Garden ornaments

[michelleh]

Not having the energy to go out and find something interesting to take photos of, I have tried to do something in my garden to photograph. Any comments or suggestions?




Thanks
Michelle

[GiacomoD]

Ahahah... very nice pic, Michelle. I like the richness of details and of colors.
My suggestion is to take another shot of the same subject from a lower point of view, near ground level. That's what I often do when I take photos of kids, cats, dogs or other small animals, even if actually I can't explain why I do that.

Giacomo

[casper]

hi Michelle,
There is quite a lot happening in there, you may consider breaking it up a little. I think that I can see at least 4 nice photos in there - the green frog whispering to the gnome, the tortoise watching the birds, the happy frog on the rock, and the garden without the ornaments. I agree with Giacomo that the lower viewpoint may help. The toadstools right of the bird bath appear to be growing, are they real?
- Noel

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[michelleh]

Thanks for your comments. They make me feel good and that I can actually do something from the confines of my garden and I don't HAVE to be out and about to be taking photos. I will try the lower point of view, Giacomo, and see the difference. Noel, I will also try your suggestions. The toadstools are not real. Thanks for your comment to John. I think the 4 month or so break from photography has allowed some of the ISO, aperture and speed and their relationships to sink in a little more. I also think that the autumn sun has helped with the light.

[Geoff F]

As Noel mentioned, I suspect you can have a bit of fun by moving these items around to 'tell different stories'.

[michelleh]

Thanks for the challenge. I have tried to get down as low as possible...lying down to take the shots. Then moving the ornaments around. Here are the results. Any comments?

1)


2)


3)


4)


While I am lying on the ground with my camera.....
5)


Chester wanting in on the action. He doesn't often have access to me on the ground.

6)


Well this was quite good fun but I am surprised at how just getting up and down to rearrange my ornaments exhausted me.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Ciao
Michelle

[GiacomoD]

Great job, Michelle! It's good to get exhausted while having fun
I love especially #1 and #4
Giacomo

[Geoff F]

I may have cropped slightly closer or used a different size ratio (eg 4 x 5 or 5 x 4) with some of those images to concentrate more on the main subjects. But the basic grouping is working well now.

[michelleh]

Thanks Giacomo. It really has made me feel that I should now place the emphasis on having fun and not being as concerned about 'getting it right'. I think next time I will try having the camera actually on the ground and using the LCD monitor to view the images and see if getting even lower will be better.

Thanks Geoff. I shall do some cropping and post the results. Glad you like the new 'stories' that I have set up.

Ciao
Michelle

[shreds]

This really proves that it is possible to produce great shots that have a storyline without needing to trek to the other side of the world to do so. I really enjoyed the groupings and could almost imagine the words of the characters as they talked to each other.