Candle lit dinner, honest opinions please

[luke_church]

Hi All,

So the photo below was taken at a 'mid-way dinner' which is a tradition in this part of the world.

Now, I like this photo for a number of reasons, but I'd be interested in what people with no associations to the person or the event think. People here may well err on the side of politeness to me... :):

Hence, please be brutally honest, as a photo, do you like it? :ear

http://www.lukechurchphotography.com/photos/65734009-L.jpg

As always, any more detail, comments as to why you like it/don't like it and suggestions for improvement are always a bonus.

If you're interested in technical details:

Canon 350D, 50mm f1.8 Mk II, ISO 1600, ACR, blend mask of USM + Gaussian blur

Many thanks,

Luke

[Andy]

Isn't ISO 1600 wonderful? I enjoy this shot very much, her expression is so engaging - I want to look, and look more when I first see this photo.

For a situational shot, this is quite good - sure there's a distracting hand in the bg, but so what. The girl, the main event, she's so strong. And supported by the lovely candle light.

I'd try your method of choice, to bring down the saturation a but - shots at high ISO tend to oversaturate. Of course, this is personal taste so take it FWIW.

:clap

[saurora]

Absolutely!!! The mood is so warm and inviting created both by the exposure, the dazzling eyes and smile of the model, and the glittering sparkles from the candlelight. It all works so very, very well together!!!! :lust

[luke_church]

Isn't ISO 1600 wonderful?

It sure is. ISO 1600 + fairly fast glass + RAW means photos in places that simply wouldn't work without it.

I enjoy this shot very much, her expression is so engaging - I want to look, and look more when I first see this photo.

For a situational shot, this is quite good - sure there's a distracting hand in the bg, but so what. The girl, the main event, she's so strong. And supported by the lovely candle light.

Glad you liked it :):

I'd try your method of choice, to bring down the saturation a but - shots at high ISO tend to oversaturate. Of course, this is personal taste so take it FWIW.

You were right. A simple saturation layer set to -15 seems to have done the trick.

Thanks for that.

http://www.lukechurchphotography.com/photos/65803708-L.jpg

Luke

[luke_church]

Absolutely!!! The mood is so warm and inviting created both by the exposure, the dazzling eyes and smile of the model, and the glittering sparkles from the candlelight. It all works so very, very well together!!!! :lust

Glad you liked it. Thanks for looking and for the comment. :):

Luke

[david_h]

Luke - a super portrait of a pretty young lady.
I actually prefer your original, I like the golden glow and I believe the noise/grain looks better than in your second.
Very nice!

[MyView]

Very beautiful shot. The expression on her face is very sweet. And the picture leaves me wondering what she was thinking.

Very nice!

I too like the warm glow of the first post, but I think I like the end result in the second better.

[LittleLew]

Very beautiful shot. The expression on her face is very sweet. And the picture leaves me wondering what she was thinking.

Very nice!

I too like the warm glow of the first post, but I think I like the end result in the second better.

A 25% cooling filter seems to give a nice result on the original also.

[oldbmw]

I like # 1 better as well.

[luke_church]

Luke - a super portrait of a pretty young lady.
I actually prefer your original, I like the golden glow and I believe the noise/grain looks better than in your second.
Very nice!

Thanks for your comments David.

[luke_church]

A 25% cooling filter seems to give a nice result on the original also.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

[luke_church]

I like # 1 better as well.

It's always a little difficult, the CYMK preview version on my monitor calibrated to my print-shop looks somewhat different again. I guess I should start producing versions tuned for the web.

Thanks for your comment.

Luke

[Halliday]

A good Journalistic shot. It shows what happend in a very pleasing way.

[kini62]

Lovely shot, great mood, sharpness of the main subject.

As a photo layman, I find the background artifacts bother me. The gausian blur seems to have created some weird shapes and or noise/grain that keeps pulling my eye away from the subject. Especially the hand that was mentioned prior.

That's my only nit with the photo. Great job in difficult light.

Gene

[Scott_Quier]

I like the cooler of the two better. And, I'm with Andy, the OOF background and the hand next to her cheek is only a minor distraction. I was so taken with the young lady's face that it took me some time to find ANYTHING about the image that I didn't like.

When I read that you wanted the brutal truth, I started to really look at the image. My first thought was that I would open up the shadow on her face a bit, but second thoughts convinced me that doing so would detract from the strength.

[colourbox]

I love the image. Only problem is, and this is just one of those things I tend to notice, is that everything is leaning. The wall, the candle, and her. Just straighten it up and I can't think of anything else wrong with it.