Inspiration

part of a series

I like this one very much for its delicacy of color and combination of geometric and rounded forms. The reflection on the underside of the lid gives the picture a touch of the unexpected.

I'm glad you like it. I'm working on the outside exposure in HDR, trying to figure out how dark to make it without looking artificial. The color saturation can get bizarre, too. Quite a challenge.

This is exceptional series with reflections. This one has nice autumn hue like some Debussy music.

Very nice. I have a question about the composition. Is it possible to make the reflection mate up with the window by changing the camera angle? I'm not sure that would be an improvement but it would be something I would try. The arrangement of shapes and lines within the composition is pleasing to the eye.

 

You may also want to try some of these with the white balance on the camera set to tungsten and shoot in the evening around sunset. That will make the sky blue and would be a nice contrast to the warm interior tones. You may have to put gel filters on the flash (if you use one) if you do that in order to preserve the warm interior hue. I see you have labled this HDR so it looks like you used available light only in this case.

 

A slightly wider angle of view would be interesting also. Where is that fisheye lens? Use that and correct the barrel distortion in post proccessing. I would love to be able to see the keyboard also.

 

This really is inspiring, great work.

I'm guessing you wrote this before realizing that it's part of an HDR series. One of the challenges is to strike a balance between "realistic" and "photo-realisitic". An example would be making the outside darker which would be how I saw it, but would make the window view look like a picture pasted on a white frame. If this style grows in popularity, I think viewers will gradually grow to accept less of a difference between indoor and outdoor contrast.

 

The camera angle hear was meant to square up the window and picture frames. High polish p[ianos provide all sorts of opportunities for exploring the alignment of subject and reflection, as you've noted.

Carl I like this photo just as it is. The outside window scene looks soft, much like an impressionist painting. Maybe if it was darker it would not seem natural and would compete too much with the interior painting on the wall. Very nice colors all around in this and a beautiful photograph.

Yes, I noticed after I started writing that you had labeled these as HDR which sparked my curiosity even more. I like the composition very much as it is but I would also love to have the opportunity to explore different angles and compositions as I am sure you must have done.

 

Our piano at home is far from polished; in fact it is quite the ugly duckling. It was rather a mess when we got it, having seen many years of hard use before it came to our house to be enjoyed by flock of unruly children. I am sure that the sight of it would give you nightmares for a week.

 

I like the way you have that little slice of white baseboard on the lower right corner. It balances the other trim and anchors the composition visually by providing a critical point of reference for the viewer.

 

I could spend quite a bit of time with this one just thinking about the way you composed it. I wonder if you experimented with adjusting the midtone contrast with an adjustment curve or Shadows/Highlights filter. I think it could stand a bit more contrast but I like the mood it creates with this gentle soft contrast. There are so many ways that the scene could be interpreted and rendered.

 

I really love the play of the angles and the triangles that are created by the intersection of those angles with the square window panes and the painting. This is a real world geometry lesson in parallel lines and angles.

 

Yes, it is a very cool image.