LPS 4 Ideas

tsk1979

After Failing to make it in the first three, I have multiple Ideas for this one.
Can't decide. Help!
1. Cliche'd, artificial flowers
a.

b.

c.

2. Armies
a.Horny :

b.The Archer :

3.All that glitters
a. Original

b.Cropped

4. Birds of a feather
a.Uncropped

b.Cropped

LiquidAir

I am afraid none of these shots really catches my eye. The point of focus feels somewhat arbitrary and in many of them the DoF is too shallow.

Despite the fact it is blurred on your flower shots, still I find the backround doess not make much sense and the foregrounds by themseves are not strong enough to hold the shot together on their own.

The armies shots are better. Shooting from eye level really brings the viewer into the shot and the red background works with the gold tones. If you want to work this idea, try reshooting with an eye toward what you are trying to say with your framing, focus point and depth of field.

I like the texture and color of "All that Glitters" but the the composition doesn't say much to me. This shot is essentially an abstract so the composition needs to be really strong.

On the birds shot, the white balance feels off and neither the light nor the perspective of shooting from above is doing your subject any favors.


I try not to bring up gear issues in this context, but it looks to me like the lens you are shooting with is really struggling with these shots. Try setting up a scene similar to one of these with the camera on a tripod and shoot it with the lens at each of its aperture settings. Looks at the results and decide what characteristics you like about each image. When you are taking pictures with shallow depth of field, they way your lens renders becomes a significant part of the shot and getting to know your gear better will help you decide which aperture is best for a particular shot.

tsk1979

Thanks
Thanks for your valuable comments
These shots were taken at a crowded crafts fair, with lighting sources being incandescent and CFL.
Reshoot is tough.
I had the 50mm which I used at F 1.8. Anything higher I would not get desired shutter speeds.
I have RAW for all of the images.
I like the archer and the birds one, and can play around with white balance. I will see if I can do a reshoot or try some other ideas too.
The flower ones were more of an experiment.
I have a few shots of black elephants too(made of stone) but had to use flash to get anything acceptable, and that has ruined the shot.

I will try and tweak both the Archer, and the birds shot(WB etc.,) and see if anything good can come out of them.

LiquidAir

tsk1979 wrote:

Thanks for your valuable comments
These shots were taken at a crowded crafts fair, with lighting sources being incandescent and CFL.
Reshoot is tough.
I had the 50mm which I used at F 1.8. Anything higher I would not get desired shutter speeds.
I have RAW for all of the images.
I like the archer and the birds one, and can play around with white balance. I will see if I can do a reshoot or try some other ideas too.
The flower ones were more of an experiment.
I have a few shots of black elephants too(made of stone) but had to use flash to get anything acceptable, and that has ruined the shot.

I will try and tweak both the Archer, and the birds shot(WB etc.,) and see if anything good can come out of them.

Ah. Taking competition quality still life shots at a craft fair is going to be very tough because the standard for that kind of shot uses studio lighting and a tripod. Think of it this way: if you had bought three of those birds and brought them home you could have gotten a much better shot of them. Given your circumstance, you did well, but my personal feeling is that the best shots from a craft fair feature the artisans as well as their crafts.

That said between the archer and the birds I prefer the archer. For me there is something of a story in the army of figurines which is lacking in the bird shot.

Nikolai

In addition to what LiquidAir said, let me cut down to the chase:
they all look like the snapshots. Good snapshots, with shallow DOF, decent composition and some interesting low angles, but the snapshots nonetheless. There's no chance I would even think of hanging that over my wall even if it was a free 20"x30" print on a metallic paper.

I've seen this on a different photo challenge the other day (not exact quote, but close):

"Entries are judged by:
1.Overall quality of the photogrpah
2. Orinality/novelty/applicability of the idea vs theme
3. Technical execution of the idea"

None of the above pictures hold the candle to any of the three

There is still time. And, btw, that golden palace of yours is quite artificail, if you ask me

Good luck!