single photos Spring in the garden

All your comments are welcome! Thank you.

Well, I have to say it, in my opinion this is a really bad picture. The shooting down at your feet thing has been done so often and it so seldom works. In this case, the light is nasty with more than a hint of flare in the top right and the out of focus trees are just horrible. Definitely one to file in the bin.

well that wasn't very nice harvey! yes, the feet thing is a cliche but at least in this picture it offers a nice, large depth - from the photographer's waist, down to the feet, to then lead your eye right to the end of the garden! I like the near symmetrical quality to this picture, it is very pleasing on the eye and you have obviously composed this carefully through your viewfinder, a difficult feat considering you were in such an uncomfortable position! the rays of the sun in the top right make it so that the picture is less predictable/completely symmetrical. the couple of glare spots are of detriment, though nothing that some simple but careful photoshopping could not remove!

 

and harvey - if this is a boring picture, what is this: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1380807

Aaron, thank you for your comments! I must admit that it feels nice that you can see a little of my idea in this picture. You know the feeling when you are laying just like I did and look up? The glare spots I actually wanted to have there, to get more of that "sunny feeling". However, I would prefer the sky a little more blue. Any advices (besides PS)?

well I am no expert photographer, but here goes - without PS I would say to darken the sky u could use a half filter which darkens half of the picture, but in this case the trees would appear darkened so that would not be appropriate. its hard - it has to do with filters but they may affect the rest of your pic. I'm certainly no expert on filters, haha.

 

to increase the lens flare simply position the sun further out/away from the frame - lens flare has to do with how off centre the intense light source is. lens flare also has a lot to do with the lens construction, so get to know your lens, simply by just experimenting with it and light sources. the effect of flare is more pronounced on old or cheap lenses because today manufacturers put anti reflective coatings on lenses to minimise accidental flare.

 

special effects can be made when droplets of water are thrown into the air close to the camera - you may need someone to help you! its kind of what u might get when you're down at the beach and there is spray coming up in front of the camera, even perhaps on the camera lens. it produces hexagonal shapes, although the shapes can depend on many things, such as the settings on the camera.

 

in general, if you want the sun to appear large and hazy and undefined in your picture, use a large aperture. if you want it to appear small and with sharp, elongated flare marks use a smaller aperture.

 

hope thats of help. good luck, keep experimenting