Skip to main content

Wedding Critique Part 1

Lesson 1 from: Photo Week Image Critique Hosted by Sue Bryce

Sue Bryce, Lindsay Adler, Brooke Shaden, Michele Celentano, John Greengo, Peter Hurley, Vanessa Joy

Wedding Critique Part 1

Lesson 1 from: Photo Week Image Critique Hosted by Sue Bryce

Sue Bryce, Lindsay Adler, Brooke Shaden, Michele Celentano, John Greengo, Peter Hurley, Vanessa Joy

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

1. Wedding Critique Part 1

Lesson Info

Wedding Critique Part 1

Good morning and welcome to foot awake on creative live I am su bryce and I am hosting the critique day today today is sponsored by bay photo so big shout out and thanks to bay photo for being our sponsor for this day now today I would like to introduce the winning category. We are being critiqued today with vanessa joy. Vanessa is a speaker, she's, a photographer, she's, a wedding photographer, she's, a writer, and vanessa I'll beat and to ditch itself. Yeah, so I've been doing weddings for twelve years and from the new jersey area and doing photography for fifteen, and I'm just excited to see what's going to happen here, so I'd like to introduce kristie. We read. Christie is one of the founders, co owners and and creators of june bug winnings, as you all know, an amazing winning blogged and also kristie photographed weddings, which is held june bug came about and now consulting businesses in waiting. Photographers, small businesses in winning but opus yeah, that's, right founded june...

bug weddings long ago and we did so much photo editing over the years, publishing weddings and running our world's best wedding photo contests. And so this is something that I absolutely love to do. It is such an honor to get to see so much great work. Well, that's what I love about you because you actually have been critiquing work for years because when you choose images for your dream bag block, it was daily thousands of images, photographers seeing lee work saying the state of the industry so this is going to be really exciting let's have our first image. All right, my first reaction, I'm going to open this critique. My first reaction is beautiful image, beautiful connection, I love it when people actually in a winning take the time to put the bride on the beard or lie them down to actually take kind of good wear type shots like the pre getting ready is often about the details, but I really love it when you actually take the time. I know when I've shot winnings it's actually really difficult to take the time to lay them down because that happening is happening so fast, the maker barristers always running late, they're here starless is always running late. In my instant, reaction was straight away well done for taking the time. You can tell she's a bride, I don't know if she's fully in her gown yet, or whether she's just in their underwear, but I would have done anything to see this image pull back just a little bit more, see a little bit more shoulder, a little bit more of here, a special underwear or whatever, but in terms of connection, any photographer that's getting that sort of connection from the client is winning in my books. This either if you like to say anything about that, yeah, like the placement of the vale, one of the biggest things for me wedding photography, and for brides, they just want to look thinner in, no matter how thin or not then they are on dh having the veil not only shows off the detail, that's going to make the client very happy, but it's also going to, you know, cut the too much skin that would have been there otherwise. Well, they've done a great job detailing the here is well and bringing that forward, I think it's really important that when there is detail on the veil and might actually be hydrates, I think it is, yeah, my next, you just see the with a line of madrid so at first I thought she was lying down and this was her jeans I thought she was almost getting ready, but then I realized that's probably the couch or the hidden hit board, but damn anyway, in terms of the getting ready shots, I feel like this is the woman that spying all the photographs, it's her wedding day and the more time you can spend with those girls getting ready in the more beautiful shots you convey it and we're going to sell so well done oh, I do love I really love this is an older couple and I really love that because, you know, not very often with the older couples do they make the effort to go back through the whole white dress thing, maybe they got remarried, maybe they didn't. So would and tim's off, um critiquing this image, I feel like their emotion in there, you know? Oh, they're very prison and they're they've got their eyes close it's beautiful, but what would you like to say about the surrounding? Because I'm feeling you go over and talk to you about trade it's the for me, it's really just the exposure that that hit me a little bit there just a little bit dark, so my eye goes directly to the background and then to the tree kind of cutting through their heads rather than to their faces, and they're in the motion. There is so beautiful I would I would much rather go right to their face is ok, so we are critiquing on a sort of placement screen tvs wait low light or, you know, sometimes I've critique something and I've looked at the comments and people are like, well, it's perfectly exposed on my computer, you know? So I do have to be careful of their butt. I do agree if these hot spots in an image that drawing your eye away from the people been, this could probably be corrected info shop. I would have liked to have not seen so much tree coming into the heat, but they've obviously just change around seeing this beautiful life shot this image and they've made, um, some connection just watch fate when you're posing, just watch the feet and just deed flat feet, like he could have just been a little bit towards here hitwise his hips are turned away from here in the body language, says it's, disconnected from the bottom half, but his top half is connected and she's lying on him, always tuning the man's hips towards your bride makes a huge difference in your posing a lot of personality there. I love I want to know that bride, you know, I want to talk to her. I want to know her. What fund? A photograph. Her all day. Um, props for the fashion line. Absolutely. Yeah. That forearm is very he be there, but you could have got past it two ways. One of them is you could have just come up a little bit higher or just drop to four am into his league line. Just it to take it out. You could have. You could have been what did happen, it heaving. Meaning she's got popeye arms, but everything else about this is really grooming. I like it a lot. Anything else you want to say? Yeah, I agree that was among the form was the one thing that I like the tone. And I like the mood, I think there's something I see often with this, the trend of the sort of de saturated tone a little bit where it's a little bit great out with the color photos. Sometimes the skin, it can get really tricky when you're close up like that and see that you and the kind of seeing the pores in the texture of skin, just kind of watching that, and, you know, every bride, every woman is going to be different, how what if they care about that if that's really their style or if they're going to see that and go you know gosh my skate that they're really going to notice it so knowing your client whether or not they're going to love that about the picture more beast because it doesn't look reattached like I can see you know all of the max because these mats and figures on there that I would be inclined to return johnson done and she still got to do a little dark here is under your eyes so yeah, it doesn't actually look that reattached but then not different over retouch is they were called likes to re church they work a lot but yeah I love this I love how she's looking I feel like you could have done the whole of it looks there but you've really captured the girl beautiful wow this is incredible composition is really nice just rule of thirds both in the heart the horizon line there as well as where the subjects were placed in and the state the field how it's pulling in the front and the bag this is I actually feel this is an incredibly strong image um I love the connection between the two of them so often you see these landscape shots right and you get up close and it's like two to the wooden dolls and the background and it's this heartbreaking yeah, only about the landscape and not about the people. But this is so much about both so strongly. And if you can't and that's right, you can take a beautiful landscape shots, and you can put a bride in them. But it means of the day if you get up close and there's, nothing going on, it just kills you. I would hide that this client went in border thirty forty five of this invention. Put it on the wall because it's spectacular and whoever took the time to do this and get them on to those rocks and really deserves to be applauded. Beautiful image. If you were going to enter into the awards, you just need to clean up a little bit of the rocks into a beautiful print on our paper. I feel like it would score beautifully, particularly if there's no composition. And if it's all in camera, then I think it's a magnificent shot and well done. You know, I always maintain I go back to my dear friend justin and garrow, who was a beautiful wedding photographer, and she voices to me. You take thousands of photographs and you try and beat it because you can, but at the end of the day, the you look at the emotion that you experience with couples and with families and and if you lose a family member, you go back to those emotional moments, not the big epic shots you go back to the connection with people and and what did you give in? You know, whether it's the couple of the dead or it's when you see them and that's, what you look for and that's, what the bride will remembers all of the emotion of today and, you know, it's really and it's beautiful, and they're always trumps basic mistakes or backgrounds that aren't necessarily beautiful or chins that this is a very beautiful because the moment and this is just a moment it's beautifully done in terms of the connection between them. I mean, I think you know, any any bride who you know is close to her father would just treasure this photo forever and that's really what it's about? And they have done a great job placing, you know, maybe it's not the most gorgeous background ever this could easily be, you know, one of the sort of not awesome hotel rooms we've probably all photographed getting ready and you never know, so making it black and white, you know, placing their heads not in front of the bright window, but, you know, using the light but framing it so that their heads, you know, have the kind of clean backdrop behind them I can only imagine what the room actually looked like versus the image there showing us here so yeah it's well done it's also that to remind a no matter what you're faced with as a photographer you can get the crappiest hotel rooms in bad light and all the rest of it but there's always a wonder you can walk towards there's always some light that you can get we have these high I sos and we also most good winning photographers are carrying some form of lighting source and leaning it but the truth is is what you can connect between paper will always be your strongest gift as a photographer and I made it how you know average your client looks or no minute if they can shine like that then you've now that's so well done this actually gives me goose bumps it's so see I mean look at this funky woman yeah she's frank sequins and these great raines what a beautiful shot. You know what I'll commend you for seeing this uh the fact that you store it and that he photographed it and I mean some people don't have this eye to say this sort of beauty and we all cpd differently but the fact that you saw this and then you made the effort to take such a beautiful shot um I mean well it's absolutely wonderful yeah heavy train yourself is a wedding photographer to see this that's a good question I think it's a lot about experience in a lot of ways so that you're confident with staple things that you have to do so that your mind is free to look for all the other little things because the two durant and the sameness a couple and I want to know what she looks like it's looking address and then look at your watch and look at here jewelry I mean she's obviously a pretty cold character and the fact that they've told an entire story from her hand and knowing that if this is a family member, you know, we don't know who she is, but to the couple, maybe she's the grandmother, maybe she's the mother she's, you know, hopefully she's someone really close to them and if you have someone with this much personality in your life and you have a photo like this to capture it, I mean, like you said, the whole story in a photo on dh for, you know, for that family, this probably is worth is priceless to them. Do you have a second shot down? I do have a second student when you say it can shoot if you have a second shooter, do you tell them to look for this, or is it about you looking for this, like as a wedding photographer see, I I'm not a wedding photographer I know what I need to photograph I've done one hundred one winnings I know what I need to photograph but this part of may I guess that is so stressed out at winnings that I wouldn't good and look for this like I wouldn't see this because I would miss this out of purely because I I've got this yeah, I'm trying to get the couple of trying so I mean, this is something you want to train somebody to say look going to look for the details that or do you want your second shooter to capture that this sort of everything else where you're looking for the magic? I like a mix? I'm definitely as the main photographer sort of running the show I guess s o I am doing all those main things, but my second photographer, I would say, has more opportunity to look for details like this than I do, so I do rely on them to do a little bit more of this than I would be able to in this example I mean this photo I would imagine that the main photographer may have been taking the family photos me neither. She turned around and saw this while grandma and grandpa may have been waiting there for their turn or the second photographer said tonight I've got a question that's a great question on chains of second shooters let's say it was your second shooter that took it it's your image isn't it your own this? How much do you give you sick and shoot down? I mean, I'm sure that the person that photograph this and is prep sitting there going what's on my second shooter was made but just hypothetical because this is what I've seen out is, what do you do if you're seeking shoot, it does take something this magnificent, obviously that's yours, right? There's always questions about second shooters and what we allow them on what we don't allow them, do they? I saw somebody talking about the second shooter on faith, but the other day and how they're using the images on instagram and exeter this is a conversation you've got to have before you show right, right? Everyone has a different way that they want to run that and different expectations and whatever it is, as long as you say set those expectations, whether by having a conversation with your second shooter or just putting it in a contract just do it beforehand because afterwards and if they took a chairman image that is just, you know they could win an award with it, you know, it's beautiful would you give it to them and let the music I dio I love my second photographers use my images on their portfolio as long as they reference back to my web site on the block but I'm very lax with that. What was the deal with second images when you published on james back? Was it? What did you make it obvious that there was a shot by attain or really different business to business? Everyone had just like you said everyone had really a different approach to it sometimes people would be very, very distinctive about it was this photographer for this business and ever they wanted every single image labeled as who who photographed it often it would just be the business itself whatever photography studio would be called out and doesn't even like christie way before super ice dot com sometimes you know, like reference means yeah if you're my thinking yeah, definitely sometimes, but really it was across the board there were no standards, there were there's no one way that people are doing is used today yeah, it used to be especially going back on film it was just the target the studio owned it it wasn't even a question they just had the knife so there's definitely think that's one core thing that is the same generally is that the studio or the photography business owns owns the photos owns the copyright the second shooter shooting for the business but they often allow the second shooter to use it on their part folio or didn't enter into a competition it really video was called a studio name so you know it was images by, you know winnings by or delight for studios by sort of thing now I feel like it's supervised dot com so if I show an image that's my second shooter then I'm saying superstar crime saying it's mine so that's really interesting so it's a big discussion I think it's very interesting, especially when it comes to entering it into contests. Yeah, well, all I know is that when people get upset on facebook it's because they haven't put the groundwork in I do say the photographers torture of top of his winning photographers here in business business is business this is not about friendship when somebody comes to work for you, you sit them down and you tell them your expectations we do not want you to use anything on social media without their permission. We want to look at your social media and talk about what you're posting, how you're posting it because you're representing my studio, these air, the guidelines we want you to use this is what you're getting paid for and if they don't want to work under your constraints they simply will not work for you you cannot have this conversation afterwards you cannot be schmoozing with my vendors, you know, to try and get yourself a here you're my second so recently, I did a ship with a very big commercial makeup artist, and he bought a sikh and makeup artist, and at the end of the day, if one was swapping instagram accounts and facebook accounts and I said to her, do you have a business card? And she said no, and then about an hour later, she sent me a message and said, I couldn't give you my card because it would have been disrespectful to the person who hired me to be there as his second, but if you want tio, you know, contact me, I'm available here, and I was so impressed with that, I'd asked you directly in front of him if she had a cod, and she said, no, I do not, and she was there as his second, she showed him great respect, she knows she'll get with with him again, and then she contacted me just quietly afterwards and said, this is my this is my number, if you need me for anything, you know, I didn't want to disrespect him, and I was really impressed by this funny I've had similar situations with photographers and seconds, and they would have found that very disrespectful to pretend tio not take a potential referral and that have gone underhand and behind it, but I did ask her if she didn't but there was isis. Do you have a car? And I said it in front of him, so maybe they talked about it. Maybe he said, I don't want you to be giving your card out. You can contact them afterwards, but I feel like if you're honest and open and you know, fenske yeah, case a second shooter communicate with you, seek and shoot a beautiful image again. We've been sitting here talking about it and whoever took it, I commend you. I hope you're in the chat room early and making a because I feel like, yes, yeah, really high five beautiful and isn't it amazing that you can actually have an entire conversation around somebody's hands and raise mrs? Gorgeous? It is gorgeous and beautiful hands, you know, you can always tell how experienced a photographer is by how the hands opposed and where people can bring in belly hints like this absolutely gorgeous on well done and lovely image as a if that's a real bride at I'm assuming that we're in real time weddings, but it's not good competition so there's no rules what an interesting makeup, but looks more fashion style than a bride it's but if that's what she chose for a winning guy, then well, it is going to see a more studio shot as well. It rarely happens on an actual wedding there with real wedding clients. Sometimes, if they do a separate bridal portrait shoot there. Sometimes that happens in the studio. But it it is, I think it's really fun to see that something really different that, you know, adds a really different good shoulder shape. Teo, you know, twenty years ago, we were shooting weddings, and we didn't have speed lights, and we didn't have the what we did. We had on camera flash, and we were learning how to bounce it off the ceiling. But let's face it. It was bad we went through this period, I think, in the early nineteen nineteen, askance in nineteen hundreds. Nineteen nineties where we were shooting thirty, two hundred, but just black and white. And it was super grain. Thirty five bill. And you could shoot the doubt with this stuff, you know, and all of their winnings run thirty five mil black wire, but and meister bell albums in the church, no flesh. We would just it was a train. I look back now, and people must be horrified, but his dark, grainy shots. But they were so beautiful. But the truth is, is we if it rained, we would take out broad to studio oh, because you didn't have an option, it was dark. You had nowhere to go with bed liking so we would go to the studio where we could control the lighting better and it makes me laugh. So it was actually more common to see wedding photography in studio, so if it is real times, it comes out to get it again. Can I just say that? Photographers out there, one of the greatest markets you should be doing right now is marketing glenn the dress? Um, it should be I've never made a bride that doesn't want to get back into a wedding dress. You know, after the winning, every bride tells me that they feel depressed because they have held this event for a year. They died it they've got their skin sort of there, done the dre stepped on the details that and they held the streets of this and even have organized family. And then all of a sudden the day comes and it goes in just a blink. It is postponing depression. And what better way to celebrate it and getting them back into the studio for glamour? Portrait shoot in the wedding dress I call it glam, the dress I call it, you know, thiss winning portraiture, I call it. You know whatever you want but I just I often have women say to me when they do the big glamis ish it's like a winning day and I just felt so beautiful I haven't felt this beautiful since my wedding day and get them to bring in they're willing to risk you know whatever you can create dresses for them but this is a huge market and this is a database of people that you already have often getting them to do appreciate is hada then getting them to come back afterwards like two months after they winning well afterward the relaxation is there the stresses in there for the wedding there still yeah back you have you know that feeling of the day that's all about you the wedding day was mostly about you know the couple but there's so many of the logistics going on when it's just a photo shoot play and have a great time and place the gorgeous you get to control teo you can control when you're shooting in the type of life that you get to shoot in locations maybe that weren't available on the wedding day so exactly exactly all right okay there is so much well with this image and this so much wrong with this image but the wealth factor is enough for may tio make it interesting she's a beautiful girl I love hey you've got this foreground and here there is one way too much blowing out in this image and you can tell in the details, especially around here. Al cameras can deal with backlight better than this. I know we are looking at it on a screen, but obviously the difference is is when your exposure is too high you have you can save it now in roar, but I can tell by the capture that you've lost too much in your highlights. What you've kept it in this framing is really beautiful even the boca, everything about it but you just pushed it too far and then saved it. The bouquet is magnificent it's sitting just on the right place in this colorful and there's no shape in her body, though here hand too relaxed you could have shaped this a little bit better and made this really epic. But I feel like if this this is somebody who's feeling you in some, you know, to winning photography this is not like somebody has been shooting weddings thirteen years because this is quite a common mistake because you want to speak to that. I like the connection between just the bride and the camera on, and I like the actually intentional broken rule third serious, so having her smack in the middle, but yet the overexposure definitely does, um, this scream a little bit of experience or not being able to shoot in a way to correct that I would either be using some off camera light or even just a reflector may have been helpful in this situation, you know, our cameras can be pushed a long way in the back like now the speech if you have the bigger cameras, I mean, you're sitting in these high esos and and you're really pushing that light and you're exposing for the face and but you've just got to know that when you do expose for that face, you can afford to be a stop lower on her face and bring her face up in order to kept him or in the background, because the truth is, is that either the day you've blowing out to match in the background and we've lost detail and losing details, babe? But if it was an image for client be she loves it. She was things we know she's not going to see the same thing is going the right environment for her, like the way she styled the way her hair is, you know, really casual that the rest, the bouquet style it's a a beautiful place to put her to be photographed, but I agree I look sort of at the blown out area behind her instead about her face, the trick is to is you khun differently look past a lot of that highlight when you see her expression and just that big twin coming up to her right just remove stuff like that removed this little bit here taking one seeking to do it take away from anything that's going to stop you from looking at here you know when you judge images or critique images or even print your own images for competition the facing you do is bring it up on to screen and squint your eyes and when you squint your eyes see we your eye is drawn in the image and it's quite amazing when you then to do this and you learn to see it you're instantly distracted by things and where is the light pulling you and where is any distraction pulling you makes a really big difference um to how you saying your work all right? You know, uh this is actually magnificent. I like the connection between the girls the way this has been lit captured the sky, the exposure of the background and foreground I can only imagine that you put this in the critique to show off wait clap this's really beautiful. I mean, you've captured three beautiful body lines they're touching the connecting really smiling at each other, it's being beautifully exposed front and, you know, the only thing that bothers me about this images that light yeah down here and I mean it's beautifully done well done, that's a great angle to I love that it's it's a portrait of these three women, but it's also such a fashion shop at the same time. And I think that's such a valuable thing for wedding photographers to be able to do to sort of combine those different styles together to really deliver a full package for their clients. So it's just really gives them a whole lot to work with so lighting wise and for me so question for you they're exposing and lighting for inside the room. They've also managed to capture this guy. We know that that either how, if they'd done that, that they can get both you can complicit images. Of course, we don't know if it is or not, but it's so beautifully exposed. I feel like the biggest joke for this image it in our eyes is what we're not realizing is how beautifully it's exposed inside the room. Yet how beautifully exposed outside the room at the same time and there's, not many ways you can get that you want to talk about that, right? I mean, that's the first thing I was impressed with, especially because this is obviously the morning of the wedding and I highly doubt that they had all that much time. To do this so I think it's definitely a little bit of post production, but at the same time it was managing your camera settings to make sure that you're not just exposing for the skin and blowing out the sky and it's not in terms of educating people around that what is a really good way to teach people to like inside the room, but expose for this guy behind it. My way of doing it is I look at my life view and then check my history room, so I expose for the skin primarily, but in this case it would be probably a stop and a half down to stop down so that you can pull the light out of the sky and obviously they are in still await. You can see the highlight that's hitting the girl on the right that's coming up from the building so there's lots of light out there in the sky, a stack which tells you that they managed to bring the exposure down really beautifully. You know, I really hope that author of this image would write a block about it. We'll talk about it it's really beautifully done, and you know, such a simple technical thing to do, whether they've done it mostly imposed or whether they expose for indian finished at the post so beautifully is it's a great it's a great skill and what they've done I feel like so many people would benefit from learning around this image. Okay, so I'm just going to get this christians and we'll talk about this for the shoot of the three girls by the window in black and white, is it possible to shoot their shot once with the girls in it and without them at the same time in compass it to get good sky? Absolutely you don't have that sort of time on a wedding. Um, I would say that they probably took twenty of the fastest images that they could even took, that they've exposed it absolutely beautifully and then their post the den in post really, really beautifully and, um, you know, think about it for wedding photographers, if you work in your own area a lot where you live and their venues that you go to again and again, and you see tricky lighting situations like this, I know, you know, when I was photographing, there were quite a few payout of petey ices and, you know, practice those like I would know in the wood mark hotel there's light comes in this one window in the room where the bride always gets ready, so if you're repeatedly facing these kind of tricky lighting situations that you're going toe, oh, face again and again, practice went to know get to know that one thing get to know that when the outside at this time of day is so bright and the lightest streaming in, but you can see something beautiful to be made from that, practice it at home, set something up, go in, ask if you could go in on a wednesday into that room and get to know so your camera settings air, really, you understand what's happening, and you know how to compensate for the different exposures, because inside, especially at weddings, when there's so much inside a hotel or inside a ballroom, and they have to go outside immediately, or you're going in and out, because maybe the wedding is sort of in both places, there's a cocktail party outside and on the reception inside, you've got to be so fast, I feel like work, it's, probably a good wayto make your vendors and make friends with them, and also, you know, if you're taking beautiful images off the locations that I mean, this might be a house, but it looks like it could be some way that they're getting ready, but if you're taking beautiful photographs, they're going to use them, so if you're making connections with people, and I want you to speak kristie in terms of being the way you choose images for june bag when you choose something you know people are going to like you don't you're like a magazine needed to online you're choosing images for reason you're choosing images that relate to people speak if you see anything that you would choose or anything, you wouldn't choose for any reason speak to that because there's a lot of waiting photographers watching that wonder how you work it's chosen there wondering what is the magic that makes you look at something and go? I would put this on my main blogged or I would put this on my waiting blogging feature this artist or I wouldn't feature this because look it is a good shot, but it doesn't have this magic like speak to that because I feel like the winning photographers they're going to feel very you know they're going to learn what gets chosen a y and I think that that's really interesting I think for this image in particular I would absolutely choose it in a flash to be published because um well, so in choosing images I'm always looking for something that is educational to the bride's the pretend the brides out there who are planning their weddings we're looking for inspiration who want to understand how do I plan my own day and how do I dress myself on my day and how do I want a look on dh they're just anticipating their imagining themselves in these scenarios. So you're looking at what the woman who was reading your glove is going to like absolutely what is she going toe like? What is she gonna draw information from? Right? And this I think she's going teo, you know she could fantasize about oh my gosh, I want to have a moment like that with my girlfriends, I want to make sure to plan plenty of time as we're getting ready so we can have quality moments. I kind of like sisters, right? Absolutely they are all built the same the same length. You kind of get this idea that these are my amazing mind. Fifteen you can also get all the fashion information from it great fashion inspiration there if you're trying to decide what kind of dresses you want your bridesmaids to where there is incredible information there about that that you could really pull from if you're you're winning it, you're looking at the girl and all the details isn't that amazing? We look at it it's a photograph and christie's looking at it is every bride that's kind of look at this and say, I want that to be made and what does it tell you about marketing your own winnings were not looking as photographers were not looking at each other's work with a girl that wants to be the bride in the white dress and we're dressed this way and be special and beautiful and have the dream wedding that we've dreamed about our whole life we want to look at this girl and say I want to look like hair I want me here like hair I want make dressed like her not I want that sky have detail in the clouds and this is a well exposed image and the best thing for the photographer when you mark your images this ways than a potential client for you was looking at and saying, I want to be seen like that I want to be in the every woman that looked at this I'm gonna go carry the photographer yeah, so that's that's what's going to get someone like that to hire you? If they connect so much with an image, they want to be seen that way yeah, they're going to consider higher new for their day. Yeah, and, well, I love that. So I would like to know who the author of this image is if they can get online at some stage and tell us so we can shut them out, but we're just sitting here and talked about your image for the last time I think it's wonderful, I want to hear more about that, I I feel like winning photographers species happened coming they want to know how to get published and I feel like that that is really, really important instantly striking image for may that background is magnificent on beautiful couple good faith caparas hands together she's doing something different from hand, which bugs may and unfortunately takes my magic away, but she's looking down, he should I feel like he should have been leaning on her looking down well, they should have both been looking I'm always looking for connection on dh they're doing something different, which I pick it, but other than that, I really like it. Yeah, I do too I like again, you know, having them the center is the same intentional, not putting them to the right or to the left. You want to talk about that? Because I feel very strongly that I recently did a portrait and I got slammed on my facebook, other photographers going suits breaking the rule of the food and I was like one middle finger I was like, remain when this role happen and when did we get this has to be the role of friend? And then I realized that because I was taught non traditionally in other words, I don't have an education because I was talking on traditionally I was like nobody ever explained all of fits to may right, I never got toward that, and I was like, well, I think a photographer for twenty five years and explain the world of fits, too may explain it to me like I'm in you because I didn't understand it, and I was like, I'll put my client wherever I damn well please, thank you very much. If it looks good, I'm going to do it, and it looks like breaking the role of, say, it's breaking the rules it's like, tell me about that right? And, you know, it is a traditional rules, so I was trained traditionally, and the rule of thirds is really just putting your subject to her rise in line in one of the thirds, you know, to the right to left total bottom bottom, but I'm on a line of fifty talking tough. When we cut this into three lines, they were there bride on one of those three lines, and yet to me the modern hipster movement is the bridegroom in the center square catt center, maybe roll event on top and bottom, but not lived in line right with bodies. Swear to the camera on exactly what it's all about, just knowing the rules are knowing knowing the principle of the rule, why the rule exists so you condone make a choice. Because there is no right or wrong, but for whatever environment you're in and they may have a little break, a purposeful now you're creating that it made it not just sort of take it and hope for the best, you know, and in this case, especially because of the background, I think putting them off to the right or to left would have been distracting I don't think that would have been a good decision here. I think the good decision was to break the rule of thirds centered, right? Because ultimately that big pentagonal our thanks again in the same day, one of the one it basically is really dominant. Okay, talk to me about couple emotions. I am no couples photographer, I should couples, I try and get them. You know, I I recently watched a photographer talking about that, you know, when you get the groom to smell the air it's called miss melly years on, and I laughed about that because it's something I actually do with my couples to try and get them to interact, my old school reaction to her, looking down on him, looking straight up, by the way his face is magnificent. He has a very beautiful look on his face, it's relaxed its prey, it's proud, and I'm actually a little bumped she's not engaged because hey looks great this background looks great talk to me about what you think is important with the way you make couples into rick react to get that right and why is that important? I mean ideally you want them interacting with each other so in this case I would have either had him looking at her or since we love his expression if she was looking at him it would have been beautiful on day one they're involved with each other, but right now it looks like she's involved with their dress he's involved with the camera so there is no connection there both, you know, in the same mindset thinking the same thing do you ever do they bring your heads together and look down at the same spot? Or is it something that you do? Is it I'm asking you because you're weak christie superpower is the way she chooses heating it's images and mine is just that I like criticizing photography and you're actually the active wedding photographer among thirty right now so on what can you help newbie photographers bring that connection together? Is it about the connection they have to each other or is it about making them cohesively looking at the same place or laughing in the same direction or it's about bringing their emotion together or bringing the energy together like what do you try and do right for me it's more there their energy and the fact that they're both in the same mindset so their minds that might be involved in each other or involved in something off camera so they're both like you said heads together looking the other day is the body language says we're together we're doing the same thirty think right exactly very good oh so okay so much energy so much atmosphere and environment the rain like really capturing kind of the reality of the day again you're just showing off whoever did this you're just showing off look this is a beautiful image I like that was crap squared yes I didn't hear the technical ability that you've displayed here is magnificent um I feel that the sharpness of those raindrops but you know what the way they attaching and kissing is so beautifully done I love the light that's coming from behind them you know this here and those cars on the left are going to distract you but this would differently when an award and maybe that handle is either got to be in or out or a little bit more space in terms of winning an award because this goes past critique this is beautifully done and if it's actually a really waiting day and this happened then I commend you beautiful beautiful work I mean I didn't know what to say what a way to remember your wedding day this was from the wedding day it's gorgeous, you know what I've got to say? It's a girl as a girl who, like christie seat is looking at a photographer wanting to be a bride or wanting to choose a photographer because I will be the bride. This is the sort of work that you look it, and it just blows you away. Everything about this is beautiful and yeah, I didn't with freedom isn't free. They obviously felt very free to be themselves. I'm guessing the couple it's so authentic they're having fun there, you know, she they forgot them to feel comfortable enough to pile into a truck and, you know, for her to sit on his lap, and I mean, there, obviously there was an atmosphere of comfort and authenticity that is created, and I think that when a photographer can help people get there, that's so clearly comes across in the photos and again, that's what people are looking out for, you know, look, when they're looking for their own photographer, would you feature that? Absolutely, you know, way no, that that light source is not the son, because there's no sun on the pedigree to the left or right, so we know that that light source has been placed there, so I think technically you may get pulled up a little bit on how strong it is, and if you're going to put the lights so strong through them, you need to maybe put a little bit more light if you're finishing this image for competition or awards into that background on either side. So we're a little bit full by the light source so that we don't know that it's a light on, you know, or even turn tuned down the whole thing a bit of it and make it look like nighttime those headlights ok, go so that that yeah, that's a great idea, exactly right said it again, so crop it a little tighter, capital a tighter and do a little bit don't hang around. So you're talking out the looking here, making it look like it's more of a nighttime image that has been shot right with artificial light was too near light or headlights, even okay, and my instinct was to put more light around the image to make it look more like it was natural daylight and just bring down that light, just rain, but more you've got options you have? Yeah, well, great chart really impressed.

Ratings and Reviews

Peggy Nugent
 

I learned a lot as always from the portrait critiques- I've watched them multiple times because I can see the impact to my images when I follow the guidance provided in the critiques. Sue Bryce is great, as always. I really appreciated Brooke Shaden's and Michele Celentano's viewpoints as well. I found the wedding and commercial segments interesting and informative as well, though they are not my particular interests. The landscape segment -- come on, guys, all the images submitted to Creativelive, and you could not find one that prompted you to say "Wow! Great shot!" Seriously? The closest to an enthusiastic response was for one beautiful Grand Canyon shot, where significantly more time was spent discussing what was wrong rather than what was done well. And it was a great shot! It's helpful to the audience to have you point out what was done well, and whoever took that shot deserved to hear it. (FYI, none of the images were mine, so I'm not fishing for compliments.) Maybe it was a long week and you were tired, but have another coffee next time and bring a little enthusiasm. The other segments were much more encouraging, inspiring, and helpful.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES