Live guitar

[Kellyj69]

This shot was taken last weekend at a live show of a local band .. I shot this in B/W mode with my Rebel XS 50mm f/1.8 ISO 1600

Any thoughts on composition? There is some blur as you move down the neck - good? bad? if bad , how do I fix it? also is there a difference in shooting in B/W as opposed to shooting in color and converting with PS? and finally .. what could have made this shot better? (I love it btw)

thanks

Kelly

Flickr: atxphotoguy's Photostream

[Kellyj69]

71 views and CAN'T GET ONE RESPONSE?"??? I though this site was to HELP people??

[sk66]

It is to help people, but you are a new member and some aren't comfortable giving overly negative critique....you know ..."got nothing good to say then say nothing at all".

IMO, the biggest issue is lack of focus/ blur. To fix it you need a faster shutter speed. Without the Exif (which you are supposed to include) I can't tell you what settings I would change.

One other thing is, to me, a guitar hanging across someones gut doesn't really convey much of anything.

[Kellyj69]

Thank you for your reply.. however even though I am a new member, I posted this shot in a "critique" section for that exact purpose.. I can't speak for other people, but I would imagine that would be the only reason people would post in this section .
yes I should have posted more EXIF data .. but I guess I thought 50mm f/1.8 ISO 1600 would have been enough ..
As for the blur .. I kinda like the feel of it going down the neck.. I guess mu question was how do I control that ..


and to ME, being a guitar player, this shot conveys alot of emotion..

Thanks again for your reply , it still seems odd that in a forum designed to help people, only 1 out of 92 people have ANYTHING to say about it , and that was only after I said something about it .

[sk66]

The bit of exif missing, and critical, is shutter speed... Because you have motion blur, nothing is truly sharp, nor will it be....you can't "control it" using shutter speed, you can catch blur and then freeze the motion with a flash, or you can have decreasing sharpness using DOF...

FWIW, I play guitar, I build guitars, I make custom wound pickups for guitars, I do appreciate guitars and music/musicians..... but a pic of a guitar is still JUST a pic of a guitar.... It needs "context" to make it a pic of "live guitar", and a gut doesn't do it for me.

And it's not uncommon to get in excess of 100 views from other new members etc before someone is comfortable replying.
I replied after my first view, but I might not have if it were not for your second post....I've upset many a new member by being too blunt....

[Kellyj69]

ok .. so after reading some of your other posts .. I've come to the realization that you just like to post and try to be condescending towards others .. . next time I complain about not getting replies to my questions, I'll make sure to point out that I'm looking for replies from people that actually want to help, not just feel better about themselves ..

FWIW If I built custom guitars I think I'd have more that pics of birds on my flickr account. since I actually DO play guitar, music has a big influence in my photography.

thanks again

[Kellyj69]

for anyone that seriously wants to respond
the EXIF is as follows

shutter speed 1/160 sec
shutter priority mode
f/1.8
ISO 1600
focal length 50mm
no flash
metering - centerweighted average

Thanks

[mjmccluskey]

I am neither a professional photographer, nor a musician...I find the picture kind of dull and lacking anything than being a picture of a guitar. It's a little blurry.

Honestly, I had to go back and look at it several times as it just doesn't hold any interest.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by Kellyj69

ok .. so after reading some of your other posts .. I've come to the realization that you just like to post and try to be condescending towards others .. . next time I complain about not getting replies to my questions, I'll make sure to point out that I'm looking for replies from people that actually want to help, not just feel better about themselves ..

FWIW If I built custom guitars I think I'd have more that pics of birds on my flickr account. since I actually DO play guitar, music has a big influence in my photography.

thanks again

I'm sorry you feel that way....

I answered your question honestly, and I gave you an idea of how you might control the blur to your liking.
I tried to explain that you might need to be a bit more patient in getting replies.
I tried to convey that my response is not for a lack of appreciating guitars (maybe I should have said "repair" since I don't actually build them from scratch anymore).
Nothing was intended as a personal attack. Perhaps I was a little harsh due to the tone of your second post....

Good luck to you, try to relax and take things less personally.... It's the tendency to take it personally that prevents many from responding to critique posts with a "negative" response....but it's only "negative" if you take it personally.

As for the rest, based upon the shutter speed/focal length the problem was either you moved (a lot, use a tripod) or the subject moved (flash or faster shutter speed), probably a combination of both IMO. This was further complicated by the use of a very shallow DOF...if any of these factors had been eliminated the shot would probably have been much sharper.

A much stronger "live guitar" shot could include the player's hands playing the guitar...choking the neck and plucking the strings, that gives it the "context" of being played/live/active. Otherwise it's a static image of a guitar.

[Digidave]

Wow! Another one of those threads!

What's up with the poll? Do you want more than a 1 word answer? If so, don't use the polling feature.

That picture sucks! There just is no other way to put it. Too dark, motion blur, & lack of color doesn't help it at all. Happy now!

The reason it is requested that you ask specific questions is to avoid confusion on exactly what you see as a problem with the photo. You got a response & then you go on to tell them why they are wrong about their response. I guess you pretty much have it figured out then. You won't be needing any more help then I guess.