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Critique Me-Laura at The Farm Girl in MD
Lifestyle

Remember:
Read How to Critique a Photo
Make a critique sandwich – something positive, something you would have done differently, something positive
My rule: no improvement tip = deleted comment
This will benefit the person leaving the photo critique just as much if not more than the person receiving the critique.

Thanks to Laura of The Farm Girl in MD for submitting the following image.
Settings: SS 1/100, f/3.2, ISO 200

16 Comments
  • September 3, 2012 at 9:07 AM

    Laura-this is a beautiful picture! I love their natural expression and how relaxed they look! I would of bumped my ISO up to 400, it would give you more leeway to play around with depth of field and keeping your shutter speed high! The background is great too, and love the light over her head too!!

  • September 3, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    If I had a pic like this of me and my sweetie I would be SO happy with it! They look happy and their expressions are easy and natural.
    I would like to see you back up a tad and get more of their bodies in frame, moving their faces/eyes further up the frame and including more of their bodies. But that’s just my composition preference.
    Really the way he’s nuzzling in touching her face with his?! Oh it’s a lovely moment you captured!

  • Sheila
    September 3, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    The warmth of this picture is perfect without looking too yellow and it is beautifully in focus. There are only two things that stand out to me: 1) the couple is not centered in the picture. You can fix this through cropping. if you wanted them off-center then it needs to be more exaggerated so that it looks more on purpose as opposed to accidental. 2) I love the natural moment of this pose but it would have been better if her chin were lower. Women (and some men) don’t like being shot from under the chin as it can give the illusion of a double-chin even when there isn’t one. I would have had her tilt her chin down or gotten up on a stool. That’s all I have for improvement. The picture is beautiful and such a wonderfully natural moment between a couple. I adore her laugh and the way he is looking at her in adoration. It looks like you snuck up on them and they didn’t know a photographer was there. Beautiful picture!

  • September 3, 2012 at 11:39 AM

    What a lovely moment you’ve captured! The two are enjoying each other and you nailed it!! I might try to remove a little of the redness from the gentleman’s skin. Otherwise, I think this photos is absolutely beautiful. They will LOVE it!!

  • Candy
    September 3, 2012 at 11:56 AM

    I love the framing and the emotion in this photo. The one thing I would add is a little light to the guys face. Seems a bit in the shadows. I would also try and take some of the red out of his face. All in all I think this is a really good photo!

  • Born27
    September 3, 2012 at 12:08 PM

    I love the natural moment of this pose but it would have been better if her chin were lower.

  • September 3, 2012 at 12:11 PM

    I adore the natural pose, the golden light you captured and the coloring. Only thing I would change maybe is pulling back some of the reds so his skin tone is softer. Beautiful job though!

  • September 3, 2012 at 12:13 PM

    Hi. I think this is a really great photo. You have great timing here, capturing the emotion and spontaneity between the couple. It makes me happy to look at this photo! Like Candy suggested, I would want just a little more light in his face, either with the use of a reflector (might alter the entire look of the photo, though) or in PS. I also wonder what this would look like in a vertical view without so much background (but that background bokeh is beautiful, though!). It might flatter the shoulders of the lady a little more to crop out some of the width of the her right arm. This is such a natural looking photograph – it is hard to make suggestions and provide constructive criticism, because that emotion just flows from the shot. Wonderful work!

  • September 3, 2012 at 12:23 PM

    I, too, love the joy in this picture. I like the DOF and the colors. The only thing I would do is to brighten up their faces as I am slightly distracted by the bright spot in the upper left. Other than that it is a wonderful, natural picture. Great Job!

  • September 3, 2012 at 1:59 PM

    I like the moment you captured, too. My suggestion would be to do a layer mask and brighten up their skin a little. Or maybe just bring the exposure up post processing by a third of a stop. I like the composition of the photo. I think you did a fantastic job!!

  • September 3, 2012 at 3:04 PM

    What a fun and happy moment you captured! I love the expression on both of their faces. The skin tones look a tad red to me. I probably would have lightened their faces a bit and maybe burned the edges of the photo to give a slight vignette.I like the bokeh in the background. This is a happy photo!

  • Kira
    September 3, 2012 at 3:46 PM

    Yea for such a beautiful picture and moment captured!! I love the bokeh in the background, their expressions, and the composition. It just makes me happy to look at it. His skin is pretty red. You could fix that with an adjustment brush in LR though. Beautiful picture.

  • September 4, 2012 at 11:15 AM

    I really enjoy this picture. You’ve captured their relationship and their happy moment. You chose a nice time of day with nice quality light for the shot, and the shallow depth of field and bokeh enhance the photo. I would have liked to have seen it a little brighter. You can brighten it a little on the front end by increasing the ISO to 400…or you could brighten it a little on the back end by increasing the brightness in Lightroom or by using a levels adjustment layer in Photoshop and adjusting the midtones slider there. The other element I would change is to adjust the gentleman’s skin tones so they are a little less red. I’m working on improving my skin tones in photos too! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful shot. Looking at it makes me smile :)

  • Michelle
    September 5, 2012 at 12:24 PM

    I love this photo! I love how he’s nuzzling her while she’s looking and laughing towards the camera.
    If this were my picture, I would adjust the levels and lighting on this one. His face is just a little dark.
    I love the rich colors and sharpness of this photo though!

  • September 6, 2012 at 1:38 PM

    I love the expression that you were able to capture. My improvement tip would be to maybe try and position the gentleman in the photo so that his face is lit a little better. I also love the amount of bokeh you got in the background. Very nice!

  • September 9, 2012 at 8:33 PM

    This picture just makes me smile! What a beautiful, relaxed pose and expression– it’s difficult to get natural expressions like that! If I had to offer one suggestion, I would have liked to see the mans face a bit brighter– it’s hard to see his expression because he’s in too much shadow. I’m not sure if I would have done it in post processing or with a diffused flash or reflector. Last— I love the little bokeh lights in the background– looks like you shot in perfect lighting!

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