Lovers

Hows this crop? Tones? Please critique.

Thanks!

Nicole, I'm a sucker for scenes like this. Precious. And this is such a perfect moment.

Technical impressions are always iffy to me without knowing what you feel/wanted first. That said here is one impression.

Once enlarged the crop was very effective for me. The brightness seems lighter than the moment feels but the color seems good (if it is what you like) if the overall brightness was reconsidered. Perhaps if you start with playing down the carpet you may like the 'tone' of the lovers. That can be accomplished by filtering for the carpet first in the conversion with the intent of deepening the carpet.

The exceptional depth you managed will suck me in just that much more with minor adjustments to the lighting (for additional lighting depth).

This was a fun one for me. My folk's cat and dog just adore eachother and my dad actually called me in to take a couple shots of these two. It took a while to get an angle I was happy with and then I played with everything quite a bit in post. The blanket is an unappealing green color and was actually dialed down a bit. I struggled a little to get the feeling of warmth in this without looking too fakey. I thought the sepia worked well for that. The hilights were a question for me as well, I sacrificed a little detail in her fur but kept it this way because it seemed awfully dark otherwise and I wanted a kind of warm, soft, comfy feeling portrait that compliment the moment. I think I'll try darkening the blanket a little more and dialing down the hilights like you suggested to see how much of an improovment I can get out of it.

Thanks again for the tips, feel free to critique anything of mine and don't hold any punches. I feel like I learn more with something constructive (although I'd never turn down praise :)... )