Serene

[escape]

I recently spent several days in a cabin in Tennessee. I liked the light coming through the windows, so I asked my wife to sit in the chair and snapped the image on my phone. So far, I've made an auto adjustment and changes to the geometry. I am still uncertain about the geometry adjustments. Looking at it, I know it could use a little off the top, I think. I have included the original. Comments and suggestions are welcomed.


Original

[Geoff F]

That basically looks OK to me but besides a little off the top I would think about showing a fraction more on the left side although you are limited by the trees reflection.

[Manfred M]

The tough part of this scene is the bright daylight streaming through those large windows. They just grab the viewer's attention and take away from the rest of the scene. It looks like you might have tried to burn those areas down a bit. The problem is that the highlights are so bright, that burning them down makes them look gray.

I don't know what the area where you are standing looks like, but it seems darker than the windows.

Standing with your back to the windows and shooting from that side of the room will often create a stronger image.

I have burned things, including the reflections down a bit more.

[escape]

Thank you for your comment and edit, Manfred. Your changes are so subtle that I find them difficult to see. I'm sure my vision is the reason. Because of this, I'm inclined to leave it as it is and consider it perfectly imperfect.

[Lovelabradors]

The tough part of this scene is the bright daylight streaming through those large windows. They just grab the viewer's attention and take away from the rest of the scene. It looks like you might have tried to burn those areas down a bit. The problem is that the highlights are so bright, that burning them down makes them look gray.

I don't know what the area where you are standing looks like, but it seems darker than the windows.

Standing with your back to the windows and shooting from that side of the room will often create a stronger image.

I have burned things, including the reflections down a bit more.

I like your edits Manfred. You brought down the window glare and that is a nice improvement. I like the scene although I find the bags in the window as well as the thing coming down towards her head (I keep looking at that thinking it looks like something that may stab her lol) a bit distracting.

[Manfred M]

I like your edits Manfred. You brought down the window glare and that is a nice improvement. I like the scene although I find the bags in the window as well as the thing coming down towards her head (I keep looking at that thinking it looks like something that may stab her lol) a bit distracting.

The human eye is drawn to the brightest parts of the image, the highest contrast parts and the areas that have saturated colours. If these are not the main subject, the image is not going to be as effective as it could be, so tackling them in post can really help.

In this shot, the bright windows and the glare from the windows on the table are the main issues, so I burned those areas down as much as I dared. For the image to remain realistic, the outside needs to be bright, but we can tone things down a bit more, which is what I did.

[William W]

I recently spent several days in a cabin in Tennessee. I liked the light coming through the windows, so I asked my wife to sit in the chair and snapped the image on my phone. So far, I've made an auto adjustment and changes to the geometry. I am still uncertain about the geometry adjustments. Looking at it, I know it could use a little off the top, I think. I have included the original. Comments and suggestions are welcomed.

I share your concern.

When adjustments were made to the Horizontal Perspective (I expect to level the floorboards as horizontal) doing so also adjusted the Depth Perspective of the Image. The whole room in the modified Image appears less 'deep'.

Specifically, just as the floorboards were elongated (compared to the original), so too was the Subject's Head elongated across the Horizontal Plane of the Image and this is jarring to the eye - my guess is that's what's annoying you, but you just couldn't put your finger on it.

The issue can be explained another way - looking at the original image the Subject is situated in the Background, and in the corner of the room - the eye is comfortable with that Depth Perspective - it appears 'natural'.

When the geometry was adjusted, doing so effectively brought the Subject into the Middle-ground and reduced the effect of "depth" into the image; basically this squished up or condensed the feeling of the depth of the image and that appears unnatural - I'd argue the main reason why it appears 'unnatural' is that the eye/brain is very forgiving when it sees Real Estate Images which appear unnatural, but the eye is more critical when there is discord in the balance of the Human Form.

The the appearance of the (odd) width of the Subject's Head is technically classified as Foreshortening, and in Portraiture, that's usually seen when a wide angle lens is used too close to the Subject and/or with the Camera not level in both the Horizontal and Vertical Planes of the Subject.

***

As a general comment, I think that the original image is a nice Environmental Portrait "as is". I think that the pensive mood, the lighting, the positioning of the Subject within the Scene and the Camera's Viewpoint are commendable. I think that it's a Portrait, not an Advertising Image for a Real Estate or Furniture Catalogue, so I wouldn't get too hung up on the "geometry".

The "geometry" was created when the Camera was pointed upward - if you want to attain better "geometry" then, a suggestion is to next time think more critically about what you see in the viewfinder or on the screen.

Yep I know very easy to write that with 20-20 hindsight - but by the same token, if one knows what to look for then attention and practice will pay off.

***

I share Manfred's view about the light streaming in through the windows. That's always a tough job to manage if you want to shoot in Available Light. One way of managing these situations is to get less window in the shot - which often isn't easy.

Anyway - nice picture.

WW

[DanK]

I don't want to pile on, but I think this is a good teachable moment.

There is no effective way to burn the window light. That's why Manfred's attempt turned it gray. Much of the windows are completely blown out, so there is no detail to darken. Burning just adds gray.

The best way to deal with something like this is to use a tripod, ask the subject to sit still for a few seconds, and quickly bracket to get one exposure that is acceptable for the windows and one for the inside of the room. If you bracket enough, you won't need to darken in post, but even if you don't get that far, you will at least have some material in the windows to work with.

Another option in some circumstances, where the difference in lighting isn't too severe, is to expose so as not to clip the highlights and then brighten and darken regions in post. However, in this case, the contrast between light and dark is too great to do that.

Re perspective: one option would be to level the windows and let it go at that. A simple rotation won't create the distortion that William points out.

[escape]

I share your concern.

When adjustments were made to the Horizontal Perspective (I expect to level the floorboards as horizontal) doing so also adjusted the Depth Perspective of the Image. The whole room in the modified Image appears less 'deep'.

Specifically, just as the floorboards were elongated (compared to the original), so too was the Subject's Head elongated across the Horizontal Plane of the Image and this is jarring to the eye - my guess is that's what's annoying you, but you just couldn't put your finger on it.

The issue can be explained another way - looking at the original image the Subject is situated in the Background, and in the corner of the room - the eye is comfortable with that Depth Perspective - it appears 'natural'.

When the geometry was adjusted, doing so effectively brought the Subject into the Middle-ground and reduced the effect of "depth" into the image; basically this squished up or condensed the feeling of the depth of the image and that appears unnatural - I'd argue the main reason why it appears 'unnatural' is that the eye/brain is very forgiving when it sees Real Estate Images which appear unnatural, but the eye is more critical when there is discord in the balance of the Human Form.

The the appearance of the (odd) width of the Subject's Head is technically classified as Foreshortening, and in Portraiture, that's usually seen when a wide angle lens is used too close to the Subject and/or with the Camera not level in both the Horizontal and Vertical Planes of the Subject.

***

As a general comment, I think that the original image is a nice Environmental Portrait "as is". I think that the pensive mood, the lighting, the positioning of the Subject within the Scene and the Camera's Viewpoint are commendable. I think that it's a Portrait, not an Advertising Image for a Real Estate or Furniture Catalogue, so I wouldn't get too hung up on the "geometry".

The "geometry" was created when the Camera was pointed upward - if you want to attain better "geometry" then, a suggestion is to next time think more critically about what you see in the viewfinder or on the screen.

Yep I know very easy to write that with 20-20 hindsight - but by the same token, if one knows what to look for then attention and practice will pay off.

***

I share Manfred's view about the light streaming in through the windows. That's always a tough job to manage if you want to shoot in Available Light. One way of managing these situations is to get less window in the shot - which often isn't easy.

Anyway - nice picture.

WW

Thank you, Bill, for that excellent analysis of the geometry and for your viewpoint and suggestions. Much appreciated.