Large format peppers

stubbsk · Nov 25, 2007

I'm currently very stuck on a commercial still life brief for college. Now I'm fairly happy with this first image, it was way better then my others which failed badly.

It was taken on 5x4 film so you can't really see the detail.

Oblivious · Nov 25, 2007

I don't know. It's not hitting. Maybe you could work on livening up the whitespace. The red and the green are very close in value, so you could imagine the peppers as silhouettes when you make your composition, then worry about the exposure as a technicality.

Digital Matt · Nov 25, 2007

How did you light this? To me the lighting is "on-camera" like, and very flat.

Aquarium Dreams · Nov 25, 2007

They look like female figures in repose.

Mike Jordan · Nov 25, 2007

You are losing detail and contrast from the lighting blowing back from the white background. It also looks like your source light on the front of the peppers is small or you have it to far away. This is causing the specular hightlights that you are seeing. A few more layers of diffusion would help with that.

The nice clean white background isn't bad, it would let the graphic people do a lot of things with the peppers in a ad or publication. But the one thing about high key white like that, you have to be careful of the reflective light coming back from the background. That is the blowback that is reducing contrast by causing lens flare, which not only reduces contrast but also reduces detail.

Cute peppers. It does look like the one on the right is blasting the one on the left.

Mike

stubbsk · Nov 26, 2007

You guys should have seen the original negative it was really bad.

The white background is actually a soft box that was left on too long during the exposure because I was too busy talking and not concentrating on the lighting.

Digital Matt · Nov 26, 2007

stubbsk said:
You guys should have seen the original negative it was really bad.

The white background is actually a soft box that was left on too long during the exposure because I was too busy talking and not concentrating on the lighting.

So why are you offering this for critique? By your own admission, it's not a "finished" work. We are just wasting our time.

newrmdmike · Nov 26, 2007

thank you matt. . .

stubbsk · Nov 26, 2007

No it's finished, I've already fixed the neg and finished it, it's FINISHED.

I did not admit to anything, please don't be snotty with me, what's the point?

I'm not going to shoot it again because I'm a lazy student.

Mike Jordan · Nov 26, 2007

I was going to mention that critiquing before it's finished is not a waste of time, since it can help improve the final work. But then when you said you were just a lazy student and weren't going to shoot it again, well, then I thought Matt's right. Why waste our time if it isn't going to do any good.

Mike

Digital Matt · Nov 26, 2007

stubbsk said:
I'm not going to shoot it again because I'm a lazy student.

Sorry, I don't want to waste my time and energy writing a thoughtful critique, hoping to help someone improve, only to find out that they don't even care and are lazy.

Joxby · Nov 26, 2007

You know its finished when its posted in the finished forum.
Using that analogy, no one will critique anything, because its finished and it wont be altered.
Just because its finished doesn't mean its any good or any less deserving of critique.
Critique can still help future works.
By the same token I have every sympathy with DMatt's ideology.

"Sorry, I don't want to waste my time and energy writing a thoughtful critique, hoping to help someone improve, only to find out that they don't even care and are lazy."

I've about had it with wasting my time...

stubbsk · Nov 26, 2007

Listen, I was saying it lightly, thank you everyone for making me feel so welcome.

I geuss I should go elsewhere for some inspiration and pleasant help.

Sorry for offending you all so much.

newrmdmike · Nov 26, 2007

your welcome.

there is plenty of pleasent help here. . . for those willing to accept it.

"
You guys should have seen the original negative it was really bad.

The white background is actually a soft box that was left on too long during the exposure because I was too busy talking and not concentrating on the lighting."

thats you sidestepping someones critique instead of just taking it. if you know you did something wrong, then fix it, otherwise we are wasting our breathe.

in the critique thread we don't care WHY something isn't right, we care that it ISNT right.