Is there a photo here?

Rick58 · Jan 9, 2013

View attachment 31887

I took this a couple weeks ago. ISO is through the roof and slow shutter speed was due to not having a tripod along. my question is, Is it worth going back prepared?

thetrue · Jan 9, 2013

If its close by and free to get to, I say give it a go.

invisible · Jan 9, 2013

I think there definitely is a photo there, and it's well worth going back in my opinion. I think that the key here is the dramatic light, so you might want to go back around the same time of the day.

(Will take this down if you want me to just say the word. Quick edit, plus the file was too noisy and such.)

runnah · Jan 9, 2013

Chair is too close to wall.

Rick58 · Jan 9, 2013

Thanks Jeff. I thought I kept going back to this to this for a reason. :wink:

Federico, no reason to take it down. I'm honored you took the time to experiment. I also played with the B&W idea. I've been torn between the two.

Runnah, I'm not too sure I agree. In this case I wanted to keep the chair and wood grained wall in sharp focus. Thanks for the comment. Maybe others will agree with you and open my vision.

thetrue · Jan 9, 2013

Invisible loves him some B&W, lol. I really like the edit though.

Rick58 · Jan 10, 2013

thetrue said:
Invisible loves him some B&W, lol. I really like the edit though.

I'm a hard core B&W guy myself. For me there are two things mandatory for a successful B&W. It needs to be razor sharp and it needs contrast. Everytime I desaturated this to B&W, I pulled the slider right back up because it didn't have the "snap" I like to see in B&W. That's right, I like my out of focus, noisy shots in color :mrgreen:
Hopefully I'll get back there this weekend and do it right

BTW, I realize Federico only posted an quick edit of what could be done.

sm4him · Jan 10, 2013

I like it and agree that if you go back, the lighting is critical. I really like the way Invisible pulled the light back on it.
IF it were me, I'd also play with the angles a little--it's almost too straight on toward the chair for me; I'd try taking a step or two towards the right (away from the chair and door).
EDIT: Or, now that I've looked at it a little more, maybe the camera angle just seems a little too high up, shooting down ONTO the chair instead of AT it or AT the doorknob maybe.

On the other hand, I haven't even had any coffee yet this morning, so I wouldn't trust MY opinion. I'll be surprised if I'm spelling the words right (or correcting them right actually, I *know* I'm not typing them right). <totters off to the coffee maker>

Alex_B · Jan 10, 2013

You were too slow focussing ... so the model left the chair already!

Just kidding, really!

The light appears rather natural, not very dramatic. But that could be fine. Composition wise I'd like the chair slightly higher in the image, giving more of the wooden panels in the foreground. Also then you could have the door and the chair in focus, with some out of focus foreground (wooden floor).
Then of course you would lose part of the door on the upper end, but that is in the darkness anyway. ... and I am not talking of having the chair in the centre, just slightly hight up. I would not do this by pointing the camera lower, but by moving the camera slightly closer to the ground.

Did you ever consider placing a pair of classic brown leathery shoes in front of the chair, as if someone was actually sitting there but is not visible?

That would inspire the mind when looking at it.

KenC · Jan 10, 2013

I like it pretty much as is, as far as exposure, point of view, etc. I'm not even sure the noise or softness bother me all that much, but it's worth going back to have a better quality shot to work with, and then you could soften or add grain if you chose.

As for Federico's edit and BW in general, I'd darken the mid-tones some, but would not darken the shadows as much as he did, or the areas around the edges. BW could work for this, but first I'd try partially desaturating the RGB image just to make the color a little less of a factor, without losing it entirely. Some people don't like this approach, but I find it sometimes works for me.

Frequency · Jan 10, 2013

Excellent; i really like this;i think it is a "wooden" scene and the teak wood color works the best; of course i like B&W too; i am really applauding the pointing out of the fact that the chair is too close to the wall. some distraction seen in the shadow on floor on the left side could have avoided
Regards

Mully · Jan 10, 2013

Rick do as others have done turn it into an effect.

CMfromIL · Jan 10, 2013

I'm just wondering how you managed to keep the President still for the picture. :lmao:

amolitor · Jan 10, 2013

Yes, it reminds me of this one from Walker Evans (mods: This appears in the FSA/OWI archive call number LC-USF342- 000889-A. As a work for hire by the US Government it is not subject to copyright and is, as far as the Library of Congress has been able to determine, otherwise unencumbered).

Rick58 · Jan 10, 2013

sm4him said:
I like it and agree that if you go back, the lighting is critical. I really like the way Invisible pulled the light back on it.
IF it were me, I'd also play with the angles a little--it's almost too straight on toward the chair for me; I'd try taking a step or two towards the right (away from the chair and door).
EDIT: Or, now that I've looked at it a little more, maybe the camera angle just seems a little too high up, shooting down ONTO the chair instead of AT it or AT the doorknob maybe.

On the other hand, I haven't even had any coffee yet this morning, so I wouldn't trust MY opinion. I'll be surprised if I'm spelling the words right (or correcting them right actually, I *know* I'm not typing them right). <totters off to the coffee maker>

Whew...I'm glad it was the coffee. I thought I was going to haveto replace my tripod head with a rubber band... :lol:

Alex_B said:
You were too slow focussing ... so the model left the chair already!

Just kidding, really!

The light appears rather natural, not very dramatic. But that could be fine. Composition wise I'd like the chair slightly higher in the image, giving more of the wooden panels in the foreground. Also then you could have the door and the chair in focus, with some out of focus foreground (wooden floor).
Then of course you would lose part of the door on the upper end, but that is in the darkness anyway. ... and I am not talking of having the chair in the centre, just slightly hight up. I would not do this by pointing the camera lower, but by moving the camera slightly closer to the ground.

Did you ever consider placing a pair of classic brown leathery shoes in front of the chair, as if someone was actually sitting there but is not visible? That would inspire the mind when looking at it.

Thanks Alex, I'll be sure to take one using your comp. suggestions

KenC said:
I like it pretty much as is, as far as exposure, point of view, etc. I'm not even sure the noise or softness bother me all that much, but it's worth going back to have a better quality shot to work with, and then you could soften or add grain if you chose.

As for Federico's edit and BW in general, I'd darken the mid-tones some, but would not darken the shadows as much as he did, or the areas around the edges. BW could work for this, but first I'd try partially desaturating the RGB image just to make the color a little less of a factor, without losing it entirely. Some people don't like this approach, but I find it sometimes works for me.

Thanks Ken. I'm anxious to see how I feel about it in B&W after I get a clean shot. Most times it's pretty cut and dry for me. For this one I'm still torn.

Frequency said:
Excellent; i really like this;i think it is a "wooden" scene and the teak wood color works the best; of course i like B&W too; i am really applauding the pointing out of the fact that the chair is too close to the wall. some distraction seen in the shadow on floor on the left side could have avoided
Regards

Thanks Freq. You're the second suggestion to move the chair away from the wall. I'll also have to give this a go

Mully said:
View attachment 31956

Rick do as others have done turn it into an effect.

Hey Mully, thanks. You've broken out of the mold and given it a cracked painting effect. I think your idea combined with the shoes and maybe even a sleeping cat curled up in front of the door would be a winner. I wonder if the National Park would let me bring my tranquilized cat into their historic building :lmao: