Turntable & A Record

[JotaSolano]

Hi everyone !

This is my first critique post so I apologize in advance if I made any mistake or if I forgot to include information !

I just bought a Nikon d3100 and I've been playing with it and testing the body and lens limitations. I've used other dslrs and even slrs in the past, but never raw files so I decided to give it a try.

Basically this is the result of a lightly edited raw file. I did not touch the exposure and I didn't tone split the picture either. There's some vibrance and saturation intervention and a little of post-processing vignetting.



You can of course view a larger version in Flickr.

Camera Nikon D3100
Exposure 0.25 sec (1/4)
Lens 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
Subject Distance 0.3 m
Focal Length In35mm Format 82 mm
White Balance Manual
Copyright Notice (c) 2011 Antonio Solano

I dislike highly edited photos and fake results but I feel there's something missing in this picture. Is it the angle? The chosen DoF? or the White Balance?... I think is has to be one of those three, I could also be the approach to the subject and not a technical issue... or maybe you guys can suggest something I'm not seeing.

Thanks for the feedback!

A.

[sv_goon]

I think technically, the photo is well done. The DoF is nice and the in-focus part is very sharp. Having the curve of the record go out of focus makes me think of it turning, which is a nice effect.

The white balance doesn't look terrible to me, maybe a tiny bit blue in the highlights on the metal screws.

For me the thing that's "missing" is seeing the needle actually in the groove of the record. You can see the needle but because of the shadow from the tone-arm you can't see it interacting with the groove itself. I'd play with the lighting some to see if that shadow could be moved or eliminated, and the texture of the record surface enhanced.

[JotaSolano]

Interesting !

Thanks for replying haha... nobody else did :S

I'm gonna try to correct the tone a bit, I'll leave the WB as is and play with split toning. And yeah, the needle is probably too dark... but the picture was taken with natural light only so I had limited options haha That can't really be changed at this point.
I did use a slow shutter speed to soften the motion, cause the record was actually moving when I took the shot.

Thanks again !