Post box for a first post!

[dldtaylor]

Hi All

As a newbie to the forum and photography in general, I would be very grateful for any feedback I can receive on the following couple of shots I took last week. Both have been edited using flickr - I'm not quite ready for Photoshop!

Many thanks

David

[IzzieK]

David...go here to access how to upload your images here for instant viewing...

[dldtaylor]

Many thanks Izzie, hope that's better.

[Geoff F]

For me, David, the post box is OK but ideally I would have liked just a fraction more space above it; and would have lost a bit from the bottom to compensate if needed.

Was the light angle on the statue deliberate to give it that punk style hair? It does work and produces an amusing result although a pity about that background 'spotting'. But that is sometimes unavoidable and in this case it doesn't make too much difference.

[Shadowman]

Two challenging lighting conditions: dappled lighting for the mailbox and backlighting for the statue. With the mailbox shot you can either go with deep shadows or provide some fill light to relieve some of the spottiness; or leave as you shot, it depends on what you want to convey.

For the backlit image again fill light could be used.

[dldtaylor]

Thanks Geoff. Now that you mention it, I agree, the space above the post box is not enough.

The light angle behind the statue was deliberate, in as much as the pale colour of the sun shining through the 'hair' was what initially caught my eye and I wanted to retain in the shot. I hadn't even noticed the 'spotting' - is there a way to avoid this?

[dldtaylor]

Thanks John. Very helpful. I actually saw the post box on my way to a nature reserve, and at that time it was in direct early morning sun light. To my regret (and ignorance!), rather than taking the shot then, I waited until I returned by which time the sun had moved behind trees. Lesson 1 - If I see what I think could be a good image, take the shot!

I tried using flash on the face of the statue, but the result lost definition in the facial features. However, This probably has more to do with my limited experience of the use of flash.

[Geoff F]

When flashing to add fill light, David, you need very careful flash settings.

I meter the subject to work out what should be average settings to suit the scene regarding aperture and shutter speed then set the camera manually.

Modern flash units with ETTL metering will self adjust to suit the ambient light but some flash exposure compensation is frequently needed as well.

Bear in mind that with flash your shutter will be limited to 1/250 (variable depending on camera) or you will need to use High Speed Flash.

When I first obtained a modern flash unit I tried using it like an old style fixed output flash and got nowhere. Auto settings tend to give a fully open aperture or if shooting in Aperture Priority mode the shutter speed can be too slow.

In either case, flash output is often too harsh for scenes like this without some flash output compensation.

[JBW]

welcome to the group. When you are ready for Photo Shop take a look at Gimp. it is free, does much of the same stuff and is just as complicated so I am told!

[IzzieK]

So much better David...it is much better to view a post with the image itself instead of having to click it. I am lazy like that because CiC spoiled me......sorry...

Photo #1 -- if this is mine, I would have shoot this one on a different angle...nothing wrong with this shot, just telling you my preference...

Photo #2 -- Interesting Buddha, quite neglected (?) but I like the backlighting here. If you can remove that bright streak at the corner right hand side near the lower ear, this image will look better...

Just a thought...

[jcuknz]

Welcome to CiC and having the courage of your convictions to post your work ...I assume and hope you will appreciate my comments. Firstly Gimp may be free but I gather it is infernally complicated and though not free I would suggest Paint Shop Pro and you buy it outright and there is no monthly rental on the service ... on the other hand I still remember the first month of trying to use PSP7AE ... any good programme will seem complicated and I was ready to give it away but in those days the only alternative was Photoshop which was too expensive for me. So I perservered and taking small steps to do simple things I got the hang of it and began to appreciate what I could do with it.

Now the postbox photo is a good example of two equally strong subjects in frame and one doesn't know which to look at and anyway what has the pole got to do with your subject ... the postbox with its lovely shadow pattern on its side. Cropping the post out of the picture unbalances the postbox which since it is facing right needs a bit more space on the right for balance .... done here by simply duplicating the foliage available after increasing 'canvas size ...not the way to do it but simply here to give an idea of the balance needed.

Here I am concentrating of the postbox and the nice shadow pattern, and photography is all about light and how it plays on subjects and shadows. I also cropped some of the support post to show the interesting part of the subject
For the Satuette I am happy to let the fringe growth be burnt out but if you wanted to save them the flash on the camera should provide this once you first take several shots after having adjusted the flash to minus one stop, then minus two stops and probably the camera will deliver a nicely balanced shot without it looking like a 'flash shot' If you reach the end of the camera's options and you have not got the result you want then I would and have held my finger over part of the flash bulb to reduce the amount of light.

PS Postbox ... if I had done it to one of my shots I likely would have cloned 'twig stuff' over the bright spots which draw attention to the fact that they are duplicates

[Shadowman]

Thanks John. Very helpful. I actually saw the post box on my way to a nature reserve, and at that time it was in direct early morning sun light. To my regret (and ignorance!), rather than taking the shot then, I waited until I returned by which time the sun had moved behind trees. Lesson 1 - If I see what I think could be a good image, take the shot!

I tried using flash on the face of the statue, but the result lost definition in the facial features. However, This probably has more to do with my limited experience of the use of flash.

I typically keep my built-in flash set to 1/32 which gives me just enough fill light for most situations.

[bnnrcn]

I like the second image,it might look good in B&W too

[jcuknz]

Didtaylor ....I tried using flash on the face of the statue, but the result lost definition in the facial features. However, This probably has more to do with my limited experience of the use of flash.

I think that perhaps in that situation you got caught by the camera defaulting to a slow-ish shutter speed when you chose to use the flash and the loss of definition was due to camera shake and perhaps a secondary image from ambient light degrading the primary image recording the light of the flash. You have not specified your gear so this is a guesstimate on my part.

In earlier times I was fortunate with my bridge cameras to have flash sync at all speeds but it is something I have to watch with my MFT with its focal plane shutter not syncing above a moderate shutter speed [ at least it syncs but due to the second blind covering the sensor only part of the sensor is exposed when the flash goes off.] Normal X-Sync is when the first blind has uncovered the sensor but at higher shutter speeds by then the second blind has started to cover the sensor. Hopefully your manual will give you more info on how your camera behaves and different sync options open to you.