amandadeanne

So in this picture, I tried to convey the impression that this cabin is scared of its own shadow and is hiding itself behind the trees. Thoughts?

OK, trust me to be picky ! I do like what you have done with it in B/W, but I'm afraid the thing that grates with me (and this is only my opinion) is that none of the branches have ends - they are all truncated (pun not intended) by the framing of the image. Maybe re-visit it (if you can get up early twice within one week - I never can !), stand further back (if safe to do so - not in the middle of the road, for instance !) and look at the framing before taking the shot, or else take several at different angles. You could even tilt it somewhat so the main branch is more vertical. Just suggestions and ideas.

The only problem is, this was taken at a friend's house in Louisiana, and I have no idea when I'll be back to visit them again. :(

If you'll forgive the liberty taken:

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Drastic crop and a more graphic treatment.

 

But that would be my own 'rescue' job. Not yours. And dangerously close to a wallpaper pattern I'm afraid.

What if it were cropped to where only the triangle of blooms was the focus?

But...because I'm stubborn and refuse to let this picture get the best of me, I'm putting this one out one last time. I'll make it quick; I'm sure you're getting sick of seeing it. I cropped a little off the left side and warmed up the color.

My take is that I make some edits on images to see if they are worth continuing with (in most cases, not !), then do a semi-final edit on those I feel confident enough to share, then leave them, as has been suggested, returning to them when I have a little time to assess them more fully, and see which are actually worth keeping. While trying to produce the JPG I intend to display, I keep the original DNG files, save the intermediate edits as TIFF files (sometimes saving these multiple times as I work them, with unique file names), then finally (for now !) reduce in size for posting and save as JPG.

 

With regard to your image, I can see its appeal, but you might find a closer crop (maybe just the two large blooms and the semi-opened one beneath them) would give a more pleasing and balanced result. I must admit that, when I am faced with such a colourful display, I have to stop and think what result I want, and sometimes (I know options are limited on a Smartphone) I will shoot the same subject from different angles, with a variety of lenses, to give me scope for editing later. As they say 'Any photograph is better than the one you didn't take' ! Also, don't forget, in editing you can flip any image horizontally (if it does not contain writing, obviously) to give a result which, while it may not be a true reflection of the scene, provides a more pleasing result.

This is one the picture that's been giving me such a headache, but I'll do some more creative work on it in a while (probably not today...I need to re-grow the hair I pulled out trying to edit it!). Great suggestions...I was just afraid that the people in the store I was in would have thought me off my rocker if I'd done anything more than what I did!

Okay, so what I did was this. After cropping the original picture at the bottom, I desaturated the color and darkened the contrast slightly to where the blooms stood out even more. I'm all ears for suggestions and such.

I agree. It's probably the weakest picture in your portfolio, but you already know what the issue is. There's too much in there. Too 'busy' with no point of focus.

 

Personally I'd crop away the bottom to make a square format, and in the absence of having a wide aperture lens, 'fake' a shallow depth of field in the edit to focus attention on the largest bloom.

 

Or just forget it and move on to something with more potential.

 

Maybe poke the camera right in among the flowers? Use a darker exposure? I dunno, it's your picture and your choice.

 

I like your gallery BTW. Nicely observed pictures of light on water.

I'm about ready to give up on that picture for the time being, to be honest. I don't plan on deleting it; just going to set it aside until I recover some sense of sanity from trying to finagle it to where I'm happy with it.

Of course, here's another version. I just did something completely different. I cropped it and changed the saturation and highlights, and to me, it looks like there's more of a focus leading up to the large bloom at the top right of the image. What say you?

looks pretty good. Are you pleased? Did you try to bring the shapes of the branches out ... you could make them stand out more.

I'm still fiddling with the contrast and highlights on it, but I feel it's a decent start. The one thing that annoys me is that really, really bright branch up at the top. I'm wondering if I should crop it or just figure out how to darken that little detail a bit more.

Found this little guy resting among the shells and rocks on a Mississippi beach. Taken with a Motorola e6 smartphone camera.

Yeah, I probably should slow down a bit and take time to process things a bit because most of the time I'm just going on a flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants mode. As for this picture, what really got me was the shape of the branches and the way the streetlight played on them. The combination of light and shadow was really cool.

Here's a black and white version of "Branching Back" I just did.

This is a picture of a sculpture in my friend's yard I took several days ago. It's one where I lay on the ground to take it, just to see what the effect would be. I haven't edited it in any way.

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That is really cool. You captured that at a great angle.

I like the simplicity of what you captured.

Thank you very much.

This is one I did of a sculpture in a friend's yard. It was a cloudy day, and I lay on the ground to get this shot. I say it's another attempt at b&w; the fact of the matter is, I thought (naively, probably) that some color might get through, but it didn't. Anyway, it's not edited. This shot is as it was taken.

The picture makes good use of the wideangle and close-focussing lens generally fitted to smartphones.

 

You've used a compositional device called 'leading lines' that take the viewer's gaze into the picture..... however. The end point of those leading lines is, frankly, a bit untidy and uninteresting.

 

Maybe someone's fingers poised to move the furthest pawn could create a point of interest, and hide the untidy background?

 

The object behind the knight 'growing out of its head' is also a bit distracting. Try to keep backgrounds plain and tidy.

 

The great thing about digital photography, and a small still-life like that, is that you can make as many tries at improving the image as you like. And at little cost.

 

Play around, have fun, but always be your own worst critic. That's the way forward.

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled with the background, either. I tried cropping it a bit, but I hated that result even more, so I just left it as is. I like the idea of having someone's fingers poised to move the pawn. I just wish someone had been home to do it!

Thank you. No flat artwork amanda. Just a deceptive perspective of plaster walls and ceiling I built. I am standing inside a right angle pass through wall looking up at a recessed ceiling to accommodate a 9 ft tall entry door swing.

Very clever. All I did was look up at the ceiling in the hotel I was in, saw the light, and took a picture. Nothing at all like your work.

[ATTACH=full]1362764[/ATTACH] not.el - my design&build

Lol...kinda makes me wish my own picture had some sort of artwork on the walls. Good job.

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I love the colors on the building. Gorgeous picture.

What gear did you use, amandadeane? Interesting composition. It's been a long time since I photographed a chess board (even longer since I played). My first chess photo was my sophomore year in high school: I illuminated the chess board with a five cell flashlight and let the electronic shutter on my Pocket Instamatic 40 do the rest. Surprisingly, I got a printable image.

Right now, I only have a smartphone and a free online photo editor, but I hope to get a decent camera as soon as I possibly can..

The main issue, for me - but all pictures are a matter of taste - is that there's no detail in the shaded parts of the chess pieces.

 

Changing the brightness in editing won't get that detail back. As q.g. so bluntly states, those areas have just turned from black to grey.

 

That lack of detail needs to be addressed at the taking stage; by increasing the camera exposure. Or maybe reflecting a bit of light into the shadows - a sheet of white paper held next to the camera would probably do the job with a small subject like this.

 

It would help if you told us what equipment you're using - film or digital - and which post-processing editor.

 

BTW, I think the edited version has improved the highlights by lending them a deliberate glaring quality. It also disguises what looks like crumpled-up paper in the background of the first picture.

 

Pay attention to backgrounds, they can make or break a still-life like this.

I'm using a smartphone and a free online photo editor right now, but I'm looking to get a decent camera soon.