Bottle of Joy

[dadiam]

I got this bottle of "joy" from a friend. I'm shooting with an SX120is. What sort of things could I have done to improve this image?

Experienced photographers, please be honest. It's the only way I'm going to get better.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4209782811_d1ca5b2bb9.jpg

[zwright]

it's really a boreing subject, try to include the whole bottle but isolate from the backround with a shallow dof, tough to do with a point and shoot but not impossible, if your still useing auto modes the portait mode will try its best to do blur the backround for you

[dadiam]

thank you for your feedback. i guess i can agree with you about the subject; however, the label caught my eye.

how more shallow can i get my dof? the camera lens says, "6.0-60.0mm 1:2.8-4.3". what do you recommend?

i've been using program mode. my experience so far has been using the manual focus, playing around with metering, and tweaking exposure compensation. i haven't messed with ap or ss yet. i'm still getting a feel for the other functions.

[pickupman92]

I'd look at Av mode or M (Manual) if you feel pretty safe with your shutter speed estimate. I would position the bottle on the table, maybe with some empty glasses behind it.

Do you know what Fstop you used to shoot that pic?

[B&Wlover]

I agree that you need to set the scene better, show the full bottle and maybe a glass or two. Also when doing product shots of reflective items like glass you really need to watch your reflections, you might try putting a piece of white foam-core on either side of the bottle outside of the frame to get those nice long white uncluttered reflections you see in bottle shots that are usually done using 2 strip boxes.

[PixelMagic]

You can get very shallow depth of field by putting your camera in Macro mode.

[dadiam]

alright! very cool... see, that's why i'm here. reflections, dof, macro, full-bottle, glasses in background. i appreciate all of that.

photo info:
mode = macro
shutter = .03
aperture = f/3.5
focal length = 10.3
iso = 200

some of that would probably change if i were shooting the full bottle, right?

[jetcode]

Two directions with this image: wine at home or a commercial image.

Wine at home:
Make the home more central to the image. We see a taste of home but it's not exactly the most memorable setting. The colors of the label are similar to the setting so there is little contrast. The joy item adds interest but is buried in flat light. Complimentary colors and a setting showing how the wine will be consumed will add more to this theme.

Commercial image:
The setting and light must make this bottle of wine unavoidable and attractive. The less distraction for the wine the better and pick colors that push the wine forward. Examine similar images and try to recreate them.

here's an edit ... just for play value showing possibilities

[dadiam]

Two directions with this image: wine at home or a commercial image.

Wine at home:
Make the home more central to the image. We see a taste of home but it's not exactly the most memorable setting. The colors of the label are similar to the setting so there is little contrast. The joy item adds interest but is buried in flat light. Complimentary colors and a setting showing how the wine will be consumed will add more to this theme.

Commercial image:
The setting and light must make this bottle of wine unavoidable and attractive. The less distraction for the wine the better and pick colors that push the wine forward. Examine similar images and try to recreate them.

here's an edit ... just for play value showing possibilities

i like what you did. i really focused my eye directly on the bottle/label. i guess i would need some editing software to do what you did to the background though. that's something for future consideration. the crop framed the label nicely too, a lot less distraction from the background. thank you!!!

edit: oh! and thanks for picking up on the "joy" thing. i was trying to be subtle with that, but i guess i didn't execute it very well.

[jetcode]

I did some things in Photoshop 7, an ancient copy of a very cool imaging tool. I cropped obviously, I used gaussian blur on the background and a curves layer adjusted to soften the contrast and a saturation layer to lower the saturation and change the hue to a more complimentary color.

I would re-shoot and spend more time composing.

[Jred]

I like the fact that you are interested in feedback. Whenever I consider a "keeper" I try to convey something special. Great photos, like music, will invoke some sort of emotion.

Hope this is helpful.