Guitar at the Lake - C&C Please

[Dramatis]

Here are four renditions of two shots taken of my ever cooperative and patient roomate yesterday. Trying to work on exposure. My S5IS tries to tell me that something is exposed properly (the nifty -1, -1/3, 0, +1 in the upper right of my LCD/Viewfinder) but I'm learning that it isn't always right. Tried recovering blown highlights on the first picture. On the second I attempted to recover some detail in the shadows and saturated the guitar (+38).

EXIF for #1:
1/125
f/8.0
ISO 100
Focal length: 6.0mm

#1 in Color
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/AFewBoltsLoose/Photography/SeanGuitarFullColor.jpg

#1 in B&W

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/AFewBoltsLoose/Photography/SeanGuitarBW.jpg


EXIF for #2:
1/1600
f/3.2
ISO 200
Focal length: 9.0mm


#2 in Color

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/AFewBoltsLoose/Photography/SeanGuitarFullColor2.jpg


#2 in B&W

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t152/AFewBoltsLoose/Photography/SeanGuitarBW2.jpg

[chauncey]

your asking a lot from the camera; bleached out deck, bright sunlight, dark clothes. You can't do any better than the 2nd one, which under the circumstances, isn't bad.

[jaybird]

I would use some dodge and burn on the first one in B&W. Darken up the deck and lighten up the guitar to provide a focal point for the picture. I like the idea of the shot.

[davo_robbo]

love the taylor ;)
those things cost an absolute bomb in australia..
^^ the idea is nice for the shot.. the colours seem quite bland and dont contrast well imho..
b&w could work with a lot of D&B.. highlighting certain areas and trying to claw back detail from the others?

[PETERSYMES]

Unless it is part of the look you are after you could re shoot this in early morning light to get some real mood.
That direct sun will always be difficult. Failing that HDR option will give you a chance of handling the lighting ranges.

[Dramatis]

Thank you for the replies! :)

your asking a lot from the camera; bleached out deck, bright sunlight, dark clothes. You can't do any better than the 2nd one, which under the circumstances, isn't bad.

Yeah, direct sunlight is a pain but this is when we had the time to take the shot. I'm hoping we can get up at the crack of dawn like Peter suggests and redo the shoot with my 40D when it arrives this week.

I would use some dodge and burn on the first one in B&W. Darken up the deck and lighten up the guitar to provide a focal point for the picture. I like the idea of the shot.

Thank you! The idea came to me in a dream. Well, a day dream but it's close enough! I'm going to try D&B today and see what I can come up with.

love the taylor :wink:
those things cost an absolute bomb in australia..
^^ the idea is nice for the shot.. the colours seem quite bland and dont contrast well imho..
b&w could work with a lot of D&B.. highlighting certain areas and trying to claw back detail from the others?

Thanks for the compliment! He loves his Taylor too. It is most defintely his most prized possession. As for the colors, what should I switch up next time? Maybe put him in a brighter shirt or just try to shoot early in the morning when I can get more interesting colors out of the sky?

Unless it is part of the look you are after you could re shoot this in early morning light to get some real mood.
That direct sun will always be difficult. Failing that HDR option will give you a chance of handling the lighting ranges.

I think I will try the early morning option (provided I can wake up) sometime next week. I've never tried my hand at HDR before because I've no idea how to do it. Can you recommend a good tutorial?

[PETERSYMES]

HDR Tutorial at: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
Under the advanced section, but don't let that put you off.

[ForHisGlory]

I like number two in B and W but would like to see more space ....just a tad on the right.

[Spike44]

Interesting approach - nice try.
Firstly - I much prefer the B&W versions.....I also agree with another post that the mood ain't there ....you are trying to force one with the pose but the background isn't cooperating (the B&W helps however). Where are the clouds when you need them??
You could have cropped more from the first and less from the 2nd (the right and bottom).

I am really looking forward to "take 2"...Use Google dram...Google HDRI

[Bill Boehme]

I think that you did quite well and just need different lighting to get the results that you want. I would strongly suggest that this is NOT a good subject for HDR imaging. It has all of the wrong elements: wave action of the water and a human subject -- all of which will be blurred in a "real" HDR image. Some people skirt that problem by using the HDR process with just a single image, but doing so doesn't really give you an advantage over conventional adjustments. I suppose that it provides an easy entry point into tone mapping which may be what they really want. I think that it is always preferable to get the shot right so that tone mapping in post processing is not necessary or minimally necessary.

[Apollo11]

I agree with others about the bright son, and also about needing more space to the right. I will also add that the pose in #1 jumps out as contrived, IMO. He is stiffly looking off, almost manniquin-like, so much so that you can almost see he isn't looking at anything like he is supposed to be, but simply posing. I would also like the guitar not so front-on, as that also makes it look a little contrived. It is hard and unnatural to hold a guitar that way, even in a relaxed, non-playing position---I would like to see the guitar placed closer to the side of his left foot, and not so full-on to the camera, to more match the mood of the model in the image.

#2 is much better in the pose area. A slight adjustment to the position of the guitar, as mentioned above, plus a little more space to the right, will help to make this a great shot.

The black and white works well here, with the clothing, guitar, and vintage-style hat.