance to post my retouch. I know I still have to change contrast and brightness but just wanna see what yall think so far

The only thing i see is the foot prints, patch them out. But watch the shadow area.

Good job,
-Keven

[Algarve Images]

Just got around to attempting this one, a bit stuck for time so adjusted the levels in "Painter X", black, white and neutral point, added a slight blue gradient to the sky, blurred a little of the background for shallower DOF, corrected the horizon, few other bits which i cant remember doh!
Just a suggestion, if you are doing weddings and you use a Nikon it would be beneficial to invest in a CLS light system which would have eliminated the shadows on her left side, i have one i'll post later with a shadow of the nose because i used the SB900 to the left and not angled to the right lol
regards,
Gary...