Shot help

[Papakeith]

This is just one of those things that catches my eye almost every time I walk up to it. There's a good picture here somewhere, I just need help developing it.

I've got a few initial shots of the subject matter that I'll post here. The camera that I'll be using is nothing fancy, just a Cannon Powershot A95.

Here's what I'd like you all to help me do. Look at the initial shots. Decide what you'd like framed in the shot. Once the shot is framed the way you want, I'll start taking more shots with different settings as suggested by you.

I've taken one close up so far. The door hook. Feel free to pan me one way or the other to zoom in or out.

My hopes are that I(as well as anyone following along) will learn a bit more about using my camera and taking a good photo. I'll also get the added bonus of a nice picture at the end of this.

Anyone wanna play along?

Here are the initial shots:

 

[Chili]

PK, how about you start with a much looser shot so we can see what all there is too work with for composition?

 

[Papakeith]

I'll take one tomorrow morning from across the street.

If this works out, I've got a bunch of other ideas for shots that you all can help me make decent. :)

 

[IndyMX]

How you like this?

 

[Papakeith]

Nice effect.
But, I am more interested in getting the shot first. Then we can start messing with the image colors.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

PK - I think you did a great job of capturing the feel of the scene as is. You caught a great bare tree reflection in the window that helps tell the story. I might crop it a little on the right (just a personal preference) but otherwise I think it looks great, especially the way Indy converted it or with a negative blue infrared B&W look.

Good eye. ;)

 

[IndyMX]

Thanks for the compliment Rich...

 

[Papakeith]

Here are a couple of looser shots of the side of the barn.

 

[XRpredator]

if someone talented could PS out the electrical service and mailbox, then maybe brighten it up and tone it along the lines of what Rich and Indy was doing . . .

that would be cool

 

[IndyMX]

I don't really like these two... There's way too much road in the frame..

 

[Papakeith]

I don't care for them much either. Well, I like the tree one.
I just shot them from the cab of my truck so Chili could get an idea of what else was there.

 

[IndyMX]

If you did that tree in HDR, that would be a cool shot... But the tree gets lost in the light...

 

[Papakeith]

Hdr?

 

[IndyMX]

High Dynamic Range.... It does require a tripod, as you would take several shots of the same subject at different exposure levels. Then use something such as Photoshop CS2 to merge them together to get a final image composed of all of the different exposure levels.

When done right, it looks pretty much how your eye see's it.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

PK - It seems like you really did capture the best shot the first time.

 

[Chili]

PK - It seems like you really did capture the best shot the first time.

Agreed.

 

[Papakeith]

Alright, lets call the first attempt the best shot. What can I /should I be doing besides using auto focus and pushing the button?

Post production work aside for the moment, if that's the best setup for that shothow can I improve upon it?

 

[Rich Rohrich]

A good next step would be to get comfortable with the functioning of the Aperture Priority mode on your camera and how to use it to control background/foreground focus. Sometimes you'll want certain things to be in perfect focus while other portions of the image are blurred, as a way of directing the eye to certain areas, or limiting the influence of background objects.

Here's a better explanation than I could give you :
http://photographertips.net/photography/understanding-aperture/

 

[Kawidude]

I'd really like to see a nice horizontal shot of the three windows that have the flower pots hanging out of them. The contrast of the flowers against the aged wood is really neat.

Rich, so you're using Alien Skin to do those type of conversions, correct? Man, I love the way those turn out. I need to look into it further.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Rich, so you're using Alien Skin to do those type of conversions, correct? Man, I love the way those turn out. I need to look into it further.

It works great and can do far more than you've seen from me. You can get a 30 day full function demo of it to try out. As for me, I'm going to pony up the cash and buy it. I found it to be well worth the asking price.

 

[Papakeith]

here are the windows

 

[Rich Rohrich]

I had Photoshop open anyway so I figured ......

 

[Kawidude]

It works great and can do far more than you've seen from me. You can get a 30 day full function demo of it to try out. As for me, I'm going to pony up the cash and buy it. I found it to be well worth the asking price.

Awesome. I think I'll take a look (and burn many late hours changing a bunch of images.) Thanks for the info!

 

[Kawidude]

I had Photoshop open anyway so I figured ......

I really like the high contrast of the first one!

 

[Rich Rohrich]

I really like the high contrast of the first one!

That's using Alien Skin to mimic the Calotype process from the late 1800s :)