Photo Critique #2: “Tree of New Life” | Wedding Photo Critique
Aaron
Thank you for submitting this beautiful wedding image for our review Lisa! We don’t discuss images prior to publishing them in order to provide you a more objective critique.
There are a couple of things that stand out to me when I first view this image. I think that, as humans, we tend to see lights and darks (and where they meet in an image) when we first view an image. Speaking solely in this sense, the groom (dark) is placed against a dark tree and gets lost because of this placement. I would suggest flipping the bride and groom. Place the white bride on a dark background (the tree) and place the dark groom on the white background of the forest. This would help gain some separation for both subjects.
One way to slim someone down in portraiture is to have the camera view less of them. By placing the bride in front of the groom, you effectively give him less visual weight. I usually use this technique for the bride. I try to err on the side of making the bride look slimmer. This could be accomplished by moving the groom slightly in front of her (much as you did with her in front of the groom).
The light where you are photographing looks flat. The way I determine this is if I don’t see any light or shadow on the forest floor. I use light and shadow to achieve depth. Without this relationship of light, it’s tough to establish a sense of depth and it’s also hard to make this seem an illuminating, glorious moment. Your light helps set the mood for the overall image. If you have dull, uninteresting light, it’s an uphill battle. I totally understand that sometimes we are given bad light and we have to make the best of it!
The couple is also standing right on the top of a muddy area where there isn’t any much vegetation. Just to the left of the couple is an expanse of clover where you could have placed the subjects. I think this would have added to the narrative that they are just beginning life. The muddy slope suggests a different message. In moving the couple to the left, the small hook-looking branch coming off of the tree would have been a natural framing device as well. It would have also avoided the tangent of the tree coming out of the back of the groom’s head.
Your composition is great. You utilize the rule of thirds and the couple is placed on the bottom right third in the image. This allows the eye to come in from the left of the frame, following the line of the ground right to the couple. Once the eye finds the couple it travels up and out of the image view the path the tree gives us. I think this journey is nice. It lets the eye travel through most of the image and provides a nice connection between the tree and the couple.
The fact that you were able to get the bride and groom to that location is a testament to their trust in your photographic skill! Many of my brides have balked when I made such a suggestion. I also like your camera angle. The fact that you are shooting slightly up at the couple forces the viewer to look up at them as well. Visually, we are forced to admire and revere the couple because of this camera angle. I also appreciate the fact that you recovered some of your sky that you blew out in the original capture. There are many photographic skills you must execute in order to achieve a powerful image and the more of these you nail, the stronger your image becomes – this one is definitely on its way! This is a image you captured of this couple and I’m sure they were thrilled with your efforts.
Megan
What a beautiful location!
In this image you have drawn attention to the landscape and the large tree. The tree is the largest and darkest aspect of the image which is why my eye is drawn to it. The branches help circulate my gaze around the image. The focus of the image should be the married couple, yet I am drawn into the surroundings. They are small in scale, and blend into the background quite a bit. It is important if they are the subject to showcase that visually. In viewing this image I really want to be closer to the subject or see them separated from the background. In this situation, I also find the ground distracting. The dirt and rocks crumbling below their feet gives me a feeling that it is a comment on their marriage. Although I think that showing the ground is unnecessary to this image, I do like the line created by the ground, it breaks up the space nicely.
In terms of color, I feel that the image is a bit over saturated and the darks are too dark. The trees texture is getting lost, and so is the groom in this image. If the goal of this image is to focus on the shape and form of the tree next to the couple, maybe consider black and white versus color.
David
Jason
Photographs of people nicely clothed in formal attire juxtaposed in boundless solitude of nature always intrigues me. Elements of the subjects are generally formal; defined and clean. Yet nature is informal; organic and dynamic. To me, it seems to put the two at odds, putting the couple out of place. It begs the question, what are these people doing here? Shouldn’t they have jeans and boots? While I’m sure the beauty of a wedding and beauty of nature is the conceptual bond, it’s good to consider the “why” of the particular location setting.
This photograph has a big emphasis on the surrounding environment rather than the wedding couple. The couple’s size and position in the scene can make it hard to really see what’s going on. Due to the dark tuxedo, the groom becomes “lost” in the similar dark tone of the tree. Giving some consideration to the contrast of black and white, putting the bride in her white wedding gown in front of the tree would give more contrast to make her easier to see. Switching the groom to the other side would give him more contrast to the sky. This would help to bring more emphasis to them in the image.
This layering effect and contrast could also play well with making the image more formal with black and white. The color feels dull. But increasing the saturation or vibrance wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem. There is a strong color cast of yellow and that dirt and root structure at the bottom of the frame wouldn’t be easy to solve unless there was some serious photoshop work.
A consideration for this setting would be to get a bit closer to the couple and simplify the shot. Focus the foreground subject as the wedding couple, and have the intricate branches of the trees be your background.
I think the biggest interest is the tree. The more I look at the image, there’s just so much detail to see in the branches. It’s trying to find a way to put the two elements of the couple and nature together.
Guest Evaluator – Emily Teague
When I first see this photo my eye goes straight to the tree, then jumps around a bit before I see the couple. The trees are beautiful, especially with the moss I see when I zoom into the photo, but they’re far too distracting to be able to focus on the couple. One idea might be to crop the photo so the couple takes up more of the frame. As it is currently, both the upper corners have branches and leafs that my eye goes to. With a different type of tree and the couple farther to the right of the tree, I think this type of photo would work very nicely. Having the groom right in front of the trunk makes him blend into the tree and the bride in white blends in with the white sky behind her. It’s always good to get contrast between the subject and background so the subject stands out and a sense of depth is created in the photo. This isn’t something that my mind immediately goes to, but the tree directly behind them appears to be growing out of their heads.
A common mistake made is forgetting to focus on background detail, which results in trees apparently growing out of people. I like that the groom’s arm is wrapped around the bride, I just wish their other hands were doing more than just hanging at their sides. Something helpful for me at least is to go on Pinterest or look through wedding magazines and check out the poses, then save the ones you like so you can reference them before you go into a photoshoot.
Changing the focus of this critique to the post process work done, the vibrance and blue sky added makes the image look much better. I didn’t notice it at first, but when I zoom in it appears there’s an oragnish-pink tint on the left side of the image in the middle and to the right of the bride. It looks like this may have been caused from some brush work that wasn’t finished. The clouds look great; the only thing in the edit that looks slightly off to me is the top right hand corner where the blue looks too oversaturated.
The enhanced green along the tree is beautiful and the enhanced ground draws my eye, which then brings me to look at the couple.
