hands of wood

[Roo13]

I have just started to get into B&W so I took some shots at home to practice. The object is a buisiness card holder made of wood which I took on our tile floor. For me there is something interesting about this but I would like to hear from you guys, do you think it works in any way? also is it too light/too dark? any other critique welcome.

From posted shots

EXIF
Model: Canon EOS 450D
ISO: 320
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No

[Athas_orm]

I think there could have been a bit more ambient light. It would have been good to see some texture in the shadowed area of the wood.

However having said that.
1. Don't take what I say too seriously I'm just trying to learn.
2. I still quite like the darker effect.

[Roo13]

Originally Posted by Athas_orm

I think there could have been a bit more ambient light. It would have been good to see some texture in the shadowed area of the wood.

However having said that.
1. Don't take what I say too seriously I'm just trying to learn.
2. I still quite like the darker effect.

Thanks for the coments Athas. Here is another shot where the exposure comp. was set at 0. The original shot was set at - 1 2/3.

From posted shots

EXIF
Model: Canon EOS 450D
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No

[SuperDan]

appears that the hands are missing the phone for texting... or missing the psp or something to that nature... sorry just tryin to be funny there...

appears a little dark tho to me

[LeeR]

As a general rule of thumb in b&w photography, there should be something in your image that is pure white and something pure black. If you have Photoshop, you can pull up the "Levels" tool and adjust the sliders to the edges of the histogram to accomplish this. Then you can use the remaing slider to adjust the overall lightness/darkness of the image. I actually liked the overall darkness of the first image, just would have liked to have seen some real whites in there somewhere.
The other problem here is compositional. Our eyes are attracted to the area of highest contrast, which in your image is right at the fingertips where you want it. However, this area is competing with a shadow/light that runs nearly the length of the image just above the hands. Normally we don't want lines that run close to and parallel to the edge of the frame, and we never want to allow competition for the area where we want the eye to go.

[k8et]

It's dark but I can see it working like that intentionally. I like how in the first it almost appears as if the hands are trying to grasp the brightest spot behind them on the floor. I agree that the door jam (?) across the background really disrupts this... maybe at another angle you could eliminate that?

[jli]

Originally Posted by k8et

I like how in the first it almost appears as if the hands are trying to grasp the brightest spot behind them on the floor. I agree that the door jam (?) across the background really disrupts this... maybe at another angle you could eliminate that?

Agree on both counts - I like the brightest spot in between the hands, and I don't like the black, distracting edge in the background.

I'm also not sure about the tile. The grout is a bit distracting, and makes it obvious that you're shooting it on a tile floor. Something more abstract (a pattern, a texture, or maybe totally blank?) would improve this, I think.