Another Advertisement shot - sort of :)

[morfasie]

Hi,

here is another sort of advertisement shot. Could you guys give me a tips. Would you say the glass vase is skew? Should I have made use of a smaller DOF? I wanted to accentuate the red glass more? I think the background isn't white enough? The light source was an overcast sky



EXIF
Filename: DSC_0952.jpg
Camera: Nikon
Model: D40x
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/160 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 38mm
Flash Used: No

[Nicole]

Same advice as with your last post, but... this one is easier to fix in editing if you have the ability or inclination to do so.

If you don't already have an editing program, the Gimp works very well and is free.

I've just done a quick edit to show you what's possible.



What I did was use a curves layer to make the background white, and then just made the top of the vase a little more red. It actually makes it look a little crisper too by just making sure that the background is white. Don't worry if it doesn't quite make sense yet, it will get there.

As a side note, I do like the composition since it puts it at an interesting angle.

[morfasie]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Same advice as with your last post, but... this one is easier to fix in editing if you have the ability or inclination to do so.

If you don't already have an editing program, the Gimp works very well and is free.

I've just done a quick edit to show you what's possible.



What I did was use a curves layer to make the background white, and then just made the top of the vase a little more red. It actually makes it look a little crisper too by just making sure that the background is white. Don't worry if it doesn't quite make sense yet, it will get there.

As a side note, I do like the composition since it puts it at an interesting angle.

Thank you very much Nicole for the reply. I will definitely look into this! I make use of Lightroom on a Mac.

[Nicole]

Ah, Lightroom has curves. You should be able to replicate this easily Just set the background as white.

[morfasie]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Ah, Lightroom has curves. You should be able to replicate this easily Just set the background as white.

Sorry for stupid question, with the "Set the background as white" do you mean change the curve so the background becomes white or what?

[Nicole]

No such thing as a stupid question. I can't remember if Lightroom's curve dialog is exactly the same as that in photoshop, but if there's a white eyedropper, click on that, then click on your background, which will make it white and adjust everything based on that. I hope that explains it better.

[morfasie]

Thanks it does

[Nicole]

Ok, apparently it doesn't adjust in the same way. I don't use lightroom, so I couldn't tell you the best way to do that adjustment in the easiest way, but yes, adjust the curves, and hopefully someone who uses lightroom on a regular basis will chime in

[morfasie]

In the tone curve setting I adjust the Lights and that makes the background white. But thanks for the tips!

[aetnajojo]

You might also want to try a black to white gradient for the background - highly recommended by Steve Meltzer, as can be seen from the cover of his book: