Window Candles...

Bayer-Z28

C&C needed... I must have shot this about a dozen times, trying to get the color of the candles right..

Questions, comments, problems?



Framed it... I know it's not centered..

Richard

There's a lot that I like about this. The background is interesting and I especially like the interplay of the candles and the reflections against the window. Color is good, though the flames are blown a bit--not sure this is avoidable without making the rest a muddy mess or using multiple exposures. It's a little too symmetric for my taste. Maybe try moving the rightmost candle a little closer to the front and just a tad to the right so that its reflection is not so close to the center candle. I also might cover those foreground tiles with dark, opaque cloth. There are patterns, shadows and reflections there that distract more than they add to the frame. As it stands, it's very good, but IMO it could be even better.

Bayer-Z28

oh cool.. thanx...

I'm a symmetrical person by nature, so I actually DIDN'T mess with the orientation of the candles. -As much as I was tempted to.

Thanx for the tips, though.

craig_d

I like the colors, especially with the bluish light outside. The composition is nice, though I would have preferred to shift the camera slightly to the left to center the window.

The thing that bugs me the most about this shot is the obvious lens distortion. What did you shoot this with?

Bayer-Z28

What do you mean lens distortion? DOF? Shot with the camera in my sig.. D80 with a 18-200.. (Can't find my 18-55 lens.. :bluduh )... I didn't want to use that big barrel lens for that shot.. No filters..

I'm usually picky on centering things, but it's never worked in my favor.. I didn't even think of it this time.

Here's the original..

# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 10/16 second ===> 1/1.6 second ===> 0.625 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 56/10 ===> ƒ/5.6
# Exposure Program = manual control (1)
# ISO Speed Ratings = 320
# Exif Version = 0221
# Original Date/Time = 2009:10:18 14:15:19
# Digitization Date/Time = 2009:10:18 14:15:19
# Components Configuration = 0x01,0x02,0x03,0x00 / YCbCr
# Compressed Bits per Pixel = 4/1 ===> 4
# Exposure Bias (EV) = 0/6 ===> 0
# Max Aperture Value (APEX) = 36/10 ===> 3.6
Max Aperture = ƒ/3.48

photokandy

Bayer-Z28 wrote:

What do you mean lens distortion? DOF? Shot with the camera in my sig.. D80 with a 18-200.. (Can't find my 18-55 lens.. :bluduh )... I didn't want to use that big barrel lens for that shot.. No filters..

Lens Distortion is when what should be straight in real-life is curved in the image. The horizontal lines in the image here show quite a bit of curving, when they really should be straight. You'll usually see this on a zoom lens at either extreme simply because a lot of compromises have to be made when making a zoom - especially one with the range of an 18-200.

Most photo editing programs (like Photoshop) offer a mechanism to reduce or reverse the distortion, so you might want to try that and see how you like the results.

Bayer-Z28

^ oh yeah.. I noticed that as well and was wondering what the problem was... I gotta find my other lens..

Here..How's this look? I've never used that feature before (CS3) The window seems fixed, but the table tiles are still distorted.