Pls comment

h2o · 16th January 2005

Hi All,

Please comment whether if it works for u and how it can be improved on.

Many thanks................

Natural light:

Scene:

lovells19 · 16th January 2005

first one not enough foreground, or you should make it more silutte
if the fan got color will be very nice!

2nd one not enough background leh..

personally i prefer the 1st one

waisj · 16th January 2005

Hi H2o,

First off, are you using film or digital.?

My take,

#1

For that reef scene, i'll photograph it with strobe, if you have twins, then spread them as far apart as you can, If you have only one, then light the centre of the sea fan from below.

I'm not sure if it is film, but i can only barely see the streaks from the sun-burst, if i were you i'd capture more streaks, maybe half a stop more.

If it really is too wide to fill the frame, i'd take a cropped version of it further down below, facing the sun.

# 2

The exposure of the blue background is too underexposed. I'm not sure what cam you're using, but normally, i'd meter the background to about 2/3 of a stop under.

If permiting, i'd get lower and isolate the barrel sponge with the feather star, on the lower right hand corner, with a blue background.

Another lil nit pick, is that the strobe lighting is a bit too hard, are you using diffusers? May i know how you lit the second photo?

None the less, fine shots and keep shooting. You'll only get better

h2o · 16th January 2005

hi lovells19 & waisj,

thx for your comments.......

i am using Nikon F80 with 20 mm lens......now no $$$ so only has 1 YS 120 strobe......

waisj, when u mentioned "cropped version of it further down below, facing the sun" for #1, r u refering to a silo of the fan framing the pic and pointing to the sun?

for #2, the light was from the right, a meter from the camera......no diffuser was used...

h2o · 16th January 2005

hi all,

just converted #1 to grayscale....wat do u think??

DTan · 16th January 2005

waisj has said it all.

h20, i prefer your monochrome version of #1 because initially it doesn't have much colour to begin with thus your seafan doesn't stand out.
however it does do so in the monochromic version.
but i find the sun way too glaring for both version. takes away too much focus from the seafan. becomes almost painful to view.
I would personally crop off the top 10-20%. cuts the glare from the sun (since only ~1/2 of it left) and burn in more of the areas around the seafan.

#1 b/w nice.

fongwee · 16th January 2005

Personally I think that the 1st one has a lack of colours. The 2nd one has a diver in the left upper corner. It is hidden like that and a bit distracting. Don't know whether you want it in the pic or not.

I prefer the 1st one in monochrome too.

waisj · 17th January 2005

Originally Posted by h2o

hi lovells19 & waisj,

thx for your comments.......

i am using Nikon F80 with 20 mm lens......now no $$$ so only has 1 YS 120 strobe......

waisj, when u mentioned "cropped version of it further down below, facing the sun" for #1, r u refering to a silo of the fan framing the pic and pointing to the sun?

for #2, the light was from the right, a meter from the camera......no diffuser was used...

Ah.. .. I see.

What i meant for #1 is that i might just use part pf the sea-fan , instead of capturing all of it. If it were down to me and if the situation permitting, i'd just photograph the third quater of the seafan, shooting from below, into the sun.

It is always easier being an armchair critic

I'd be interested to see the physical print itself, are the streaks visible? if so then discard my previous comment. The Greyscale version looks better due to the sharpness of the subject.

#2 use a diffuser, !! if you're using a single strobe, maybe try handlighting and just light the subject itself, don't be afraid to push your strobes all the way out.

h2o · 17th January 2005

Hi all,

Thx for all your comments….

Waisj, sorry me a bit slow……still can’t quite get the pic u haf illustrated for #1…..

I agree with u, the pic could be better with more accentuated sun streaks….if I dun remember wrongly I took the metering underneath the fan…..which could haf suggested me opening up a stop….i tink I use f/8 1/125…..

The original does haf a bit of sun streaks but just as u said, it will do better with more…

This is my first time scanning so there may be some inconsistencies in the scanned pics…..the coloured #1 was not sharpened in PS…..while the grayscale 1 did …in fact I am still figuring out how to make better use of the scanner………..i will probably post some scanning questions in time to come…..need to experiment a bit 1st…..

Unless we have the great barrier reef fronting our coastline (it will be a blast for all of us ya…

) or a lot of dough in our piggy bank….i feel that being an armchair critic is a more economical alternative for most of us, at least for me, to improve our craft…..

Once again thanks for all your feedback and pls continue to keep your gracious comments coming….

DTan · 17th January 2005

once u figured out your scanning, don't forget to post for all to absorb..

especially me

siaoon · 17th January 2005

hmm.. will prefer the monochrome one... the sea fans seems to be highlighted with the sun burst shining from behind.. err.. but thinking the cropping is a bit too tight for the sea fan.. either to pull away more... or to crop out the side.. creating a portrait out of it with the sun burst on the top right corner?? hee.. ignore me lah.. may be wrong.. but no harm doing different crop from your original.. may hav diff results wor.. and think thats a gd way to train ones composition skill...

as for yr 2nd pics.. hmm pic too dead for me.. dunno why.. doesnt giv me a sense of living even with fishes and living organisms included in the pic..
duno how to improve on it.. any experts here wanna to share?

h2o · 17th January 2005

Originally Posted by siaoon

hmm.. will prefer the monochrome one... the sea fans seems to be highlighted with the sun burst shining from behind.. err.. but thinking the cropping is a bit too tight for the sea fan.. either to pull away more... or to crop out the side.. creating a portrait out of it with the sun burst on the top right corner?? hee.. ignore me lah.. may be wrong.. but no harm doing different crop from your original.. may hav diff results wor.. and think thats a gd way to train ones composition skill...

as for yr 2nd pics.. hmm pic too dead for me.. dunno why.. doesnt giv me a sense of living even with fishes and living organisms included in the pic..
duno how to improve on it.. any experts here wanna to share?

hi siaoon,

i sought of understand what you mean, one concern i haf is that the subject matter may be too small if i move back.......

i agree with u on #2 it is "dead" probably due to underexpose background.....and maybe also because the lighting is a bit harsh which further contributes to the deeper contrast between the subject and the background.....

kthan · 17th January 2005

for sunburst, my exif for film is 1/100, f16.....then I use the strobe to light up the foreground if need be.

Wonder what settings u use....

For your second pic, there is just not enough illumination to bring out the subjetcs.

waisj · 18th January 2005

Originally Posted by h2o

Hi all,

Thx for all your comments….

Waisj, sorry me a bit slow……still can’t quite get the pic u haf illustrated for #1…..

I agree with u, the pic could be better with more accentuated sun streaks….if I dun remember wrongly I took the metering underneath the fan…..which could haf suggested me opening up a stop….i tink I use f/8 1/125…..

The original does haf a bit of sun streaks but just as u said, it will do better with more…

This is my first time scanning so there may be some inconsistencies in the scanned pics…..the coloured #1 was not sharpened in PS…..while the grayscale 1 did …in fact I am still figuring out how to make better use of the scanner………..i will probably post some scanning questions in time to come…..need to experiment a bit 1st…..

Unless we have the great barrier reef fronting our coastline (it will be a blast for all of us ya… ) or a lot of dough in our piggy bank….i feel that being an armchair critic is a more economical alternative for most of us, at least for me, to improve our craft…..

Once again thanks for all your feedback and pls continue to keep your gracious comments coming….

Haa haa.. Not a problem, guess it is hard for me to illustrate with words, what i meant echoed siaoon's comment about the right quadrant of photo #1. Given the chance i'd take a portrait orientation of it.

For my brief stint with film, i'd normally use shutter speeds of 1/250 for sun-rays.

As for the scanning part, Dtan has expressed interest over the matter.
It'll ne nice if you could share some of your scanning workflow here, It'll be of benefit to those that are still using film.

Dtan was complaining about the inconsistencies over lunch last week, we sent it to be professionally scanned. How are the scans D?

Oh yeah.. i'd hope for the Great Barrier Reef fronting my coastline

er... i meant me being an armchair critic, what i meant was since i wasn't physically there, it'll be tonnes easier to point out what's wrong rather than how hard it was to achieve the shot. The smileys are thrown in to spite one of our members here.!

As i've said before, keep shooting !!! you'll only get better.!

17th January 2005	#9
h2o Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 446	Hi all, Thx for all your comments…. Waisj, sorry me a bit slow……still can’t quite get the pic u haf illustrated for #1….. I agree with u, the pic could be better with more accentuated sun streaks….if I dun remember wrongly I took the metering underneath the fan…..which could haf suggested me opening up a stop….i tink I use f/8 1/125….. The original does haf a bit of sun streaks but just as u said, it will do better with more… This is my first time scanning so there may be some inconsistencies in the scanned pics…..the coloured #1 was not sharpened in PS…..while the grayscale 1 did …in fact I am still figuring out how to make better use of the scanner………..i will probably post some scanning questions in time to come…..need to experiment a bit 1st….. Unless we have the great barrier reef fronting our coastline (it will be a blast for all of us ya… ) or a lot of dough in our piggy bank….i feel that being an armchair critic is a more economical alternative for most of us, at least for me, to improve our craft….. Once again thanks for all your feedback and pls continue to keep your gracious comments coming…. Last edited by h2o; 17th January 2005 at 01:16 AM.

16th January 2005	#1
h2o Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 446	Pls comment Hi All, Please comment whether if it works for u and how it can be improved on. Many thanks................ Natural light: Scene:

16th January 2005	#2
lovells19 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Deep Deep in the sea Posts: 3,234	first one not enough foreground, or you should make it more silutte if the fan got color will be very nice! 2nd one not enough background leh.. personally i prefer the 1st one

16th January 2005	#3
waisj Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: OZilla Posts: 1,965	Hi H2o, First off, are you using film or digital.? My take, #1 For that reef scene, i'll photograph it with strobe, if you have twins, then spread them as far apart as you can, If you have only one, then light the centre of the sea fan from below. I'm not sure if it is film, but i can only barely see the streaks from the sun-burst, if i were you i'd capture more streaks, maybe half a stop more. If it really is too wide to fill the frame, i'd take a cropped version of it further down below, facing the sun. # 2 The exposure of the blue background is too underexposed. I'm not sure what cam you're using, but normally, i'd meter the background to about 2/3 of a stop under. If permiting, i'd get lower and isolate the barrel sponge with the feather star, on the lower right hand corner, with a blue background. Another lil nit pick, is that the strobe lighting is a bit too hard, are you using diffusers? May i know how you lit the second photo? None the less, fine shots and keep shooting. You'll only get better

16th January 2005	#6
DTan Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 441	waisj has said it all. h20, i prefer your monochrome version of #1 because initially it doesn't have much colour to begin with thus your seafan doesn't stand out. however it does do so in the monochromic version. but i find the sun way too glaring for both version. takes away too much focus from the seafan. becomes almost painful to view. I would personally crop off the top 10-20%. cuts the glare from the sun (since only ~1/2 of it left) and burn in more of the areas around the seafan. #1 b/w nice.

16th January 2005	#7
fongwee Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 264	Personally I think that the 1st one has a lack of colours. The 2nd one has a diver in the left upper corner. It is hidden like that and a bit distracting. Don't know whether you want it in the pic or not. I prefer the 1st one in monochrome too.

17th January 2005	#11
siaoon Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 738	hmm.. will prefer the monochrome one... the sea fans seems to be highlighted with the sun burst shining from behind.. err.. but thinking the cropping is a bit too tight for the sea fan.. either to pull away more... or to crop out the side.. creating a portrait out of it with the sun burst on the top right corner?? hee.. ignore me lah.. may be wrong.. but no harm doing different crop from your original.. may hav diff results wor.. and think thats a gd way to train ones composition skill... as for yr 2nd pics.. hmm pic too dead for me.. dunno why.. doesnt giv me a sense of living even with fishes and living organisms included in the pic.. duno how to improve on it.. any experts here wanna to share?

17th January 2005	#13
kthan Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,318	for sunburst, my exif for film is 1/100, f16.....then I use the strobe to light up the foreground if need be. Wonder what settings u use.... For your second pic, there is just not enough illumination to bring out the subjetcs.