Ceramic Delight

[Grabber]

Hi All,
One of my first Digitals. Haven't done photography for 20 years except point and shoot once in a while.

This shot is from Roger's Garden, Corona Del Mar, CA





Please let me know what you think,



http://www.imageevent.com/mattsfotos

Matt

[Klaus DK]

Whether one like the motive or not is a matter of taste isn't it!

There's a little bit too much light on this shot. -1EV would make it the right contrast and you would limit the burned out highlights - especially in the background.

[Grabber]

This is the original out of the camera. The previous was tweaked in Photoshop. Is this better?




Matt

[Lauren]

I can see what you wanted to do now that I look at both pics. The brightness of the PSd picture gives a much more lively ambience to the scene. But this comes at the expense of blown highlights in the background and some areas in the foreground. Personally, I could live with the blown highlights.

On another note, a little more DOF to bring all the little mushrooms into focus would have helped the shot immensely, I think.

[Grabber]

Hey Lauren,
Thanks for the helpful criticism. Just wondering, how do I increase the Depth of Field? I'm new at this. I have a Canon S400 which has some manual controls. If you could describe in general how this is done, I'll look into the specifics for my camera.

Thanks.
Matt

[Lauren]

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to photography as well, so my advice is only based on what I've read so far.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

To increase depth of field (bring more of the picture into focus), close the aperature (increase to F8 or F11 for example). To focus on one thing and blur the rest, open the aperture (decrease to F1.4 or F2.8 for example). However closing the aperture will also increase the time that the CCD needs to be exposed and you may end up with a blurry picture because of camera shake. Use a tripod or some other solid base to keep the pciture steady.

The main caveat is that I don't know what kind of effect this will have on close up shots. Perhaps someone with more experience can fill us in.

[Klaus DK]

You're right about the DOF Lauren, but there's more to it than that. But anyway - in a shot like this a higher f. number would do the job. The distance in the shot is not that long. f.8-11 is a fine suggestion. There seems to be plenty of light, so I imagine no tripod would come in use. BUT the more zoom you use to get close to an object - the bigger an f.stop you'll need. The DOF decreases very much in i.e close-ups and with large zoomlenses. With a wide-angle the DOF is deep and does not require the same high f. number as with zooms and close-ups.

GRABBER:
You've darkened down the entire picture. It's often better to select the area you want to darken and just that. You've removed some of the dynamic in the shot...
OK - this takes some experience in editing...maybe I was too hard on you. Sorry.

[steve6]

I had a go myself.

I highly saturated (full power Scotty) to increase colour depth.

Tweaked it in Levels to add some contrast and depth.

Sharpened it a little bit.

I think it looks a lot better but photography is very subjective.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/...72433681pWXYQV

I'll delete it later when you've had a look.

[Klaus DK]

Very nice job Steve.

[Grabber]

Ok Ok So I have a lot to learn.. LOL.. Steve, very nice job. It does look much better.

Thanks everyone for your input.

-Matt

Steve can you leave that there for a while. I want the chance to show a few people : )

Thanks