Restful

[JustPlainMe]

I shot this at my cousin's rehearsal dinner in Charleston last week. I really feel like compositionally, and lighting-wise, it's one of the best snapshots I've taken. I keep going back to it. I have some room to work with the original as far as framing/cropping, so c&c is welcome, as always. I'm trying to learn. Looking at it now, should the chair only occupy 1/3 of the left side of the frame? I can "move" it by working with it and including more from the right side of the frame.

I didn't do much post to the WB or contrast. I did a significant amount of noise reduction and a huge amount of cloning and cropping, and I wonder if you can tell, and does it take away from the shot? I can post the original but I'd rather see first if anyone can tell what I had to do.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3365911030_31911daaae.jpg

EXIF:
Sony A200
1/60 f4.5
ISO 800
26mm

TFL!

[dank-photo]

I can post the original but I'd rather see first if anyone can tell what I had to do.



I guessing you had to completely clone out something on the lower and middle right side...also maybe something on the left? I dunno, it looks a little faded or something. IMO, compositionally, it's nothing spectacular, but not bad either...it draws my eye around the frame pretty well. I think you need some more pop in your colors and maybe more contrast as well.

[JustPlainMe]

I guessing you had to completely clone out something on the lower and middle right side...also maybe something on the left? I dunno, it looks a little faded or something. IMO, compositionally, it's nothing spectacular, but not bad either...it draws my eye around the frame pretty well. I think you need some more pop in your colors and maybe more contrast as well.
That's exactly what I had to do---I was afraid of that. I might give it a little more time and try it again, then again, if it's nothing to look at, I might not. :huh I was shooting from inside a dark building through a window, so I couldn't change my angle much. The sun was already below the horizon, and I don't have a fast lens, hence the funny colors. As I add EV correction in my RAW software, I get a lot of noise. It was worth a shot! There was no cloning on the left, that is a frosted part of the window glass that encroached on the view of the chair from the inside. I didn't trim it all off when I cropped.

Thanks for taking the time to critique!

Sarah

[redleash]

Sarah,

I have a different opinion--I LOVE it! I find it very inviting and to me the subdued tones make it seem like a relaxing evening in the south. The only things I don't like are the boats' lights, esp the two in the middle and the two on the right. The more I look at the image, the more I see the lights and find them distracting.

That's my 2 cents.

Lauren

[JustPlainMe]

Sarah,

I have a different opinion--I LOVE it! I find it very inviting and to me the subdued tones make it seem like a relaxing evening in the south. The only things I don't like are the boats' lights, esp the two in the middle and the two on the right. The more I look at the image, the more I see the lights and find them distracting.

That's my 2 cents.

Lauren

Lauren,

Thanks for your critique---I can definitely PS those lights out. I do have to do the cloning over, though. There was a black pole with a heavy black chain running straight through the frame about halfway up. It's funny how I had been so intent on getting the distracting chain out of the way that I didn't notice the lights.

Thanks again,
Sarah

[redleash]

I really couldn't spot anything the first time, but now that I look back I see some evidence of cloning. It probably would show more on a larger size or a print, so a redo is a good idea. Be sure to post the new version--I'd like to see it.