Frozen in time

[tataencu]

A new experiment. My first one with glass...and it is a little harder than i thought...
Here is a sample:

I really want your opinion and one more thing...is it indicated to use manual focus when working with glass? Because i got some badly focused images on autofocus....

 

[New England Moments]

Ok, what bothers me is the window reflection in each of the Dark pieces..
You also lost DOF ..the right 1/2 of frame good focus, and then falls off on left... That focus on the 3 squares of glass ( right to left) is super , you get the rest of pic like that, you got a winner! I think all your lighting coming from left, washing detail, as it moves to right... your gonna need to play with the light..

 

[Peniole]

Increase your DOF, as mentioned you lost it on the top left part of the frame. AF can still work if you know where to point it, next time try focusing on the edge of one of those glass pieces or even on the grain of wood on the table if you have enough DOF.

 

[tataencu]

redone the shot...is it better like this?

Edit:
You can find both the initial photo shooting and the redone one here:
- initial: http://photo.tataencu.org/?p=71
- redone: http://photo.tataencu.org/?p=77

I really want to know your opinion about them as a whole

 

[Peniole]

Better DOF, however the lighting was IMO better and brighter in the first. I really like the bright white window reflection in the first. It seems like you changed the angle a bit since the reflections don't have the sae arrangement (maybe that's it).

 

[tataencu]

well, second time i also used a spot as a second light and the natural light is pretty dim right here now (9:10 pm) so...

but which collection do you think it's better on the whole?

 

[Peniole]

I'm leaning towards the intial collection.

 

[tataencu]

sincerely so am I, especially because I am a fan of shallow DOF.

but I also love the last one from the second collection

 

[Alpha]

It's best to use manual focus whenever you can. I do like the shallow DOF, but I think it's slightly too shallow.

 

[sage95]

I like the second one better. I think that the DOF is better or more appropriate. I also found the reflections of the windows somewhat distracting in the first.