Elephants in the Sky

[teoelisha]

I was inspired by some of the posts on Little India, seeing the vibrant colours captured by fellow CSers. Took some time off work and took a short walk down Little India in the middle of the day with a 50mm f1.8 prime.

Firstly, I would like feedback on the composition of the picture. I tried to apply the rule of thirds, having the elephants in the left side of the picture in focus. Was this ok?

Secondly, I wanted to have nice bokeh so I had the apperture wide open at f1.8. But when I did this, I noticed that the photo had the tendency to over-expose. So i was trying my best to keep the exposure acceptable by adjusting the shutter speed. During post processing, I had to decrease the brightness just a little and increase contrast a little. I would like to find out if this was a good way to achieve my objectives of a nice bokeh?

Thirdly, I note that due to the gold colours, there is a little glare that comes off the gold portions of the elephants. What can I do to reduce the glare? Would a CPL filter help?

All other critiques and comments most welcome. Thanks!

 

[btrenkel]

Sounds like you used M - instead of A. That would have helped. You also need to learn how to use exposure adjustment in your camera or exposure lock and reframe.

The gold 'glitter' - yes, that's an area that is prone to blow out. Shoot in RAW, and use 'recovery' to bring it back. Should be possible with this type of gold glitter - since it is not real specular highlights.

Contrast/brightness have nothing to do with bokeh. That is done by your lens and f1.8 setting.

 

[teoelisha]

hi btrenkel,

thanks for your notes. regarding the contrast/brightness in relation to bokeh part, what i meant was i used f1.8 to achieve the bokeh.. but by doing so, it caused my pics to be slightly overexposed (due to the mid day sun) and i had to adjust the brightness/contrast during post processing. what i meant to ask was, whether there's a way to achieve this level of bokeh without overexposure.

thanks for your comments.

Sounds like you used M - instead of A. That would have helped. You also need to learn how to use exposure adjustment in your camera or exposure lock and reframe.

The gold 'glitter' - yes, that's an area that is prone to blow out. Shoot in RAW, and use 'recovery' to bring it back. Should be possible with this type of gold glitter - since it is not real specular highlights.

Contrast/brightness have nothing to do with bokeh. That is done by your lens and f1.8 setting.

 

[n0d3]

Composition wise I'm not too sure, my eyes tend to drift to the right.

 

[teoelisha]

hi n0d3,

i see.. what do you think seems to be the issue with the picture that your eyes tend to drift to the right? is it the very colourful 'right side'?

Composition wise I'm not too sure, my eyes tend to drift to the right.

 

[n0d3]

hi n0d3,

i see.. what do you think seems to be the issue with the picture that your eyes tend to drift to the right? is it the very colourful 'right side'?

Yeah perhaps maybe the reason why the right side attracts/lures my vision as I look at it might be the colour. In my opinion theres not enough subject/background separation? Thus the focal point (in this case the white elephants) don't really stand out.

 

[m3lv1nh0]

Solution = Selective coloring

 

[btrenkel]

hi btrenkel,

thanks for your notes. regarding the contrast/brightness in relation to bokeh part, what i meant was i used f1.8 to achieve the bokeh.. but by doing so, it caused my pics to be slightly overexposed (due to the mid day sun) and i had to adjust the brightness/contrast during post processing. what i meant to ask was, whether there's a way to achieve this level of bokeh without overexposure.

thanks for your comments.

Lower your iso, if you can. I would then shoot at iso 50.
And how fast is your shutter? Looking at the shoot - you should be still far off from 1/4000 or 1/8000
And last help - use a scrim - to make shadow over your subject