[Her_B4]

Hi there,

New to photography and new to these forums well, apart fromthe mandatory 15 posts!!) ... so hi!!!

I am keen to gain some skills in photography and after having had a look around these forums I can see that clearly I haven't even made it to the starting blocks in some ways.

Still, I have to start somewhere - so would be keen to get some feedback on (IMHO) one of my better ones.



All feedback and constructive criticism welcomed.

EDIT:
Here is the revised copy of the same photo as above but following the instructions below...

Better? I think it is, although the more I look at it the more I see that maybe I could still tweak it a bit here and there....

[datahound]

That dog has another head growing out of its arse.

[Her_B4]

Ok thanks!

Should I class that as feedback or constructive criticism ..... is there more??


......... or was that merely an misguided observation?

[illvibe]

What's there to say....there are two dogs. It's hard to see what's going on and I think you've bumped up the contrast a little too much. Certainly not a bad shot though.

[H3LLRA1Z3R]

I like it. Are the dogs yours? If that is some of your first photography I would say your well on your way.

[H3LLRA1Z3R]

Originally Posted by illvibe

What's there to say....there are two dogs. It's hard to see what's going on and I think you've bumped up the contrast a little too much. Certainly not a bad shot though.

Its two dogs lying on what I assume is a couch! pretty much black and white on that one!

[Her_B4]

Originally Posted by illvibe

What's there to say....there are two dogs. It's hard to see what's going on and I think you've bumped up the contrast a little too much. Certainly not a bad shot though.

Oh Ok thanks - I have not used photoshop before (what a wonderfully complex tool ) and I wondered about the 'line' between what is acceptable and what is not - I tried various settings and decided that it must be largely subjective. I will keep an eye on that for the next one.

Originally Posted by H3LLRA1Z3R

I like it. Are the dogs yours? If that is some of your first photography I would say your well on your way.

Yes they are, and it was my 2nd batch of photo's after I got the camera, and although I haven't by any means come to terms with many of the settings, I am trying out all the settings and lenses etc to see which gives me a shot that I am ok with. I like the original shot and think that it is even better in B&W (probably because they are both white dogs and the couch is a very dark brown).

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate that I have a lot to learn - but you CAN teach an old dog new tricks I have decided (with a bit of help) and I am out to prove it...

Originally Posted by H3LLRA1Z3R

Its two dogs lying on what I assume is a couch! pretty much black and white on that one!

Ha ha ha- yes very good

[JonoMarshall]

I tried various settings and decided that it must be largely subjective.

Not exactly... over/under exposing, playing with hues/levels/depth of field/etc post-shoot in Photoshop is as much of an art as taking the original photo. Every aspect of manipulation should serve a purpose, but if you're the only one who's going to view the image then you can simply make adjustments subjectively.

Some web searching or a good book or two can provide you with more info if you're interested...

[H3LLRA1Z3R]

Do you have the original (colour version)?, maybe someone could give you an idea of what ( if any ) filters you could apply.

[Her_B4]

Originally Posted by JonoMarshall

Not exactly... over/under exposing, playing with hues/levels/depth of field/etc post-shoot in Photoshop is as much of an art as taking the original photo. Every aspect of manipulation should serve a purpose, but if you're the only one who's going to view the image then you can simply make adjustments subjectively.

Some web searching or a good book or two can provide you with more info if you're interested...

Yes I understand what you mean, about the art of photoshop. I have bought a couple of books on the subject as well as some magazines with some good information (Digital Camera World) and will try and slow down to take one step at a time.

Appreciate the feedback.

Originally Posted by H3LLRA1Z3R

Do you have the original (colour version)?, maybe someone could give you an idea of what ( if any ) filters you could apply.

Yes I do, I shall have another play with it tomorrow and see if I can improve on the above and repost for comments.

[steveb]

You can look at adjusting the contrast and brightness of a photo the same way as you adjust a tv picture.
Turn the color all the way down (convert to grayscale), put the contrast somewhere in the middle range (it already would be in your pic), lower the brightness until details start to disappear from the blacks - in your photo, I'd be looking to keep detail on the dogs' noses. Then increase the brightness again just a tad. If the whites are too bright, without any detail, decrease contrast. Then recheck the blacks - and carry on adjusting the contrast and brightness until the both blacks and whites still have a little detail visible in them.
And if you're adjusting your tv picture, you can then start to increase the color until it looks good.

[Her_B4]

Originally Posted by steveb

You can look at adjusting the contrast and brightness of a photo the same way as you adjust a tv picture.
Turn the color all the way down (convert to grayscale), put the contrast somewhere in the middle range (it already would be in your pic), lower the brightness until details start to disappear from the blacks - in your photo, I'd be looking to keep detail on the dogs' noses. Then increase the brightness again just a tad. If the whites are too bright, without any detail, decrease contrast. Then recheck the blacks - and carry on adjusting the contrast and brightness until the both blacks and whites still have a little detail visible in them.
And if you're adjusting your tv picture, you can then start to increase the color until it looks good.

Excellent - thanks heaps. I will have another go at the original following your outline above and repost.


Cheers,

[Her_B4]

Ok I added the reversion to the first post to provide an easier comparison (I realise that most of you won't need that - but I still do ).

Here is my next offering:



Comments?

[Her_B4]

Sooo - I am deafened by the silence... Anyone?

I have money.... (ooh well, the truth is - I don't actually have any real money anymore - just monopoly money ...) As you were then....

[illvibe]

Again, it's ok. For an absolute beginner it's pretty good. Interesting composition.

[Her_B4]

Originally Posted by illvibe

Again, it's ok. For an absolute beginner it's pretty good. Interesting composition.

Thanks - how could I have improved it? Or was the shot just not photoworthy?

[illvibe]

Not sure how you could have improved it. Sometimes even the best anyone can do with a shot might not result in a great photo. Photography is not an exact science!

[steveb]

That's quite an interesting shot. It's worth more than a casual glance, at any rate.
The triangle formed by the moon, bird and doohickey on the tower is repeated by light shining through the decorative holes in the tower. A happy accident, is my guess!
If this were my photo, I'd straighten it by making the forward facing corner of the tower absolutely vertical and recropping.

[Her_B4]

Originally Posted by steveb

That's quite an interesting shot. It's worth more than a casual glance, at any rate.
The triangle formed by the moon, bird and doohickey on the tower is repeated by light shining through the decorative holes in the tower. A happy accident, is my guess!
If this were my photo, I'd straighten it by making the forward facing corner of the tower absolutely vertical and recropping.

Yes, in part it was indeed a happy accident, I took a series of shots (about 25) from tracking a couple of birds over the roof line at dusk and I held the position and got that one.

I deleted most of the rest and kept that one but was not sure of what to do to improve it.

Thanks for that - I will give it a go.

[steveb]

I just noticed your addition to the first post - it's a huge improvement. The whites are peaking too high (too bright, in other words!) There are two areas where white seems to be at 100% and all detail is lost. One place is the reflection on the thingy hanging off the collar. That's OK because it's reflecting a light source. The other is the very light areas of the fur around the head - they aren't light sources so you can safely reduce their brightness value to 92-95% and regain some detail there too.
In general, the lightest area in a photograph needn't be 100% white. Obviously if you have a photograph of a landscape on a cloudy afternoon, it's unlikely that anything will be very bright. But if there's a car in the pic with its headlights on, you can safely adjust the brightness level so the headlights just reach 100%.