Camera Labs

Please comment in term of composition, lighting......etc and way to improve.
I want to get improve.
Thanks

Here is the setting:
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 52 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV

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Stephen Ho
Nikon D40 l AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II (3.0x) l
www.flickr.com/photos/vandcoler

Rule of thirds. Since the subject isn't much I think it would be best to have the lamps to the right or left of the frame and maybe try using a lower aperture to cause the light in the back to be more out of focus.

Just a Newbies opinion!

Jake O'Connell

This is tricky, because indeed, it is a pretty dull object in itself...
Composition, isn't there a window in that room? Well, maybe if you use the window als a background and really work on focussing on the lamp, so the window becomes blurry.
But I think it is a nice picture, maybe a lack of contrast.

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Nikon D80, Nikon F60
18-55, 55-200 VR, 50mm 2.0, 35-135mm 3.4-4.5
www.flickr.com/photos/palieter

Just reading what Palieter said, if there is a window (I'm thinking older style with wooden dividers) so its like a 3x6 grid you could go outside, and set the aperture low, so only the wood is in focus but the lamps are blurred in the background,

Oke, didn't see that!
Nice still same comment

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Nikon D80, Nikon F60
18-55, 55-200 VR, 50mm 2.0, 35-135mm 3.4-4.5
www.flickr.com/photos/palieter

Honestly, I don't like both lamps lining up.
To my eye it's too symmetric. I would have taken an angle where the lamps are on a diagonal and don't "stick" together. And avoid the trapdoor in the ceiling on the right!
Also I'd try to darken the image and get a more "gloomy" atmosphere, as the ceiling looks to bright formy liking, too little "drama".
All personal opinions though...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hey vandcooler,

good of you to take such an open approach and invite comments.

There are things in this picture that - when put together - prevents me from being "moved" by it:

1. The highlights are blown a bit - i.e. the centers of the light sources are perfectly white blobs
2. The picture is somewhat out of focus - looking down the vertical lines, I see some camera shake
3. The white balance makes the cast light in the ceiling look a dreary and bland beige
4. Composition-wise I think that Tomas said it well. I'd add to this and encourage you to ask yourself "why" have I taken this picture?
- is it a story about dramatic colors (it could have been, if the colored parts of the glass too up more of the frame and were more "punchy".
- is it a story about dramatic casting of light? (it could have been if the light-play in the ceiling had been the focus of attention in the image
- is it a story about an interesting design of a lamp? (it could ahve been, if the lamps were a little more special or unique or dramatic)
- is there some emotion we are supposed to associate with the image? (it could have been of the light and color range was wider and more dramatic - e.g. if it was very light on very dark.

A picture is also about context and understanding. If these are some kind of ultra rare medieval hand blown former torch covers that hung in Alexander The Great's dining hall, I wouldn't know to recognize it - whereas some antiquities expert would foam around the mouth seeing them. I could be one of those audiences who just doesn't "get it" - the same way some don't "get" Andy Warhol (I'm one of those too).

Is this picture bad or good? It's in the eye of the beholder. If it has a special meaning to you, it's a good picture.

Are there way to present these same lamps in a photo that would make them more interesting to an ignoramus like myself? Yes, absolutely! Better focus, color, white balance and composition could make these lamps seem very fascinating to even the most casual observer.

Keep plugging away at it and enjoy the process. For even the best darn photographers in the world, only one shot in many is truly remarkable. For chumps like me it's maybe one in 500, for better photographers it might be one in 50.

Cheers

Oh boy, vandcooler is never going to come back, if we tear his pics apart like this! Perhaps we should first take a course "How to give feedback in a non-offending way", LahLahSr
vandcooler? Or you still with us??

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Whoa!

It was certainly not my intent to offend you vandcooler!! I don't know if you read my comments that way, but when Thomas suggests I take a course I've probably stepped over a line I didn't see or intended to cross.

My apologies to you, Thomas and anyone else who may perceive my comments as offending - nothing was or is farther from my mind.

What I did try to do, was to give thorough and and specific feed-back.

I'm terribly sorry and I hope that you will come back and chew me out if you feel like Thomas does