Lazy Days

[taijimaster]

Taken with Canon EOS 450D
Edited with PSP x2
F number: 5.6
ISO 400
Aperture F/5.7
Shutter speed 1/64 sec
Flash Used: Yes, camera flash

Here is a photo I took on a tai chi retreat in Shropshire, UK in May this year. I can take no credit for any of the settings, it was shot in full auto mode as I am new to shooting with a DSLR and this was my first outing with my new camera.

In editing the basic photo I used the PSP time machine software to render the image with the cross process setting - it seemed to add a level of increased saturation to the colours which I quite liked.

I would love to receive some constructive criticism of how this photo could be improved either by shooting with different settings or post production editing

Ian.

[doxborrow]

There is one thing that I think will help your photo. Our eyes naturally jump to the lightest part of a photo, in this case the bottom left-hand corner. So our eyes are naturally drawn AWAY from the main subject. You can fix this by either getting in closer and eliminating that corner from the photo entirely, or darkening that corner in post-production.

It looks like you have a similar problem on the right-hand side of the photo. I would probably recommend looking for a different angle to take the photo from.

[Doug Sundseth]

Agree. I'd start with a fairly strong post-crop vignette combined with increasing the exposure or brightness at the focal point. (I'm using Lightroom terminology here, but you can do the same things with other packages easily enough.)

[taijimaster]

Thanks guys. I'll go an play a bit in post production.

I did try cropping the picture down but for some reason it just didnt have the same ambiance. Now you've mentioned the attraction to the lighter parts I totally see what you mean so I will work on this.

Really appreciate the tips.

[Krusty79]

Your processing has also brought a strange greenish cast to the image. It looks strange to me, but maybe that's what you wanted. You also have some blown-out spots, which are distracting. I would suggest shooting in the golden hours when you don't have as much dynamic range to contend with.