Rain on Me

[DuckieLauren]

I was walking into a restaurant and this bow was just sitting out in the rain all alone, so I snapped a picture.

hows the composition?
should I have gotten closer to the ground to show a bit more of the walkway behind the bow?
Did I crop too much of the walk way from in front of the bow??
Did you notice anything else that you think should be pointed out?




Kodak easyshare LS753 (point and shoot)
f-stop f/3
exposure time 1/45 sec
focal length 6mm
max aperture 3.2

[ncbcymtechie]

I like the idea of this shot!

The one thing that stands out to me most is that the highlights (the parts that are illuminated in a photo; shadows are the areas where light does not strike—from the book "Light—Science & Magic") on the rose are very bright and almost blown out. I don't know how you could idealize this shot on the go. I think it would involve a translucent medium like wax paper to cut down on some of that light to the right, but I'm definitely not an expert on lighting, so...

In terms of composition I feel like something's off center. It might be the angle at which we're viewing the bow or the randomness of the rocks. I'm wondering what it would look like with yes, more walkway and a more head-on view of the ribbon.

I don't know if you can duplicate this shot, but if you could, they're just a couple things you might want to try.

[DuckieLauren]

Thanks so much.
I have never heard of using wax paper to help cut down on the lighting, but that's a really good idea.

I only had tome to get 1 more shot of this, and it was while I was walking away, so its not great, but it is shot looking down, so it's a different angle, but I'm not at all happy with the composition of it.
it's TOO centered... for me anyways.

[Xtrah]

I may be wrong, but a polarizer filter on the lens would serve this picture well. It would decrease some of the glare from the ground, etc but still keeping it looking nice. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Sterling]

The off-centre composition is much more interesting. I don't think it needs any more foreground or background. To me it's obvious the bow is sitting on a a rainy street. As far as the bright highlights go, they don't bother me either. I think slightly blown highlights are quite acceptable to the eye when they belong to really shiny/metallic objects like this.

I think increasing the blacks/contrast in this shot would really make the bow pop off the pavement.

[DuckieLauren]

Originally Posted by Xtrah

I may be wrong, but a polarizer filter on the lens would serve this picture well. It would decrease some of the glare from the ground, etc but still keeping it looking nice. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I just have a point and shoot :/

The off-centre composition is much more interesting. I don't think it needs any more foreground or background. To me it's obvious the bow is sitting on a a rainy street. As far as the bright highlights go, they don't bother me either. I think slightly blown highlights are quite acceptable to the eye when they belong to really shiny/metallic objects like this.

Thanks, I'm still learning what qualities go well with what subjects and all.

I think increasing the blacks/contrast in this shot would really make the bow pop off the pavement.

I'm not totally sure how to do that, I have only used photoshop once or twice before.
Heres my attempt, I adjusted the contrast and shadows a bit. I'm not really sure is it looks any better now. :/

[Xtrah]

I messed around with your shot a little bit in GIMP (basically photoshop for free, not quite as usable (to me atleast) but yaknow how it is) and this is what I got. If you would like me to take it down, I will ASAP. I hope you like it, and I hope its alright.

[DuckieLauren]

Originally Posted by Xtrah

I messed around with your shot a little bit in GIMP (basically photoshop for free, not quite as usable (to me atleast) but yaknow how it is) and this is what I got. If you would like me to take it down, I will ASAP. I hope you like it, and I hope its alright.

What did you do to make it like that?
like, did you just change the contrast and brightness?
I'm still trying to figure these things out. ahaha

[Xtrah]

I was using GIMP but it could be much better done using Photoshop... but...I'll attempt to recall all that I did!

I for sure sharpened it some.
I experimented with the Levels, Curves settings, Brightness and Contrast.
I burned and dodged areas.
I worked on the colors using color balance and the levels of saturation.
I duplicated layers, and just experimented really, I tried lots of different blending options of layer over layer, etc.

Basically, just keep experimenting, if you need links to some tutorials I can probably help you out there some too. If you can, sit down for a few hours and just mess around with the shot in photoshop, see what all you can do to it (whether it is good or bad). The sky is the limit really, just keep testing until you get what you want, so that next time you'll have a bit better idea of what you should do when it comes time to Post Process. I've been told all my life "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink" and that really goes to Photoshop as well. I could tell you all sorts of things, but until you just sorta have a go at it yourself, you won't get as good of results. If you have any specific questions, i can do my best to answer about either Photoshop or Gimp.

[DuckieLauren]

Sweet, thanks a lot.