Suggestions

[Sharon]

Hi everyone,
I'm not putting this picture up as something that I'm proud of. I'd like some suggestions on how to make it look better or for reshooting it.
I love this spot. It has a romantic, old world feel to it. But it's in a very dark area of the woods. For this particular shot I used the program mode. Auto white balance. Exposure at 0. It wasn't a sunny day, but probably wouldn't have mattered. I know it doesn't look right and would appreciate your help and suggestions to fix it or go back and redo it. Thanks, Sharon

Deleted it. Thanks everyone for your help. :)

[Andrei]

The contrasty landscape fooled your your G1's meter (I suppose you had center-weighted). In this case I'd use -1/3 - -2/3 exposure compensation to avoid washing out highlights. But the wood would get a bit darker.

Or

Spot metering, measure on highlights, add +2/3 - +1 exposure compensation.

The detail explanation, why, is here:

About Zone system:
www.normankoren.com/zonesystem.html
www.photozone.de/ec.htm
www.srphotography.co.uk/srpzone.html

About G1 exposure limits:
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/G1expose.html


Sorry for the links only, but I'm afraid my English will confuse you.

[John - NJ]

Sharon:

Is this any better? Just a suggestion. ;)

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1573480&a=12518771&p=46397343

[Sharon]

Hi John,
Perhaps I'm wrong, but it looks too dark in the wooded areas and much too bright in the light areas.
Do you see it this way?
Thanks for your help. Sharon

[Sharon]

Hi Andrei,
I haven't tried spot metering yet. It was next on my list. This will be a great help.
Thanks, Sharon

[Andrei]

With pleasure.
By the way, Zone system is worth to learn. Now I realize, how I was wrong trusting to G1 meter :)

[Andrei]

The reason of John's modification is to make picture clearer and simplier. This is one of the important rules of photography composition. In his variant exposure plays the second role. Overloading in details is not good. Am I right, John ?

Sharon wrote:
Hi John,
Perhaps I'm wrong, but it looks too dark in the wooded areas and much too bright in the light areas.
Do you see it this way?
Thanks for your help. Sharon

[John - NJ]

AK:

You're correct. I thought the main focus was the building and the bridge. The rest of the woods made it too busy and took away from the photo.

Sharon:

I didn't play around too much with the exposure. You can make even more changes than I did if you know how. I'm new at this but am trying new stuff every day. You should do the same.

You may want to try the same location at dawn or dusk. Get a tripod and use longer exposure time. Maybe try firing you flash at specific areas to light them. Try a different angle. Approach the building from the hill behind or on the side. Have fun with it but don't get crazy about this one spot. There's alot of other places. Let us see some of the results of your experiments.
Good luck.

[Sharon]

Hi John,
I didn't mean to disregard what you had done. I'm just so bothered by the overly bright white building. I will be going back and trying other angles and lighting conditions. Thanks very much for taking the time to work on my picture and all your helpful suggestions.
:) Sharon

[John - NJ]

Sharon:

It was my pleasure. Like I said, I'm just learning, so I need all the practice I can get.

The best idea would be to get the shot almost perfect to begin with. You can see that Pekka does very little to his gallery shots. If you can get the content framed correctly and in focus and get a decent exposure, you should be 90% there. Some of it is practice and some of it is dumb luck. Don't forget to post the next samples.

[Curby]

Hi Sharon,
I didn't do much with this really. In Photoshop I darkened the blacktop path a little. I brightened some of the shadow areas and darkened some other areas. Most notably I boosted some of the beautiful colors you had hidden beneath. I used selective color for that.
Very nice picture overall. I enjoyed playing with it in Photoshop.
_____
Curby

http://www.fototime.com/AB0BBF7A7874232/standard.jpg

[Sharon]

Hi Curby,
Thank you for fixing it up for me. I really like what you've done with it. I was hoping that someone would be able to use Photoshop and touch it up. I couldn't seem to do anything but make it too dark or too light.
The building really isn't bright white. But my picture made it look as though it glowed in the dark.
I love this place so much and want to get it picture perfect. ;)
I took this back in November when I first got my G1. Trying to get familiar with the camera back then. Now I find myself using manual and getting sharp, crisp, clear pictures with good exposures. At least my odds are getting better. I can keep about 1 out of 100 now. :D
I'll be going back to this spot and trying many times until I get it right. You can be sure that I'll post the results here.
Thanks again, Sharon

[Pekka]

Sharon,

Here's how I usually approach scenes I like:

- I walk around to see the best angle. The best angle is where the essence of the subject is translated to the photo (easy to say!). This would mean that you should decide what you consider the most important objects to present to the viewer (people, lights, fog...) that the photo should present. When you have this clear in mind try to compositionally rule out everything else which distracts viewer from the main subject(s). The angle of view can affect how the object is experienced: see how going lower or higher with the camera makes the object look greater, more timid, small, big...

In this scene of yours my view is that the main subject is not the building, but the whole mood of the scene. The house itself is not interesting, but it becomes interesting when it interacts with the bridge and is in abandoned there into the forest. Why is it there? What is it? You can go there anytime and spend some time and photos in looking for the best ways to frame an image which makes viewer think, wonder. Look from low and high, vertical and horizontal, move around, go inside the building, include it only partially. Then archive the best photos and wait: because the second and more important issue is:

The moment when you take the photo is more important than what you shoot and how.

The forest in the early morning, young leaves on trees, sun rising and giving filtered light though the trees making long shadows and illuminating the faint fog on the ground - I would imagine such a moment to be prefect for this location. If you have done you "homework" and have formed and tested an idea how to shoot the scene it's easy to wait for a good day and just go there and shoot.

Meanwhile, take other photos.

Even the best professional photographers can not take breathtaking pictures just like that if YOU tell them the time, subject and location. The imagining and seeking for ideas and good moments is 50% of photography. 25% is endurance (adjust, shoot and adjust, shoot again), 20% artistic composition and "taste" (learning from own work and developing ideas on the spot) and the rest 5% is how to use the hardware (adjust tripod, zoom, select exposure, press shutter release).

I hope this gave you some ideas and you don't feel you read all this for nothing :)

Pekka

[Leo R]

Wow. Thankyou Professor Pekka. Your comments on Sharons picture are just what I needed to open my mind a little more. It is this artistic and emotional side of photograhy that I need to develop.

Sharon, I like the subject of your picture and can understand your feelings about it. Keep shooting and posting so I can learn more :)

Leo

[Sharon]

Thanks Leo for everything you said.
I agree with you. Especially in regard with your comments to Pekka.

Pekka, you say the things that I feel. I know exactly what you mean. I was going to use the quote button but would only have quoted you word for word. I have copied it down and will apply everything you've suggested.
I have a really good feeling about it.
Thank you so much for inspiring me to keep trying until I achieve what it is that I'm looking for with this scene.
Sincerely, Sharon :)

"Pekka, you write poetry and compose beautiful music with your camera."