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Hi my friends,

I am trying to put everything is a better position to make a good

composition for this picture. But still I feel something is not right. Could any

of you give me suggestions please?

Great thanks!

Shad,

You asked, & I hope I don't come across as harsh.

Too many elements & too much distance. It looks like you were trying an oriental theme, centering on the tea materials. Great idea.

Get rid of the cakes in the plastic (out of place). I would ask you to do this again, & just keep the cup of tea, teapot, & napkin (& if you want 1 cake).

Get rid of everything else & place the setup near/against the wall where the black booklet is.  There is more/better light here. In the current image the teapots design is lost.

Press/ iron/smooth the napkin.  Keep the arrangement simple & work the light. You may want to use a piece of white cardboard or paper to fill in shadowed areas. After you take some images, move things around, and take some more.

Still life's are not an easy thing to start with. You have a good idea here. Work it. We all still learn about what we are doing. Above all, keep shooting.

Rick

Thank you Rick. That's not as harsh at all. Everything you told me is what I hope to learn, I will do as you told me and try again. Thank you for your patience and type so many valuable suggestions for me.

Only the DOF is shallow, you should have used smaller aperture than f/5 since you obviously had to use tripod longer exposure wouldn't harm the photo!

Best regards, Shad!

PDE

Pierre, I just hope to focus on the tea stuffs. I thought some background can help the picture purpose, but I think Rick is right, too many stuffs is not good. So what I would do is take some more photos later. Trying to fix those things. Or, I am guessing maybe I choose some of those stuffs but put them faraway or by anyway make the DOF more shallow so that I can make the tea stuff outstanding. I would try your long exposure suggestion, I think that can show more details in the shadow side. 

Thank you! I hope you can watch my fixed photo.