DSS 14: China Daily
michswiss
Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,235 Major grins
This has been much more challenging than I would have preferred. I had planned on having all day on Saturday and Sunday to recreate some shots I'd taken before of Beijing Hutongs for the challenge. Instead, I landed a bad cold and the weekend was sub-freezing with, um, dense air outside. So I stayed in and worked to come up with something at hand in my Serviced Apartment.
Opinions on subject, composition, etc is appreciated. I've got one more day here before heading back to A/NZ for the holidays.
Option 1)
Option 2)
Opinions on subject, composition, etc is appreciated. I've got one more day here before heading back to A/NZ for the holidays.
Option 1)
Option 2)
0
Comments
The lighting and exposure in option #1 are very pleasing. But I like the fruit bowl setup in option #2 better. I would try recomposing this shot so that the fruit bowl is not as centered -- perhaps moving it to the lower left corner of the frame. I don't know that those green shoots really do that much.
http://lrichters.smugmug.com
Thanks for the feedback Linda. I'll pick up a load of new fruit in the morning and I've already dumped the piece of grass. It was wilting anyway. I'm still under the weather enough to pull a sickie and work from the hotel tomorrow. If there's good enough natural light through the window, I'll give it another hour or two during the day and then I'll submit what's most pleasing.
I actually like the fuller bowl of #1, but the more ordered tassels of #2 (I'm no help, I know, I know
Love all the colour!
Ok, here are a couple of candidates. Opinions between the two? I probably won't have another chance to shot again tomorrow and the light is gone for the day.
Option 1)
Option 2)
The noticable difference I see is that the lighting was moved from lower left to lower corner left, and possibly raised some?
They're both very good, but for my taste, I'd give the edge to #2.
http://wolftep.smugmug.com/
"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." — Mark Twain
http://www.facebook.com/brocklawsonphoto
Yeah, I saw that too. The biscuits are pumpkin and sesame tarts from a chain of Shanghai-style restaurants. I've got two others with the same lighting without the nibble, but there's the smallest hint of camera shake that leaves me with the sense that the text on the newspaper is ever so slightly out of focus.
Here's what I mean. Of course, maybe it's all in my head.
All of this was done with a D300 and 24-70 either set at AP or Manual between f9 & f13 at ISO 800-1000 with shutter speeds varying between 1/10 and 1/30th with a monopod standing on deeply cushioned hotel chairs leaning against a window on the 21st floor across from a construction site with arc welding taking place that almost acted like a flash, staring at a hotel table strewn with fruit and trinkets.
No flash as I don't have one yet and the on-board won't get past the 24-70 without leaving a shadow (I tried and didn't like the effect anyway). So hotel lamps were set on upturned rubbish bins arranged carefully around the table. If it hadn't been for the halogen reading light, I would have been stuffed. I must have looked like a nut case to the construction workers across the way. :crazy
Thankfully, the housekeeping staff thought what I was doing was funny and interesting and kept me supplied with water, honey and ginger tea to keep the racking cough at bay.
But hey, I've learned a lot!
Ahh, the things we do for our art.
My daughter announced as she walked past this today "Wow.I remember when this was a dining room table. That we used to eat our food on".
(I hope you'll all particularly appreciate the creative use of a bottle of sparkling apple juice acting as a stand for the clamp light.... the books were because I needed to get something UNDER the light box and had to prop it up somehow!)
so, in my ignorance of your purpose intended, may i suggest just a simple still life photo of the news paper with your tasty treats with choppy sticks....
all imo...
Thanks for the frank C&C. I had originally wanted to use the trinkets by themselves as some form of mobile and then use DOF to create interest. Sort of a forest of Chinese masks and tassels. But I couldn't get the materials together for that shot. So it ended up becoming a 'found objects' sort of thing based purely on what was in the room.
No chance to reshoot as I'm in Australia now. I might try something from home once I get there later today or tomorrow. There are still 3-4 days to go.