guitar still life

[guitar195a]

[Dave Humphries]

Hi "guitar195a",

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, glad to have you join us posting images already.

I have a couple of questions for you;
1) Could you edit your profile and pop a first name and (rough) Location into the appropriate fields please?
We prefer real first names to usernames here at CiC, it makes it much more friendly - it often also helps to know which city/state, country you are in so we don't suggest a supplier half a world away

2) Looking at your other thread (I went in search of your name in the one called Hello), it seems you do appreciate detailed feedback, it helps us help you if you tell us how you shot something and what with (e.g. with EXIF data), plus anything you know is already less than ideal

You may find this helpful; HELP THREAD: Guide to posting images for comment

Anyway, enough of that, let's get on with it;
EXIF says; Canon Rebel T2i 28mm 1/20s f/5.6 iso 6400
I think a little removal of a few of 'non-contributory' elements before clicking the shutter might have been preferable, but if this is a family record shot, maybe they have a place as it captures 'life as normal'.

Here's what I would do to turn this into a 'standalone better image', if I had taken this capture;
Readjust White Balance
Crop a little tighter; losing a bit from top and right edges, thus removing the lamp (visible through blind) and the dark object in lower right corner
Apply some 'burning' to the blown areas on the table and plant, maybe even clone some out
Clone out the black clip on left edge of photo frame
Sharpen it

Hope that helps,

[Jim B.]

Not much to add.Maybe next time try setting your in camera "picture style" to tungsten,if you are shooting jpeg.That will give you a more accurate white balance when using incandescent light for your subject.

[GrahamH]

Good attempt at a still life. As has been said (and is one of my own problems, so thanks for the learning op, I tend to get too invested with my images and I find it's difficult to focus into what needs to be done), the image is a bit too busy.
I would lose the second print behind the lamp and the sweets/plants, move the front one to the right of the lamp, crop as previously suggested.
Good background, very simple yet graphic, imclusion of the picture makes it personal. Not being a musician, I would lose the amp as the guitar seems to be an acoustic so the link is not immediate (although musicians would probably make the association more naturally than I do).
I absolutely love the cone of light from the lamp, really atmospheric.
Basically, the elements of a really good shot, just to busy and the composition needs tweaking to maximise it. I generally like it.
I look forward to seeing more g195a.
Graham

[Marty]

Hi,
Just for fun... here's a very quick mono interpretation of your picture. It could be done much better than this but I just wanted to offer a quick alternative thought. Sometimes less can be more! See what you think...

[nitrus]

I have been going through Ben Long's lectures on photography at Lynda.com especially the ones on composition. They are really helpful. He says that there are 4 basic requirements for photographic composition
1. Subject/background clearly delineated
2. Point of view
2. Balance
4. Simplicity
It isn't clear what the subject in this picture is, as the guitar and the lamp have strongly competing shapes, there is a picture of a human, which also competes, even though smaller (humans trump other objects in a picture). besides the plant...
The point of view is from eye level of a standing person which creates a distracting oblique line on the right and center, perhaps better to kneel down and have the camera on a level with the guitar bridge.
The picture is unbalanced with most of the objects on the lower left quadrant and nothing to offset this on the (say) upper right diagonal
Finally, it isn't simple at all, there are many objects there which bear no visual relationship to each other, except being in proximity.
Hope this helps, it has helped me

[guitar195a]

thanks to all who gave me advice and Angela I wrote down youre 4 points. I have many ideas and will work on those points

[guitar195a]

Thanks Dave it does help. One thing maybe you can help with. I have tried to enter a mini comp but it says I am not allowed to post. I can post on this part but not the comps. What am I doing wrong?