New to dgrin - want to be whipped

[SimonTALM]

Hi I'm new to dgrin and digital SLRs (but was very in to film about 6 years ago). Shot on my D80 at the weekend and other than the frame and RAW conversion this is as shot - as my goal is to improve please whip hard.

http://B-Uneek.smugmug.com/photos/144574264-M.jpg

(large image here - http://B-Uneek.smugmug.com/photos/144574264-L.jpg)

[LiquidAir]

The picture is well exposed; I like the color, tone and texture of the flowers. However, my first impression of the shot is that it is a picture of a tree trunk. Then I notice someone sitting by the tree. He's looking out of the frame and I follow his gaze out of the shot. It would be better to put tree and the person at the left edge of the frame which would lead the viewer into the picture. I would also prefer to at least see the profile of the person's face rather than looking at his hat.

[SimonTALM]

Cheers, unfortunately here to the right of the frame is some rather messy stuff which would have spoilt the restful feeling and if i had rotated right I would loose the bluebells from the foreground. However I agree that I could have moved closer and cropped in a bit tighter to the central right section of the image to get the composition as suggested. As I look at it now I so agree that the left of the image is featureless and superfluous to requirements. Thanks for your comments, I keep them in mind.

The picture is well exposed; I like the color, tone and texture of the flowers. However, my first impression of the shot is that it is a picture of a tree trunk. Then I notice someone sitting by the tree. He's looking out of the frame and I follow his gaze out of the shot. It would be better to put tree and the person at the left edge of the frame which would lead the viewer into the picture. I would also prefer to at least see the profile of the person's face rather than looking at his hat.

[Richard]

Shot on my D80 at the weekend and other than the frame and RAW conversion this is as shot - as my goal is to improve please whip hard.

Hi and welcome to Dgrin. This is a pleasant and peaceful scene. I agree with LiquidAir's comment about the framing. In addition, I would have angled the shot a little higher. The blurred foreground is pleasant but takes up too much of the frame. You could also improve it by doing a little more post processing. Setting a black point would improve the contrast and a simple move of the B channel in LAB would reduce the yellow cast and bring out the blue of the wild flowers more, especially behind the tree.

That didn't hurt too much, I hope. :whip

Cheers,

[SimonTALM]

No it was actually quite pleasurable :huh

Clearly I can't go and reshoot but I have quickly cropped in significantly and adjusted the colours slightly and I think it certainly improves things (albeit slightly messy with the smaller trees in the central area) - so thanks to all.

http://B-Uneek.smugmug.com/photos/144761481-M.jpg




Hi and welcome to Dgrin. This is a pleasant and peaceful scene. I agree with LiquidAir's comment about the framing. In addition, I would have angled the shot a little higher. The blurred foreground is pleasant but takes up too much of the frame. You could also improve it by doing a little more post processing. Setting a black point would improve the contrast and a simple move of the B channel in LAB would reduce the yellow cast and bring out the blue of the wild flowers more, especially behind the tree.

That didn't hurt too much, I hope. :whip

Cheers,

[Gary Glass]

The crop is better, but too much. I think the right crop lies somewhere between that and the original version. But the bigger issue I see with the pic is the light. It's very bright and very even. You've got a lot of OOF foreground which threatens to overpower the subject, whereas what you want is a dramatic tension between the foreground and background. Couple of things I would try: increase the contrast; darken down; punch up the blue, so that the OOF flowers pop, giving them a more painterly effect.