I shot a wedding renewal/reception last weekend and there weren't really any good places to take group shots, except that the stairs were nice. So I decided to assemble everyone on the stairs for the various groups.
But there was one problem.. There where mirrors half way up the stairs, which also happened to be the best place to arrange everyone.
So then my dilemma is this... Do I clone them out? Leave them as-is? Fixe up the reflection in the mirror?
What do y'all think?
I have about a total of 6 images, so there aren't a ton of these.
Thanks for the input!!
KS
Edited by Kevin Sherman on Feb 26, 2008 at 11:09 PM GMT
Here is my attempt for that last image, which is probably the most difficult given the larger number of people...
EDIT:: By the by... For whatever reason, the colors in these pictures looks very different in FireFox than on my computer, or in Safari. These are all in sRGB, so that is not the issue. And also that last one looks especially desaturated even compared to the previous 3, even though they all look fine in Safari and on my computer... bizzare..
That is a great job - I played with cloning it a little and gave up - looked like beige mush by the time I got done.
Really nice!
And yes, re monitors - I have dual head at work which basically sucks since (1) I cannot calibrate and (2) I can't get them to visually appear the same. But, the image colors look fine, albeit dark which is typical of the monitor (and I must remember not to judge from what I see for comments etc.)
what I ended up doing, rather than beating myself attempting to clone out the mirror, I instead used all that lush beigeishness the left of the mirror and made a file of just that wall texture. I then went around each person, erasing back the solid color layer, revealing the people underneath I thought it would be a better approach and it seems to have worked, mostly. Now I just have tons of empty space... ah well, what can you do
I'll have to learn that approach - masking etc are foreign to me at the moment - I'm curious how the image with the oblique view of the wall works out (#1).
I wouldn't worry about the empty space. To fill it would be to add an unnecessary distraction. You might have made the picture more of a portrait mode to add more detail of the bride and groom.
I think definitely clone or dememphasize the mirror. I would try to select and darken the background too. The brownish background does not add.
I would try cropping and vignetting the first as well.
For me the 2nd and third have troubles with framing through joints too. I would crop tighter and try to frame through right spot on bride and groom and selectively darken background.
Scott Stoness wrote:
For me the 2nd and third have troubles with framing through joints too. I would crop tighter and try to frame through right spot on bride and groom and selectively darken background.
Hmm, I am a slight bit confused.... Not sure where you are suggesting the crop (sorry...)
I thought it would be a better approach and it seems to have worked, mostly. Now I just have tons of empty space... ah well, what can you do