Not my normal shot

I don’t think that shaving or not shaving is an issue here.  Ever since that Don Johnson dude on Miami Vice ( the TV series) stubble has become glamorous for casual shots of guys.

The lighting on the profile view is not punching through.  If the bride was rim lighted thereby bring out her profile a lot of mood and glamour would have been  added to the image.  Only a small highlight on her chin made it in and all that does is distract the viewer’s eye and brings attention to how muddy the rest of the facial lighting actually is.  The expressions are great but they are lost in the shadows.

Separating the subjects slightly may have let more highlights in.  A reflector can also help pump in more highlights when used as an additional short lighting tool and reflector scan also add a slight glow to the shadow side of the image. 

You are showing the back of the young lady’s hand- the sides or edges photograph better.

In the first image the background is handled better that the second one although there is are some hot spots from the raw sky light.  In the second image, showing the partial bridge structure, makes for somewhat of a cluttered background but it does help tell the story of that location- perhaps that’s what you wanted to do.  The eye contact between the subjects in the first images is better.

I do like the spontaneity of the expressions!

The principles noted here are as follows:

•   Always look for effective lighting to define and flatter the faces. 
•   Backgrounds should be subtle and suggested or rendered by innuendo rather than rendered graphically unless the become part of the composition so as to tell a story about the subject or define a certain location.
•   Attention to detail is important in portraiture- things such as placement of the hands and direction of the eyes can make the difference between a good record shot and an award winning image.

Ed Shapiro