The Ole Wild West

[thePike]

I've just started taking photography serious as a hobby which makes me a complete amateur. I promised myself that I would do a 365 Project. Tonight I was cleaning some handguns when I figured I could maybe make a good "Photo of the Day" from it, so I whipped out the camera...

From 2009

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, f/14, 4 sec. exposure, ISO-100, 50mm focal length, no flash (don't own a quality one yet), Sigma 28-70mm 1:2.8-4 lens, Aperture Priority Mode

I'm primarily wondering about composition. Is it too busy? Is the subject obvious and situated in a eye-pleasing manner within the photo? Should I have went without the antique look? (you can see the color version HERE if you wish)

Critiquing myself, I think If I could take the exact same shot again, I would probably lower my aperture a couple of notches and try to get a bit more focal blur vignetting the revolver; but it's okay, I'm learning.

Love to hear any comments you may have regardless of what they may be! I may not know I'm doing it wrong until some tells me!

[thePike]

Over 15 hours with over 40 pageviews and not a single critic?

Not sure if thats a really good sign or a really bad one...

[Sterling]

I'm going to take a guess that you cropped this shot tightly to avoid the distractions beyond the edges of the table you were working on. In any event, the photo's subject is placed too close to the edge of the frame for my liking. This shot has some good potential. Try posing it on a weathered wood or steel surface to help bring out the textures of the gun and the cartridges. The monochrome helps hide the flaws, IMO, in this shot better, (table edges and glass top) but I think the a color version would really look good on a better surface with a more suitable background.

[windrider86]

I think it might be a bit too busy witht he box behind the gun I think adds a little too much. I do like the Sepia tone you gave it. Why not take it one step further to give it that antique feel and add a textture to it and a vingette. Those were very popular back in the day.

[denja]

I had a go at trying to antique this image. I hope you don't mind, and if you want me to take this down, let me know.Otherwise, let me know what you think. Keep up the good work!

Jim

[KansaiGreenie]

About your questions:

Is it too busy?
I don't think so. To me, busy images are ones that have lots of things that do not relate to or distract from the subject. That is not the case here.

Is the subject obvious...
Yes I think so.

...and situated in a eye-pleasing manner within the photo?
Yes. Diagonal lines are always eye-pleasing.

Should I have went without the antique look?
No. I think that the 'antique look' fits the subject.

My comments: I agree with Sterling, I think it is cropped too close. I'd also like to see more space near the edges. I would also like to see some space between the top of the gun and the cartridge box. It is a lot of black and hides the shape of the gun. As for the antique look, I think denja is right, you can take it even further if you want.

If I were to have made this image. I would have increased the elevation of the camera, so that I was shooting down on the gun more. Right now, the bottom of the handle (the butt of the gun?) is quite dominate in the image, but is, in my opinion, not the most interesting part of the gun. I'd like to see more of the working parts of the gun, trigger, hammer, etc.

I think that this is a great start and the nice thing about still life images is that you can do them over and over again; they are works in progress.

KG

[thePike]

Awesome!

Thanks a lot guys & gals!

I did crop the image down just a little bit too avoid the edge of the table as suspected. I thought it might be a little close, but was trying to avoid that "not enough subject" problem that I've read in some other critiques.

Denja, you're fine to play with the image (I like seeing the other interpretations). I like the texture and the vignette and those will be something I'll have to play with in the future (did you just layer the texture and play with the opacity or is there some other photoshop tool to do it that I'm unaware of?)

Thanks everyone for the feedback, the comments given were exactly what I was looking for to help me improve!

[denja]

I use Serif PhotoPlus software, but the tool are usually pretty close to identical to Photo Shop, so much so that I can open Photo Shop files. On your image I opened Effects>Stylistic>Film Grain. For the vignette I opened Effects>Other>Vignette and then set the size, amount of blur, and color of the vignette. I hope this answered your questions.

Jim