New member, please critique my photo.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

11/02/2008 04:24:02 PM · #1

Hello,

I am a new member on this site, I plan on staying :). I am in awe of the photographs you more experienced photographers are taking, so any comments you have on my photograph are most welcome. (I am not a full member yet, so I am linking to imageshack, I hope that is ok?).

Here is a link to my photo. It was taken in the Lama Temple in Beijing.

Photo

Thank you,
brtaman

Message edited by author 2008-11-02 16:35:16.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

11/02/2008 04:37:13 PM · #2

Welcome. Linking to an external hosting source is fine, however, in order to keep the forums neat, we only post thumbnails that will link to the full size image.
Here is a tutorial that will tell you how you can do that.

I copied and pasted your image into PaintShop Pro, so I coudl zoom out and see the whole thing. I like it, though I would do some minor color/tone adjustments and crop out the area on the left side. That would improve the composition and flow of the shot.

Added: I see you fixed it and posted a link instead.

Added:
Here's a quick edit I did. Editing steps are in the notes. Lots of nice detail on this statue, and I liked the lighting. It really shows off the wonderful details.

Message edited by author 2008-11-02 16:49:22.

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

11/02/2008 04:43:54 PM · #3

This is my quick edit--just a simple crop of the left side stuff, still keeping the dominant red mounting feature slightly off center for tension, a little saturation, and some simple sharpening--I resized it just for the upload here.

11/02/2008 04:45:05 PM · #4

Hello,

Thanks for the help with posting and for the kind words. I have taken your advice and I cropped the image and changed the color tone. It does look much better, though I am not sure if I changed the color tone for the better?

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

11/02/2008 04:47:51 PM · #5

Wow chromeydome you did a much better job than I did! Those changes really the photo much nicer.

Edit, here is my final image (basically a copy of your edits :)) I added some more sharpness (unsharp mask), added some saturation and played with the levels a bit.

Thanks a lot for helping me out!

Message edited by author 2008-11-02 16:52:35.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

11/02/2008 04:51:00 PM · #6

What are you using for editing your photos?

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

11/02/2008 04:51:26 PM · #7

Originally posted by brtaman:

Wow chromeydome you did a much better job than I did! Those changes really the photo much nicer.

well, I may have taken it too far, too. But I like the image you took: the dominant, vibrant red and the subtle green "pop" a bit more with a bit of saturation, but there is always a fine line between the right amount and too much.

And, it is your vision and choice here that matters, sir :-) Looking forward to seeing more images from you :-)

Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S

11/02/2008 04:55:27 PM · #8

Hey, thanks for the kind words. yospiff, I am using Photoshop CS2, I think that its a pretty good program, or is there another one that you would recommend?

bassbone

Nikon Z8

11/02/2008 04:57:58 PM · #9

Welcome to DPC. I hope you enjoy yourself.

My first question to you is what is it about the object/ scene that made you want to take the photo. Is it the textures of the bell? The dragon? Or is it a combination of all? Or something else? When composing a shot of an object like this, I would recommend figuring out what about the object is drawing you in and finding a way to photograph just that.

For the photo you have, the blown out background reduces the draw of the image. A slightly different angle so that the roof is shading our view from the blown sky might be one choice. Another choice is to crop down so that the textures and lines from the dragon are isolated by itself.

Last, the choice of composition for your original shot with the dragon's head dead center tends to give a photo a very static feel. Centered composition can work very well, but it is important to figure out when it is useful.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

11/02/2008 05:01:48 PM · #10

CS2 is perfect. I ask because there are some good and free editing programs that I often recommend to someone that needs something more capable than what their computer comes with. CS2 is a higher end program than what I use.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

11/02/2008 05:24:18 PM · #11

Hello,

Yes bassbone,you are correct, the main feature that attracted me to the shot was the intricate detail of both the bell and the dragon. I do see what you mean with the background "washing" out the image, the only problem with taking the image in a way in which to utilize the roof as a background would be the angle, the roof was quite narrow and doing so provide an insufficient angle to get the dragon, though I could have positioned myself in a way to get a darker background against and adjacent building.

Thanks for the helpful tips.

suemack

Canon EOS-20D

11/02/2008 05:40:35 PM · #12

I think it would also look great as a black and white image. Welcome to the site Rok!

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

11/03/2008 09:22:06 AM · #13

Thanks suemack :) Glad to be a part of this community.

Your suggestion really worked well, it made the image less busy allowing the viewer to focus on the intricate detail of the bell and the dragon, in my opinion.

Here is the BW version.

Thanks
brtaman

Patrick_R

Canon EOS-60D

11/03/2008 09:24:41 AM · #14

Art? Where are you? I'm waiting for a dualing dragons edit..... this one is gonna be epic!

suemack

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

11/03/2008 04:40:26 PM · #15

I like that Rok, hope you don't mind but had a bit of a play to try and get the dragon to stand out more. Details of what I did are on the image