Not everyone's 'cup of tea'

[divyasom]

EXIF data:

Camera: Nikon D3000
Lens: 18-55mm
F-Stop: 5.6
Exposure time: 1/60 sec
ISO: 320
Exposure Bias: 0
F-Length: 55mm
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: No flash



Questions:

1. Any suggestions related to composition of the shot.
2. I am shooting in full manual (PASM) mode since I started using a dSLR. Would you recommend any changes based on the exif info provided here?
3. I do not do any post-processing on my images (just add border to it). Do you think I should learn few tweaking tips. If yes, then tell me the right place/book for that.
4. Is there anyway I could have avoided the reflection on the tea cup?
5. Any other suggestion that you would like to give regarding background, color, exposure etc.

Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks for your time and encouraging words.

[divyasom]

8 views and no reply. What do I understand from this??

[Saralonde]

Eight views aren't that many. We have a lot of non-members here that look, but cannot post. Plus the fact that our forum was down for the better part of the day probably had a lot to do with no one posting replies.

Briefly: Nice dof and sharpness. It seems to be cropped a little close on the top, bottom and right side with tiny bits of the cup being cut off. I think I'd give it a bit more room around the edges.
With the reflection, where was your light coming from? Sometimes reflections add to the image, giving interest to something that might be flat otherwise.

[tingeliM]

I agree with Linda on the crop.

I think every photographer should learn the basic few tweaks in PP - contrast, white balance, converting to black and white, sharpening. That doesn't mean you have to do them every time but they can really bring some photos to that next level. All those things you can do with for example Windows Live Photo Gallery if you're using Windows. Picasa is also a free and very simple easy-to-use program you can download from the web.
Fake border, however, is a thing you don't need. Yours is quite subtle, thank god, but many people go overboard and they just ruin potentially good photos with horrible borders cos they think they are 'cool'. But I guess that's a matter of an opinion - this is mine.

And as for the comments...It isn't uncommon to get hundreds of views and very few or no comments (at least in the SYS sections). =) Better suck it up and get used to it.

[BK553]

1. Strange crop, not sure what the focus is. top is cut off.
2. Little flat, bend that tone curve a little!

[divyasom]

Originally Posted by BK553

1. Strange crop, not sure what the focus is. top is cut off.
2. Little flat, bend that tone curve a little!

I am using a Nikon D3000. Its viewfinder gives me 95% of the actual view. hence I am trying to get used to it. Sometimes I mess up the cropping and it become more evident in such shots.

What do you mean by bending the tone curve a little and how is that achieved actually? I do zero post processing on my pictures (just a lil cropping here and there).

[BK553]

Adjusting the tone curve is an important part of post-production, since you asked what skills you should be reading about. Most photo-editing programs provide a way to do this. I can't remember if google picasa or windows live gallery do, but those may be good places to start for you. A huge benefit of digital photography is the ability to easily edit the photo to achieve the desired look. All photographers do post-production to some extent, even Ansel Adams did it in the darkroom decades ago.

I found an article by Scott Kelby, one of the best photoshop/post-production guys around, it may be a good read.

Peachpit: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers: Editing Essentials -- How to Develop Your Photos > Using the Tone Curve to Add Contrast

[ecate78]

Hello!

I like the subject of your photo. I agree with the others on the crop, a little to tight, especially on the right side: I would prefer to see the complete "ear" of the cup.

And I think that the comment about bending the curve, refer to the possibility (for ex. in Photoshop) of controlling and modifying the contrast of an image through the control of the "curves". In this case your image lack a tiny bit of contrast (dark-white values) that you can correct giving the curves line an "s" shape. The other possibility is using reflections/lightening devices (flash/reflector/sunlight..) on the cup so that it has more light.

Hope it helps and congrats on using the manual mode. By the way to see if you have enough contrast in your photo when you watch it on the back of your camera, try checking the hystogram and see the balance between light and dark values.

[divyasom]

Originally Posted by BK553

Adjusting the tone curve is an important part of post-production, since you asked what skills you should be reading about. Most photo-editing programs provide a way to do this. I can't remember if google picasa or windows live gallery do, but those may be good places to start for you. A huge benefit of digital photography is the ability to easily edit the photo to achieve the desired look. All photographers do post-production to some extent, even Ansel Adams did it in the darkroom decades ago.

I found an article by Scott Kelby, one of the best photoshop/post-production guys around, it may be a good read.

Peachpit: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers: Editing Essentials -- How to Develop Your Photos > Using the Tone Curve to Add Contrast

Thank you very much :-)

[divyasom]

Originally Posted by ecate78

Hello!

I like the subject of your photo. I agree with the others on the crop, a little to tight, especially on the right side: I would prefer to see the complete "ear" of the cup.

And I think that the comment about bending the curve, refer to the possibility (for ex. in Photoshop) of controlling and modifying the contrast of an image through the control of the "curves". In this case your image lack a tiny bit of contrast (dark-white values) that you can correct giving the curves line an "s" shape. The other possibility is using reflections/lightening devices (flash/reflector/sunlight..) on the cup so that it has more light.

Hope it helps and congrats on using the manual mode. By the way to see if you have enough contrast in your photo when you watch it on the back of your camera, try checking the hystogram and see the balance between light and dark values.

Thank you very much for your feedback. :-)