Antique still life

[lcpete]

Hi all this is my first posting in this section
I took this shot at Chirk castle in North Wales using natural light from the window
I have posted before in the macro forum. I am fairly new to digital, the guys in macro gave me some helpful comments and criticism :D http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/lcpete/Picture1016.jpg
Pete

[tlc]

very nice, i like the natural lighting.

however.... i would try it in black and white, and also try it using the midnight sepia action in photoshop as well, desaturating it to about 50% if not less. i tried it myself, but noticed you do not have 'editing allowed' on your profile so i deleted it. if you are interested in seeing it, let me know and i will post it. i have only suggested this becaue i feel it fits the 'antique' feel of the pic.

[lcpete]

hi thanks for comments
I would be interested in seeing it in sepia could you edit my picture and post the results ?
I did not think of trying it in black and white either, I agree it would suit the picture
thanks
Pete
ps I have changed my profile to allow image editing

[tlc]

here you go:

[tlc]

i am not very good at sizing, when i tried to load it using the original size it would not let me so i had to cut it down 50%.

what do you thnk? i like it - but then i am partial to black and white.

i have desaturated the sepia to about 50%.

[lcpete]

Hi thanks for doing that, I like it . :D
It has a completely different feel to the colour shot, it does suit the subject.
My only comment would be that its a touch dark but that may be my monitor.
I will have a go myself in photoshop
Pete

[Athena]

I like the items, I like the arrangement and the location, but the lighting seems off. Shadows in the photo seem to indicate another light source other than the window that is visible.

[catsith]

i really like it, but i don't like the arrangement much. Can't pin it down, but it looks static, a bit more clutter like might be better(not so uniformly spaced). The sepia version looks very good.

[tlc]

Hi thanks for doing that, I like it . :D
It has a completely different feel to the colour shot, it does suit the subject.
My only comment would be that its a touch dark but that may be my monitor.
I will have a go myself in photoshop
Pete

somewhere there is the link to add the photoshop action 'midnight sepia' and all the other midnight actions, you should find it - it has done wonders for a lot of my stuff i almost threw out!

the darkness is part of the action - you will see when you try it yourself.

i like your composition by the way, maybe just a wee bit cluttered, but i think its really pretty good.

[lcpete]

Hi thanks very much for the kind comments and help :D
I did not actually arrange the items thay were in a display at chirk Castle in North Wales.
The Sealed Knot, the English Civil War society were doing a historical reanactment of when Charles the First visited Chirk castle.
I saw the arrangement on a window sill and thought it would make a nice shot

tlc I have downloaded midnight sepia and had a go its really good
My shot comes out a liitle bright did you run the action as is apart from the saturation ?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/lcpete/Picture1015tiffcurves1copycopy.jpg

[tlc]

here's the thing - i import it back into aperture and desaturate it down to 30% and adjust the shadows and brights

i find the 'gold' a bit much as it is - if you check out the pics on my site, you will see the difference.

[xepherys]

It's an awesome shot. I do prefer it not in color, but even the original is cool.

[T.O.]

The composition is good and I like the overall feeling, specially in B&W. Did you use flash? there seem to be some extra shadows here, not the ones of the window, and they are disturbing.

thanx for sharing,
T.O.

[lcpete]

Hi I see what you mean about the extra shadows, I think they are from room lights as I did not use flash
I reduced the highlights am happy with this will get it printed too see how it turns out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/lcpete/1ecopy.jpg
Pete

[tlc]

those 'shadows' are part of the midnight action. if your going to take them out, you might as well just use colored monochrome.