A Small Surprise

I was doing an engagement shoot with this couple and I set them up

for something close to this pose. I noticed her ring had fallen off

center and asked that she fix it. I reached down to make a small

adjustment on the camera, and my wife told him to give her a kiss

after she fixed the ring, she thought it would be a nice shot. He

kissed too soon and caught her -- and me -- off guard. I got the

camera up as quickly as I could and got just this shot off before it

was back to business. She never did get the ring centered!

 

Ratings welcome, but please critique as well...comments help so much

more than simple number ratings. Thanks!

I think it's a rather charming and natural pose. I don't like orchestrated poses, especially not for this occasion. There are a few areas that could be fixed. She has some burned out areas on her face and neck, and he looks like he's sporting a bump on the top of his head. That looks like a knot in the tree, which could be cloned out. And the window is distracting, particularly as I keep trying to read the sign over it. But cropping that off is easy, unless of course you prefer to leave it. I think it's quite successful on the whole.

Hanna touched on all the comments I had, well almost all. I love the spontaneous naturalness of the pose. Yes, the ring is twisted, but no bother. It is the window and sign that concern me. They are out of focus already and I would suggest degrading the focus further in PS or at least adjusting the sign so it does not pull the eye.

Ah yes, the sign and window. Basically, when I had to raise my camera so quickly, I had no time to swing over to f/11 or f/16, so it stuck at f/4.5. The sign says "Lock 12 Museum" and the location as a whole is an historical park in Cheshire, CT. They chose this location for their engagement shoot because they have many wonderful memories as a couple there. Other more prepared photos have the sign and window more focused, which they requested I do. Ironically enough, they chose this one as their 11X14 enlargement!

 

Thank you so much for the feedback! I will adjust the burn out and "bump on the head" before presenting them with their final image. The image you are viewing is straight from the camera, merely switched from RAW to JPG and cropped.

 

--Ryan