Bubbles are in the AIR

[Pete]

Hi guyz, first of all, i am new to photography, I took this picture in Sabah when we went to one of the resorts. I think this is the best one i took among 300 other pictures. lol.


I did what i know...
I am also new to photoshop so i did some sharpening, and level adjustment (in the histogram but i dont know what its called) and made the picture more contrast, slightly darker and i made the picture more reddish in order to get a warm feeling of sunset (all at in histogram). i've also made the sky and the sun blown out on the right side.

What i wanted to achieve
I actually wanted the picture to have more contrast in color, with more orange sky towards the sun and some blue sky on the left. I notice after my adjustment the sky looks greyish and cloudy on the left, i guess its because of the adjustment level that i have made.

Should I...
One thing that came into my mind when i pp this pic is whether i should darken my fren more and should i crop the picture vertically so that more focus in on bubbles and her?

C & C on this picture please.

[lennyl]

Darken your friend more? If you didn't mention it, I wouldn't have known that there is a person in the image I'd have used a flash to illuminate the person.

I think landscape format is good for this photo.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by lennyl Darken your friend more? If you didn't mention it, I wouldn't have known that there is a person in the image I'd have used a flash to illuminate the person. I think landscape format is good for this photo.

lol. yeah.. i think probably because my lcd looks brighter than yours. btw, i did use built in flash. Maybe i made it the level adjustment too dark.

[John Teoh]

The sun seem to be stealing too much attention here. Maybe try a portrait crop without the sun?

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by Pete lol. yeah.. i think probably because my lcd looks brighter than yours. btw, i did use built in flash. Maybe i made it the level adjustment too dark.

LCD brightness - could be. Though I find that images that look bright on my monitor still come out pretty dark in print.

I should have checked the EXIF - then I would have known that flash is used. Doesn't seem to be very effective though - I wonder if the bright sun could have fooled the metering.

I agree with John that the sun pulls the eye towards it and distracts from the person and bubbles.

[nigel84]

I would crop away the sun and flash the person in the pic. The sun is very very distracting.... And the person in it can't be seen. >.<

[Snappy99]

what about cross lighting the person with a strobe with the sun . Maybe can consider snoot on the face of the person

I would propose to frame the sun at the top right of the frame with the 1/3 rule in mind.

[HTCahHTC]

dont worry. i can slightly notice your friend blowing bubbles there. lol. hmmm. wat if you have captured the picture from the back of the person? i believe it will look better as more of the sea and sun will be revealed, and thus, also creating a silhouette.

[Pete]

Hi guyz, thanks for the comments. I guess my PP darken the picture way too much and i'll have to improve my photography technique too.

Originally Posted by HTCahHTC dont worry. i can slightly notice your friend blowing bubbles there. lol. hmmm. wat if you have captured the picture from the back of the person? i believe it will look better as more of the sea and sun will be revealed, and thus, also creating a silhouette.

Can I ask where should i meter the exposure from my camera? Is it next to the sun?

[calebk]

Originally Posted by Pete Hi guyz, thanks for the comments. I guess my PP darken the picture way too much and i'll have to improve my photography technique too. Can I ask where should i meter the exposure from my camera? Is it next to the sun?

It depends on what you want to achieve. Meter for the subject you want to be well exposed. You should, by now, realise that it is impossible to get both your friend and the sunset well exposed in a single shot.

[HTCahHTC]

Originally Posted by Pete Hi guyz, thanks for the comments. I guess my PP darken the picture way too much and i'll have to improve my photography technique too. Can I ask where should i meter the exposure from my camera? Is it next to the sun?

ok well, try either the sun or the person with rule of thirds when taking behind the subject. there's actually no restrictions on where or how you should take the picture. works best if you experiment it yourself. if the photo turn out underexpose, try increasing the exposure value. OR, i tried this before, works well for me. use the flash. set the flash 'power' (lol, dont know what it is called) in your menu and try shooting. it will not create any sillhouette though. but if you wan sillhouette photos, i think increasing the exposure value if the subject turns out too dark is the best way out. well, if it still doesn't work (which i doubt so), photoshop it
hope this helps. and just my two cents worth

[Pete]

Ok.. thanks guyz.. going to try it soon after my 2 months nikon d80 come out from workshop!

sob sob...