Help me improve this shot

[NicoleScraps]

This was a practice shot for what will be on the title page of the school yearbook. The school is very long and skinny, pretty much there is no good position to be in to get the whole building. The principal suggested that I get this sign and the bushes in front of the entrance. In 2-3 weeks, these bushes will be in blooms, so I have to get the real shot.
This was taken at 7:30am, the sun was at about 11 o'clock from my position. So of course, if I went back at sunset, it would be behind me. My problems that the sign is under that little roof and requires a different exposure than the bushes. I don't know how to do HDR. So I am not sure what I can do to make this better.
What I have here is unedited, uncropped, just reduced for web. I don't really have a specific question, I guess, but am open to any suggestions for how to retake this shot to make it nice. It doesn't have to be stellar, just better than this. Thanks in advance.



ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/100

[digirebelva]

I would set your exposure compensation to -1 to help with color saturation.

Move more to your right so you can get less of the sky in the shot if it becomes a problem.
and try a change in perspective..get lower and use the fence line to lead the eye

Go for the evening shot to see what it looks like..

If you know how to work with masking layers you wouldnt necessarily have to use HDR to get the shot either. You could expose once for the sign & once for the bushes (on a tripod of course) and blend them together in Photoshop..

[Krusty79]

I don't know about including those bushes in the shot. To include them, you're also including a lot of distracting elements and lines that lead the eye out of the frame. Right now, the sign is pretty small and more of a secondary object in the shot. I'd be inclined to just shoot the sign. I know that's not the most interesting shot, though. Maybe you can put some trophies or something like that next to it.

Another option is to take shots of the long building and stitch them together in PS or using photo stitching software to create a panorama.

[NicoleScraps]

I wonder if this would be better if I actually got in the flower bed, between where the red bush is and the ones that are green to shoot the sign from that point. I could get a few of the blooms (from the all green bush which will be blooming soon) in the foreground?????

[Krusty79]

That would be better. You can also trim the tops of those bushes if they get in the way. My main point was that there are a lot of distractions on the wall and I would try to exclude them if possible.

[sk66]

I'd try using a longer lens, getting in the flower bed (square to the sign) and low. Idea is to use longer focal length to "compress the scene" and have the flowers as a lower "border" for the sign/picture. You could also use a shorter lens and "hyperfocal" setting to get the foreground flowers in focus, but you would probably need a rather wide lens and a hard crop in post.

[DivotMaker]

Couple of things...for what my opinion is worth...

If it is going to be a title page, will it be more of a Portrait type crop? If so, I think this could help. The way the fence is leading to the bright area, it is taking my eyes off of the sign. If you can crop the left side of the fence, my eyes seem to stop and the end of the fence and then shift to the sign.

I also wonder what it would look like at a slightly lower angle. Not sure how I like how the first post is cut off at the bottom...

Lastly, if you can do more of a Portrait crop, and crop it after the first white downspout, it seems to balance it for my eyes. While this takes most of the color out of the first bush, your comment lead me to believe the others would be blooming soon.

On a technical side, if the final shot will be with the sun behind you, watch for your shadow. But more importantly, if you can get someone to hold a reflector of some kind to your left, you might be able to reflect some light onto the sign...should you need it. Being a school, they should have some white poster board around...

just my 2c's....

Good luck with the final shot!

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

If you do decide to have any of the lower garden edge in the photo, ask them to weed the garden!

[SwissJon]

I would pick some of those red flowers (And the others when the come out) and stage them in front of the sign, then pull in tight on the sign.. Use the lens wide open and pose the flowers so they in some way frame the sign but are slightly out of focus, as if you did shoot from the flowerbed.

It's not very pretty what you want to do though, schools are about kids and learning, not signs and flowers, are there no kids at this school that you could capture doing activities or in class or something.. How about a bunch of kids leaving the door, or entering it doing kid type stuff? If you told them it was for the front of the year book I'm sure you wouldn't be short of volunteers.

[ecannizzo]

I have two ideas that might help reduce the dynamic range of the scene so that you can avoid HDR. I don't know if either would be practical in your situation, but I thought I would offer them in case they might be helpful.

You could try reducing your exposure and lighting the sign. You might be able to hide a light source between the bushes and the sign. If you don't have a light that would work in this situation, but you have something large and white that could serve as a reflector, it might work well enough to brighten the sign at least a little. And, that might help draw your attention to the sign, too.

The only other thing I can think of that might help is to try using a graduated neutral density filter. Just turn the filter so the darker side is to the left. Usually, you can't see the transition the graduated neutral density filter provides in the end product, and it would allow you to reduce the brightness of the left side of the scene without effecting the right side. It couldn't hurt to try it out if you happen to have one.