rehersal dinner

[n8]

I caught this of my good friend and now wife at their rehearsal dinner and thought to fix it up a bit before I give them copies of my pics. The top is the sooc, and the second is obviously a crop, with the b&w conversion and a little yellow in the highlights. I removed a lot of the bg distractions, and am unsure about going in to remove the shadow behind his head. Should I remove, dodge it a bit?

[Frog]

I do think removing the shadow would help. I find it quite distracting.
I'd also clone out the ceiling tile lines.
If you have some skill at editing, I also think you could smooth out their skin which has uneven light.

I look forward to seeing what those skilled at editing say about how to do this.

I think your crop works.

[n8]

Thanks frog. Any thoughts on the b&w conversion?
I think my editing capabilities are ok...I'm wondering if maybe just adding some lens blur to keep things natural would be better then cloning out every line.
I have played with dodging the background some, which doesn't look bad, and minimizes the shadow.

[hminx]

The B&W crop is nice, could you do something about those patches on his forehead ?

[n8]

The B&W crop is nice, could you do something about those patches on his forehead ?

I don't know...
how'd I do?

[Greg McCary]

I think the conversion is a tad green. Desaturate it and push it until you have some pure whites and blacks.

[n8]

I think the conversion is a tad green. Desaturate it and push it until you have some pure whites and blacks.

Thanks Greg. At first thought I felt like I meant to have the greens a bit boosted, but I pulled them back and like the results. Can anyone comment on the cloning job on the b/g?

[armando_m]

I really like the cloning job !

the last photo seems to have lost her upper lip vs the background

[n8]

Thanks for all the feedback so far.