High Tea

[Gonzo13]

I took my Wife to High Tea the other day it being her birthday request. While she was talking with her friends and opening presents I decided to start taking pictures. I was mainly just goofing around but when I got home and looked at them this one actually looked pretty decent to me. The main thing that I was trying to do was to make it look like it was from a different time. I changed the image to sepia, added some noise to it, and upped the contrast. I was thinking about adding some mild vignetting to it. What do you all think? Overall what can I do to make it look like it is actually a photo taken with film back in the early 1900s.



Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 38 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[Jana D]

Originally Posted by Gonzo13

What do you all think? Overall what can I do to make it look like it is actually a photo taken with film back in the early 1900s.

There are some special textures that can give this old look to the photo. If you search for them in the Internet I'm sure you'll find some to your liking.

And more suggestions. What would make this piece stronger is making it less messy. I mean that the saucer in the background (with something on it) is rather distracting.
The cup and the saucer in the front are the focal point, but they are shifted to the bottom of the photo and cut.
What is more, it would be nice to raise the level of tea in the cup to make it more prominent.

There are a myriad of positives in this work too. The teapot is nicely out of focus! And the sepia shade is very nice too.

[Gonzo13]

I didn't think of using textures. I could do that and would probably find some good ones.

The cropping that I did with the photo made it a lot less messy. I did make the mistake of doing all of the photoshopping after I had cropped it with the raw converter. I was cropping it so that it would make a wallpaper for my Wife's computer. I will probably start back at the beginning on the next try.

Never being at a High Tea before I thought that this photo kind of gathered some of the elements of it together, the things on the plate are butter and jam for the scones. By the time that I got around to taking photos of the tea most of the food was gone. The level of the tea in the cup never even crossed my mind. I had my hands a little to full, pouring the tea and shooting the picture. If I had to do it again then I would probably have changed it.

Thanks for your input.