How to fix this?

[jrielley]

This is my first post here. I was drafted to photograph a wedding because I met the stringent qualification of owning a camera and I would be free. This picture turned out to be one of my favorites, but it's not perfect and I haven't made any changes to it. What would you do to make it better?

 

[Moab Man]

I actually like the almost overly bright look. The only thing I would do is crop off the dead space on the left hand side. 8x10 instead of 8x12.

 

[Pretzel]

I actually like the almost overly bright look. The only thing I would do is crop off the dead space on the left hand side. 8x10 instead of 8x12.

I second that... otherwise her expression, the "pose", the lighting, all feels right to me!

 

[Moab Man]

Cropped to 8x10

In this format my eyes travel two ways. To the girls face and then the flower and sometimes to the center of the picture, the flower, and then to the girls face. The dead space added nothing to it and made it more point and shootish as opposed to a photograph.

 

[Bourbon Neat]

Welcome to the forum. There are a few here that do weddings professionally, maybe they will have good ideas for you.

What is your post processing software? Did you shoot in raw? Any better or worse? I am color blind. Adjusted exposure and dropped the highlights a bit.

 

[jrielley]

I shot in RAW and jpeg, this is the unaltered jpeg. I have Photoshop Elements 13 and just bought a book, but haven't used it much.

 

[Bourbon Neat]

Looked good till I saw what Moab did. Side by side I can see the difference and I actually ruined it by going so dark.

 

[Bourbon Neat]

Elements 13 opens the file with camera raw first, that is where you make your exposure, contrast, temp, and such adjustments. Beyond that I am not confident, a newbie to processing.

 

[jrielley]

This qualifies as a snapshot. I was sitting in a chair putting bandaids on my feet (new shoes) when she walked in and I grabbed my camera and took a couple of quick shots. This is the second one.

 

[WayneF]

It's a great picture, but I would crop it vertical, full height 4:5, which is only slightly tight, but it removes the clutter that is not the subject.

 

[Moab Man]

This qualifies as a snapshot. I was sitting in a chair putting bandaids on my feet (new shoes) when she walked in and I grabbed my camera and took a couple of quick shots. This is the second one. View attachment 165569

Agreed. What I meant by snapshot was the subject was sitting in the center with the dead space to the left giving it that point and shoot snapshot look because "I have to point my point and shoot at what I want in focus in the center of the photo."

 

[Moab Man]

Here's the vertical crop WayneF mentioned.



Both crops look great, but I prefer the "clutter" in this photo. For me, it kind of adds to where she is.

 

[dennybeall]

Just for fun.....................