Just this past weekend I had the privilege of capturing the beautiful wedding day of Jocelyn & Reid. One important element of the day was to have photographs taken at North Central College campus, where they both attended school. When taking a look at this photo, I loved it straight out of camera, but I knew it could use some touching up so I could deliver a real final look for my clients.
Keeping the viewer's eye on the subject of a photo is the most important. To do so, you really need to remove any distracting elements in the photo, anything that really isn't doing it justice. Sometimes that can be difficult, but here is a brief overview of what I did to make this photo the final image that it is:
Symmetry is very much attractive for the eye, so I knew right away that the section of building on the left wall had to match the right wall. Same with the stairway. So I cloned these sections and made sure they blended well. The already-symmetrical composition of the photo also helped make this easy to do, thank goodness!
Darkened the outdoor reflections in the lower half of the window so the silhouette of the trees stood out better. Also allowing the bride and groom to stand out.
Cloned the stairs inside the building, but I wanted to leave the railings on the second floor so you are still seeing through the window just like the original. I always make sure to maintain the authenticity of a photograph so that I am not going over-board with editing.
Color produced in a digital photograph is always slightly saturated compared to what we see in person. This is often not a problem but here I wanted to give the photo warmth by slightly saturating the purple flowers and bringing the building back to it's golden tone. Purple and yellow are also complimentary colors so I wasn't afraid of making these colors pop.
Lastly, made sure the image was sharpened and finished with a slight vignette to once again, bring the eye's attention to the main subject- the bride and groom.
Glad to share, feel free to let me know your thoughts!
~Ashley