My first photo

[bigRoN]

I have had my Canon G2 for almost a month now, but the first picture I took seems to be the most intriguing. It was taken just outside of work. I knew it would need a longer than normal exposure, so I set it to 1 sec. I didn’t have a tripod, so I used the roof of my car. This created an unusual artifact that many of my co-workers say they think was pretty cool. I printed out the picture and took it to work. It seems to have been a very popular picture. I have had several requests for copies. I’m just kind of curious as to what people who DON’T work here think. The picture can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/image/1251004 .

This is at The Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, where I'm an ER nurse.

[Pekka]

Thanks for posting Ron,

I like the reflection - it actually makes you combine slippery surface and word emergency in you mind. That's one important aspect of photographs -it's good if they containg something more that the first look gives away.

Technically the only minor problem is that the lines are not straight - the old rule is that if you can't keep them really straight make them _really_ slanted (for a nice effect - go closer, use wide angle). For me keeping lines straight is always very difficult, as I wear glasses and those distort view a bit when pressed against viewfinder, but as G2 as the LCD you should be able to get horizon straight with little effort.

You seem to have a great opportunity to see hospital(s) from inside out - how about some more photos please?

[bigRoN]

You seem to have a great opportunity to see hospital(s) from inside out - how about some more photos please?

Well, I do have some cool pictures from a trauma, but I shouldn't put those up. I have pictures of a motorcycle accident victem that had 3 open fractures of the right leg, including a gnarly wound proximal to where the femur was sticking out of the right thigh. Those pictures are for an extremely limited audience. I was given permission to take the pictures for training purposes. When I asked for permission, they guy wanted to see it for himself, so I said I would show him. It was kind of cool, I was able to show him the bones sticking out of his leg.

[Don Ellis]

Strict rule here: No bones, no bedpans.

Since you asked for advice, I'll offer a few comments. First, I like the picture -- very evocative, plus I'm partial to night shots. The next time you shoot, you might want to be aware that the G2's noise reduction kicks in at shutter speeds of 1.3 seconds and slower. Considering you were at 1 second, you might want to move it one more notch.

Next, there's no absolute black in the photo. The closest we get is the small black vertical opening at the very top right of the building. Make that your black point and everything darkens slightly.

I then straightened the photo (somewhat), cropped at 4:3 ratio, used curves to slightly brighten the midtones of the image and darken the darker tones, and rubber-stamped out the small circular reflection just to the left of center at the bottom (it distracted from the vertical red bars on the car). You can find it here since I left it in its original size for printing.

I hope I haven't overstepped here -- mine is just one opinion and yours was a photo worth working on.

Remember now ... no spleens, either.

Don

[Pekka]

bigRoN wrote:
Well, I do have some cool pictures from a trauma, but I shouldn't put those up. I have pictures of a motorcycle accident victem that had 3 open fractures of the right leg, including a gnarly wound proximal to where the femur was sticking out of the right thigh. Those pictures are for an extremely limited audience. I was given permission to take the pictures for training purposes. When I asked for permission, they guy wanted to see it for himself, so I said I would show him. It was kind of cool, I was able to show him the bones sticking out of his leg.

I was not really talking about need to view injuries, but perhaps somehing which would bring you to closer of that world and its joys and problems, too.

[soothsayer]

pretty interesting, I thought the hospital reminded me of a boat (hospital ship) with the windsock at the top looking like some sort of nautical flag, and the reflection at the bottom some sort of water.

perhaps (for fun and for experiment) you could apply some wavy motion effect on the reflection, and leave the slight horizontal slant alone.