candle for C&C please

iPhoto17 · May 16, 2012

someone whos helping me get my muse and inspiration back wanted me to take pictures of normal ordinary things in the house, out of what ive taken this one i found to the best, it is not photoshopped nor did i selective color

CouncilmanDoug · May 16, 2012

Well my god that's a candle. But really man, find something interesting to shoot

Skyclad · May 16, 2012

CouncilmanDoug said:
Well my god that's a candle. But really man, find something interesting to shoot

Really? Is that the best you can offer. Try more constructive criticism and less sarcastic insults next time.

Like a candle cant be an interesting photo: http://www.stmartinsanglican.ca/PhotoArchive/Photos/Candle11.jpg

My advice; Set the candle someplace where it will sit level vertically with a verticle flame and where it will have a more interesting (or simple) background. Your candle is on too much of a tilt and is sitting in some sort of bowl or something? Plus is looks a touch too underexposed.

If its in a glass bowl or what have you, get the whole thing in the picture, or zoom in just enough that its out of frame thus concentrating just on the candle itself. And try lowering your ISO and shutter speed.

LizardKing · May 16, 2012

A candle can be an interesting subject, but this particular one is not. To me, at least...
I think your friend is givin' you good advice... Sometimes it's ok to go back to shooting simple things, but try to find creative compositions and a way to make these ordinary subjects interesting to the viewer somehow.

Now, is it me or you have some dead pixels there? or is it high-ISO noise?

Anyway, keep trying and good luck!

Skyclad · May 16, 2012

For example here is a picture of a candle I took just now. It's not meant to be impressive (cause it isn't anyways), but its just an example to give you on composition and creativity.

What I did here was just set the candle in front of a mirror, turned out all the lights and got in a position where I had a nice angle on it. Then with gimp, I just cropped it down, did a little color adjustment, gave the reflection a DoF effect and sharpened it.

Now if I had a new candle, it would have been much better as the flame would have been higher where it could be seen, and at the same time, would have been a taller flame as well. But alas, I was just working on the fly with what I had. And like you, im trying to find my muse which im sure is gonna be a bit of a learning curve as im still very green behind the ears with photography.

So hopefully that helps to give you an idea on what to think about and do next time as well as help to spark your creativity.

Jaemie · May 17, 2012

I really like the way the wax glows; it's subtle and relaxing. The black bowl is nicely subdued and doesn't distract. Perhaps lower the amount of noise, and also ever so slightly brighten that wonderful glowing wax, or darken the background. Looks like fun project and something I want to try.

Derrel · May 17, 2012

The idea of shooting photos of ordinary, even mundane things, is an old one, and one that I think is fundamentally sound. It's EASY to take pleasing photos of beautiful women or happy children or gorgeous scenery found in exotic locales, and it's another thing entirely to be able to MAKE photographs--especially of the ordinary things that surround us. Keep at it.

Majeed Badizadegan · May 17, 2012

Derrel said:
The idea of shooting photos of ordinary, even mundane things, is an old one, and one that I think is fundamentally sound. It's EASY to take pleasing photos of beautiful women or happy children or gorgeous scenery found in exotic locales, and it's another thing entirely to be able to MAKE photographs--especially of the ordinary things that surround us. Keep at it.

I couldn't agree more.

OP, the picture feels a bit flat and mundane.

Frequency · May 20, 2012

The flame if stood erect would have given a better composition, i feel; here the candle is fat but the flame is so tiny which makes it look bad...but even this image could have won hearts if captioned "Last Breath" or "Life" or " Just before Death" or so.... It is not only the image, but the specs you give us to wear to view your image is also important