Sword photo CC please

Hello all, I just got my new camera yesterday, and this is one of my first photos with it. I was playing around with all the fun features, like the Auto Exposure Bracketing, and using manual focus with the zoomed in LCD display. Normally I'm not a fan of vignetting, but for this subject where I'm going for a battle-worn medieval look, I think the dark vignetting helps a lot.

It was also my first time using my new Lightroom 4. I think the only tweaks I made with the program were a slight crop, vignetting, and +21 sharpening. I've still got to figure out the watermark. I created a watermark for the photo in LR, but for some reason when I exported the photo as a JGP to the desktop, it did not have the watermark on it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and critiques, good or bad. I have higher resolutions available on smugmug if it helps. Thanks in advance.


5D MkII
70-200 F4 IS
f/4
Exposure time 0.1666 (1/6) sec.
ISO 320
Focal length 75mm

Looks underexposed. If you push the exposure up in LR (maybe a full stop) and use a vignette to highlight the sword, that might achieve a similar effect while keeping more visible detail. If you were to re-shoot, you could push the ISO and shutter speed up and still improve the exposure.

I like the composition, but something about the placement of the sword is off. I think I might like the sword/scabbard better a little higher in the frame and offset from center just a bit.

mplezia wrote in post #15226296
Looks underexposed. If you push the exposure up in LR (maybe a full stop) and use a vignette to highlight the sword, that might achieve a similar effect while keeping more visible detail. If you were to re-shoot, you could push the ISO and shutter speed up and still improve the exposure.

I like the composition, but something about the placement of the sword is off. I think I might like the sword/scabbard better a little higher in the frame and offset from center just a bit.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree that the placement is off. I was trying to have the Templar's cross be visible, and thought it might be too hard to tell what it was if the sword was higher in the frame. But you're right that the result makes the sword placement look too low. To help correct it a little bit, I cropped a little more off the top, which raises the sword by a small amount. Unfortunately, without re-shooting there isn't much I can do about the left-right orientation. If I crop on the left the sword becomes even more centered, and if I crop on the right I lose some good deail of the chainmail.

So here's another version trying to incorporate your suggestions (without re-shooting). Slight crop on top to raise the sword, raised the exposure by +1.17 (I think), and reduced the vignetting a little to show more detail. I like the looks of it.

Great photo with telling subject matter. When you kicked up the exposure it looks like the red is over saturated. Maybe just tone down the red cross a touch.

Nice job! Way too warm for my taste, but since you were going for an older, worn feel, I think it works. I'd pull back on the vignette even more, but that's a subjective thing. Keep playing with it!

I knew others would suggest you correct the exposure, and they are probably right to say so. I also know that I personally have a style that likes some photos slightly underexposed. This is one of those photos. I like the first image and the reason is that I believe it adds mystery and a sense of history to the photo. I find my mind and eyes spend more time processing the first image and I think that is a good thing.

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen. DaBowers, I know what you mean. Underexposing is a common theme of mine when taking pictures. I seem to naturally gravitate towards that look, but it's something I'm trying to overcome, since I know that it only works for some pictures, not all.

Quaz8r wrote in post #15226549
Great photo with telling subject matter. When you kicked up the exposure it looks like the red is over saturated. Maybe just tone down the red cross a touch.

I agree about the red. Unfortunately, since I'm a bit colorblind, I don't touch the color sliders. When my wife gets home I'll have her help me play around with it a bit.

I think the sword is too low in the frame. Where it's placed, it's not the subject.