Statue shot

[enc]

Hi again,

Today i tried taking pictures of a statue for the first time. I never met any tips on the web randomly about taking shots of statues, so i thought i just "give it a shot" ,)

[Teewinot]

enc,

I definitely like the perspective...looking up at the statue gives it a sense of power or majesty. Nice job here!

Couple of things:
-I would crop out the bottom a pinch since there's that spot on the right hand side that is encroaching in the frame and leaving the line looking less horizontal.
-The upper left-hand corner has some light which is a little distracting. Perhaps you could shoot the statue in full sun, or better yet, warm morning or evening sun, enhancing the shadows and texture of the subject. That would also illuminate the statue a bit...play around with this a little...not sure what light would be ideal. In any case, a little light in the corner doesn't add much, so I'd either go all or nothing.

I've never tried shooting statues either, so thanks for sharing yours and encouraging me to get out there and try my own!

[enc]

thanks for the notices! Well thing is this statue never gets fully lit, and, i think, i can get homogeneous lightning only late in the evening with my built-in flash. though cropping should do the thing as well.

[wijew]

hi enc,

See how it will look if you crop the bottom and rotate it until the edge of the "stand" is horizontal.
I've not taken pics of statues yet but looking forward to trying!

Cheers

[knickers71uk]

I would crop the bottom and slightly straighten the picture,to the right, good shot!

[enc]

ok, so here are the results after the crop. i trimmed a bit the top as well (wanted to cut the lightened angle as well).

[Teewinot]

The crop looks better, but I do miss that lovely "roof" above the statue's head which added some more shape, color, and an enhanced 3-dimensional quality... Perhaps just shooting it on another day without that light in the corner would work.

Now that the crop is tighter, it looks like you need to center the statue better....perhaps you could crop some more () off the right or open up the left.

I also wonder if it could be improved by just simply brightening it up a little?

Good job! Thanks for sharing your results!

[enc]

Well i tried applying auto-contrast/levels in PS to this photo, but it looked over-exposed to me. and, i think, if i cropped it from the right - it would mess up the balance that two sides of the "statue window" gave to the photography as a whole.

but you can try it your-self, maybe you get some nice results! .)

[Teewinot]

I completely see what you mean about cropping the side off...didn't notice that it would mess up the arch balance, you're right!

I took the liberty of tweeking your photo a little in the program I use (Paint Shop Pro). I went ahead and completely cropped out the base since there's no way the top and bottom horizontal lines will ever be parallel at this angle. Then I applied a "fade correction" adjustment, increased the contrast a bit, added a little more red, and finally darkened it some (the fade correction made it a little too bright).

[enc]

sweet! i really like the darkened top of the arch and how all the statue shades are more visible. thanks! .)