kind of macabre, but oh well

[themadness]

i took these shots yesterday in my kitchen on a whim. i liked the exposure straight out of camera but did a few adjustments in PS afterwards. i'm looking for a little feedback on overall execution. most of the stuff i do focuses on the subject matter more than the technical aspect. please let me know what u think.

[windrider86]

The idea is certainly there. Watch your background tho. The ends of the table and whatever is in the upper corner are a distraction. Also the white spot on the boot needs to go away.

[themadness]

thanks, i notice that now. i will crop it a bit and shop that dot out. it was a splotch of paint on the boot.

i wonder why the other pic i loaded isnt showing??

[windrider86]

It may have been because you loaded 2 within a 24 hour period. Only one is permitted

[jpitz31]

Hello

I like the concept and I like the skull with the boots.

One of the hardest parts of shooting still life objects is to get the objects to maintain their 3 dimensional shape. Lighting is one of the major ways to control an objects 3 dimensional shape.

There is nothing wrong with shooting images and creating a dark mood for effect. One thing though is to not loose detail in the shadows. When you let the shadows get too dark you loose detail and then loose the 3 dimensional shape.

In this case you let your shadows fall a bit too dark and lost a lot of details in the boots.

Learn to use the histogram on your camera in conjunction with your light meter.

A histogram is a graph that shows the shadows, mid-tones and high lights of an image.
The left most part of the graph show the shadows, the center of the graph shows the mid-tones and the right side shows the high lights. A technical correct photograph will have the image with the shadows, mid-tones and high lights within the boundaries of the graph. If the image falls off either end of the graph you loose detail in the shadows or high lights. In your case your image fell off of the highlight side. If you have some editing software, like photoshop or photoshop elements you can view a histogram of your images and make minor adjustments to the levels of the image.

A correct exposure takes into account an image that falls into the histogram. Current digital camera sensors do have a limit of exposure range and in most cases on a sunny day the range of brightness between shadows and highlights is beyond the limits of your camera. Then it is up to you as a photographer to decide which end of the histogram you want to loose as part of the creative process.

Thanks

Joe