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Thread: First Photo Post!

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Ohio, USA
    Posts
    10
    Real Name
    Adam

    First Photo Post!

    After receiving such a warm welcome in the new member area, I felt the real initiation couldn't begin until I submitted a photo!

    Here is one I took last weekend whilst tromping around in a local park.

    First Photo Post!

    I'm quite happy with the way it turned out!

  2. #2
    Peter Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,968
    Real Name
    Peter

    Re: First Photo Post!

    Hi Adam and welcome to CiC. I am pleased you have graduated from the new member area. It is actually quiet fun out here.

    I gather you were trying to show the fallen tree with snow massed up against it and the textures of each but I do not see a particular point of interest I am supposed to be looking at.

    To me the braches at left add a messy component as well as the bark lying over the dead tree form the focus in the foreground and take away from what you were seeing.

    The other thing here is the snow in the shadow area has a blue tinge to it. You have mixed light sources here with the bright areas lit by direct sun light but the shadow areas are lit by indirect light reflected from the heavens and this throws a blue colour cast on the image. The cameras auto white balance normally makes a reasonable job of correcting for this if you only have one light source but when you join more than one the light meter tries to average the light sources and often causes an incorrect reading. This can be fixed by adjusting the white balance in RAW converter if you shoot RAW. You can also open a jpg in RAW in Photoshop (v CS4 and 5) and make a similar adjustment.

    I do like texture shots and I am sure you should continue with them.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Ohio, USA
    Posts
    10
    Real Name
    Adam

    Re: First Photo Post!

    Hi Peter,

    I appreciate the critique! I'm never going to improve without it.

    I can see what you mean; the tree branches to the left do confuse the image quite a bit. In fact, prior to submitting it, I considered cropping to remove them. After some consideration, I decided it best to submit the image unedited. I figured that this would provide the most insight to the success or failure of my original composition.

    As far as the color-cast is concerned, it's now blatantly obvious to me! I'm quite new to the whole post production game but this is as good an excuse as any to get my feet wet with white balancing.

    Like you, I'm quite fond of texture shots. The texture and contrast of the stump is what drew me to the spot. I was pleased with the way the textures showed in the image, but there is obvious room for improvement.

    Thanks again!

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    22
    Real Name
    George

    Re: First Photo Post!

    Hi Adam,

    I'm no expert but here's my thoughts...

    I have to agree with Peter in that there is no real focal point. My eyes just wander about the image.

    The branches in the foreground are out of focus.

    The snow to the left half of the image is blue.

    One other thing. Add your Exif data to the shot, this helps us review and advise easier

    Keep posting ...

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