My second shooter was trying to be artistic and shot these with 135 behind red flowers on the first meeting.. I am not sure about these and I have a hard time mixing these with my set especially because it is hard for me to crop it tighter. Or maybe these are better than I thought? What do you think? He pretty much took similar shots the minute they see each other.
I think it could work, but it would have to fit into the set. Making it black and white would just make it worse (at least here we have the color to give it interes, in bw it would just be odd gray blotches)...
I'd love to second shoot just for the creative freedom...
I think, both work. As some people said, the first is nicer because of her expression. In times where some photog's add artificial light leak and people get used to it, they work even better. And, finally, when shown in context with one or two images where the red flowers are in focus: perfect
Forget all the technical crap and just look at her expressions. I can pretty much guarantee that's all she's going to care about....and she is going to love them.
Hence I asked for FMers opinion whether it adds something or more of a distraction.
maxwell1295 wrote:
You're kidding right?
Forget all the technical crap and just look at her expressions. I can pretty much guarantee that's all she's going to care about....and she is going to love them.
I'm going to buck the system and say they don't work. Foreground "bokeh" is very tricky because it almost always lacks any context (particularly when created with a telephoto lens). Foreground/midground/background compositions are great because they help the viewer understand environment - in this case the foreground begs more questions than it answers. It could easily look like a mistake (which it does IMO) rather than a choice. Furthermore, the addition of these blobs of color into this shot add nothing to the communicative aspect of the image, and they detract from the subjects and the moment. The shot is about a moment between two people, in this case the additions of the color blobs pull the eye away from the people, the compositional choices here indicate that the photographer didn't think the people or the moment was interesting enough on its own so it needed some photo gimmick to jazz it up. Beyond that, when attempting something like this I think it is always worth asking "what does the client care about?" I'm sure the client cares more about themselves and the moment than the color blur.
Hey, that's my (potentially unpopular) opinion. If you wanted to add the context of the garden there were probably more communicative ways to do it, so I understand the impulse but in this case I the images are prioritizing the wrong thing for no benefit.
If I knew those were flowers it would work--for me it's more of a distraction. You want the attention on the emotion displayed in the photograph, and with the pink and red flares it distracts from that moment. Just my .02.
maxwell1295 wrote:
Don't ask photographers....ask a woman.
Maxwell--you bring up a major point. My wife will absolutely love shots and tells me that woman will adore the photograph, but photographers tend not to like it. I always have to keep in mind what my clients want to see, not what is going to impress other photographers on a forum. Not that those two are mutually exclusive. You can certainly have a photo that both brides and photographers gush over.
I was a little worried that I was the only one who didnt like it as much. Anyway, it looks like a fair amount of people like them. That is why I asked. If most people dont like them, then I probably wont even show it on the blog.
Thanks peeps!
FYI, I love my 2nd shooter. I do want him to experiment with stuff. Just didnt really like this one. I cant wait to share the full set.
