Ashley and Josh E-session

mmmatt

Wow am I slammed right now... ever since June I have been in the weeds! Ah well, busy is good right? Next year I think I will be farming out my RAW conversion since it looks as though I will be far busier. Still have 3 e-sessions, a wedding, a senior series, and a bat mitzvah to finish up!

Anyways, these are very dear friends of mine who are getting married next June. He is a computer geek and she works for a corporate credit card company.

Had a few focus issues (camera/lens issue) and ended up chucking a few that would have been otherwise nice to keep. Processing is a little more contrasty than normal due to me trying to squeeze out a little more detail on some of them. anyways, here are a few of my faves. The whole set was shot on the Marquette University Campus in downtown Milwaukee where they both attended school and where they first met. it was my goal to show plenty of the campus as well as their relationship. As always any coments and criticiszms are welcome and appreciated.

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Thanks for looking!

Matt

Matthew Saville

Matt, great images and obviously you're quite a master at what you do, but I gotta say I've never been a fan of that B&W conversion technique that makes skin glow like that. It makes white people look a little too pale, if you ask me. And plus, no offense, it kinda smells like 2005 Kubota actions, if you catch my drift.

Maybe tone it down a little bit. His face in #1, and her skin in #5, are just BRIGHT. Unnaturally bright. Do you by any chance have a screenshot of the channel mix that is doing this B&W conversion? I bet the red / orange / yellow could stand to be slid back towards zero.

Just my opinionated opinion, based on "typical OC" tastes as they change over the years...
=Matt=

urbanaries

Would agree with matt (saville) that less is more on the trendy processing...as my grandmother would say "a little dab'll do ya." In 15, I would be afraid to see what that image looks like run through autoprocessing at a local photo lab...yikes!

That said, I am in love with #8. Fantastic composition, great scene to use a "forbidden" center composition. Then again, this image would work really well in a horizontal crop too. Love the stone, ivy detail and classic B&W conversion. This should look great printed!

And since I can't shut up yet...I think when you look at an image like 16 (true coloring) it makes the odd-ness of 15 that much more apparent. Personally, I like most of my color image treatment (if I'm going to add some "spice") to be fairly consistent with each other. At least by "scene"...for example, my getting ready images might all have a taste of the cross processing, but the ceremony images are consistently true-to-life.

mmmatt

Hey guys! Thanks for the comments. You are giving me a little too much credit Matt. these are actions and I have no idea what chanel mix they were since I don't save psd files. They are both very pale to start with so that may be some of what you are seeing, and like I said I was tweaking the images to get a little more detail out and that pumped contrast a bit which may have made a difference. I'll play with some of these a bit more though, thanks.

Lynn I see where you are coming from for sure on most of that. I have done full books with the cross processing like in 15 and have been extremely happy with them! In this case, the gray church got a little green, but that doesn't really kill it for me. My clients usually love the cross processed thing. Keep in mind too, that I use these varying processing styles as a way to fight redundancy. They don't all look like this and when I show a set on dgrin I pick the ones I like for whatever reason as well as giving a mix of processing styles I use. I delivered 5 or 6 images taken in front of that chapel, and 3 or 4 different processing styles. Thanks for the comment on 8. I really like that image as well. As you say, I thought the centered comp worked well there.

Thanks so much guys!!

Matt

ARKreations

Matt, Glad to see you resurface! Really nice work. I have to agree with Lynn on #8 - just a great scene altogether. The architectural capture in #11 is very appealing and the leading lines of the stairs draw the eye right to the couple. The color and detail in #16 accents the scene without distracting from the couple. And #17, Wow! - 'nuf said.

quark

#8 is my favorite as well, but I like the pose for the last one a great deal.

mmmatt

Thanks guys.

Interesting thing, the chapel in 8 and 15/16 (and 4) was originally a medieval structure built in France and then disassembled and cataloged before being sold to an estate in Long Island in the 20's. It was purchased by the University in the 60's and again cataloged and reconstructed on site. While in Long Island there was the addition of a stone that Joan of Arc had once prayed on and then later kissed. It is believed that the stone is blessed and for whatever reason it is colder to the touch than every other stone. Lot of history there and it was an important part of the campus to the couple. We didn't get to go inside, but it is beautiful on the outside for sure. I just read the history on it and it is very interesting! click here if you are into that sort of thing.

Matt

VayCayMom

16 made me gasp! I love trying out different types of PP, I love it a little too much but it is fun right now and I am still not settled into my own style. Glad to hear business is good !!

Weisel

I agree with pretty much what other have said here, to be perfectly vague. haha. You are great at what you do. I would dial back the color processing a tad too, but I love it. The glowing B&W skin thing grabbed my eye too, but yeah, I know how it is white pale folks! #8 Was my fave. You totally nailed that! Sometime a center comp is just more compelling than a third.
Great set, as always. Inspiring.

Matthew Saville

mmmatt wrote: »

Hey guys! Thanks for the comments. You are giving me a little too much credit Matt. these are actions and I have no idea what chanel mix they were since I don't save psd files. They are both very pale to start with so that may be some of what you are seeing, and like I said I was tweaking the images to get a little more detail out and that pumped contrast a bit which may have made a difference. I'll play with some of these a bit more though, thanks.

Yep, as I was just saying in another thread, certain cultures might appreciate you accenting their pale skin, but probably not white people. Darken things down a bit, I'm sure they'd much rather look a little more than than they actually are, instead of more pale than they actually are. ;-)

=Matt=

kyeezie

I agree on the black and whites but the other I love, I really like that processing. There are two I am not a big fan, 6 and 9. 6 is not a flattering picture of her. Me, being female, would probably hide that one. I am that way though. He looks like he might be thinking, "come on, honey, move along". In 9 I think her skirt is too short for that pose and the way she has to sit, all my attention is drawn to her legs and not their faces. I love her expression you caught in number 10, I can feel the love. And of course, 16 is breathtaking!!