[Rupert]

As some of you know, I recently shot a wedding for a girl that would have been without a photographer otherwise. It was clearly advised that I am an old Squirrel shooter, not a wedding shooter, but she insisted and I did what I could.

Most are within the bounds of what I can process reasonably well, but this one....one she wants me to print for certain....is sort of a mystery to me. I look at it and think it is really bad...then not so bad....and in reality I am no longer sure just how it looks. That's where you can help me, if you will.

Here is my latest version cropped to print at 8x10. I have the original Jpeg and the Raw if anyone wants to work on it and see what they might do better. It would be appreciated, I want to do the best for her I can.

I hope I posted this in the right Forum...if not, someone can move it to the appropriate place.

Thanks!
Rupert

Attachment 129960

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Last edited by Rupert; 05-30-2015 at 12:05 PM.

[magkelly]

Rupert check your IM's.

[magkelly]

This is just a casual redo of the jpeg for you to get an idea. I can do even better with the raw. Mainly what keeps this photo from being really nice is the fact that his skin is a bit too bumpy and red and the fact that the sky and the blues in general are a bit blah. Being as he's a military guy you probably don't want to edit his skin to the point of making it look as smooth as a baby's. He'd probably think that was too much and a bit sissy besides, but still you don't want the fact that he's got very ruddy skin detracting from the shot. Particularly when hers is just lovely. They both have really pretty eyes, so you should play that up, make that more the focus of the shot. Honestly I could have made it even more colorful, put a bright gradient in the sky but I think that would have been a bit overkill. I don't like shots where you can actually tell it's fake, you know?

Basically I just used a skin brush to tone the acne down a little bit, took out the worst of it. But I let him look like the outdoorsy guy he probably is. I perked the colors just a bit but tried to keep it real. Not much more I can do with a jpeg without going overboard and making his skin look too red, but send me the raw and I'll take a better shot at this tonight, okay? Just a hint but when you're working with someone who has some skin issues like this guy does you don't want to pop the colors too much or do too much general sharpening via filters. Try to do some of the sharpening by hand and keep it very subtle otherwise you bring attention exactly where you don't want it, back on his skin.

They are a very pretty couple actually and you can tell them I said so.

[Rupert]

Looks much better Mag, I agree with you assessment ......the file is sent! Do what you can! Anyone else want to give it a shot?

Regards!

[Schraubstock]

Hi

Rupert

I'll PM you.

This is already a worked image the original would be better to work with. RAW if possible.

Greetings

[Patajac]

send me the raw, ill have a go

[Rupert]

Mag....Here is your version from the Raw file, and it looks very good to me.
[IMG] [/IMG]

Schraubstock/Patajac...If you will PM me and give me an E-mail address, I will send you the DNG file for better processing.

Regards & Thanks!
Rupert

[Patajac]

raw is too large for my email. upload it here Free large file hosting. Send big files the easy way! and pm the link

[K-9]

I would try a B&W conversion. Here's a quick one I did. His nose came out a little too freckly, but maybe you can use PS to smooth it out further:

[Patajac]

Here is my take, made it 8x10 and full size file is in your mail.

[Rupert]

I appreciate all this effort.......nice one Patajac! I'm going to be gone a few days, but will show Lacie all the different versions when I get back and let her choose.

K9...I like your B/W version, thanks! .......Here is one I played with using several different programs.....some don't like frames....Sometimes I do......sometimes not.
[IMG] [/IMG]

Regards!

[todd]

Patajacs rendition looks great to me...

[Tom Woj]

Nice photo.

Sometimes as photographers we need to step back and let the client chose whatever they want. As much as we think the image isn't our best, to that couple, it could be brilliant, just what they want. We can only guess at the reason, as there are many.

For me the image is pretty much there. Don't know if you've printed it already or anything, but here's my take from the jpg. Enhanced the blues/vibrancy a tad to try to get more from the sky, clarity/softness down a touch, darkened the blacks for a bit more contrast, and a little vignette round the edge.

[selar]

Ruperts original photo (first post) looks the best to me.

[grainbelt]

Here is my take, made it 8x10 and full size file is in your mail.

The best so far.

I agree with the folks who converted to B&W - the difference in their skin tones makes the color ones all look a little odd.

I do wish the image included more of the flowers and dress and less sky, but without knowing what the original was before 8x10 crop, that ship has probably sailed...