New to Photography, C&C

mikemueller2112 · Dec 19, 2011

I finally got my first DSLR about a couple of months ago, was taking some pictures when I first got it, then I got busy and winter hit. Dusted it off last week cause I had some free time to take a couple shots of some of my guitars:

1)

2)

3)

4)

I don't have anything for a lighting setup. I had some track lighting on the ceiling in the room I took the pictures of the guitars. Could have minimized some of the glare I think (especially in that acoustic one, kind of bugs me). Would be nice to get some sort of lighting setup to take pictures of my guitars. Haven't had much of a chance to get many outdoor shots, took this one the week I got the camera. Took a ****load of shots and then liked this one with it being almost under-exposed, and then bumped the contrast a bit in Lightroom. There isn't much to see where I live, lots of farmer's fields and right now everything is dead and minimal snow coverage. Just got to keep waiting, will be in Jamaica over the holidays, so I want to grab a bunch of photos there.

5)

Here is my photobucket with some other shots I've taken:
http://s534.photobucket.com/albums/ee344/muellator/

Thanks

WesternGuy · Dec 19, 2011

Welcome to the forum. When posting, please number your images as it makes it easier for a reviewer to refer to them that way. You asked for some C&C:

The first three of the guitar are nice snapshots, but there is no story or emotion to them. If anything they are "documentary". Shadows are too harsh and the glare off the guitar, well you seem to already know that is a problem. The 4th one, nice snap of some audio equipment, but that is all it is.

The last one is a nice sunset, but it would be better if there was more detail in the foreground. As well, you have placed the horizon almost in the centre of the image. You might want to read up on rule of thirds for composition, particularly if it talks about the placement of the horizon in landscape/sunset/sunrise images. These are the types of images that could really use a graduated neutral density filter with a soft transition, either that, or HDR imaging. I have shot a lot of sunsets using HDR imaging and I find that it really helps. You can check any of this stuff out by googling the appropriate terminology and having a look at the first 5 to 10 pages that are returned in your search.

As far as your Photobucket images go, you should understand that a lot of people are reluctant to click on a link because of the potential for virus infection - not that you would start one, just saying...you are better off to pick say 3 to 5 of the images that you consider to be good and post those, maybe with a brief note with exposure information and some idea of why you like, or don't like, the image.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

mikemueller2112 · Dec 19, 2011

Alright fair, I didn't number them because I only have 5 shots posted. I don't understand how there should be "emotion" in a picture showing some of my gear. In the first one, I like the way the light doesn't hit the forearm cutout in the top left of the body, but needed to minimize the reflection at the edges in that spot. Should have lit towards the headstock as well. I intentionally put the shadow there (in the first one), but maybe it would look better without it?

4th picture I was working at getting the Axe-FX in focus, while keeping everything else somewhat out of focus, to bring attention to it. New piece of gear so I wanted to show it on a music website I go to. Does this look good, or how would you go about achieving this effect?

Funny you mention the rule of 3rd, I know/knew about it when I took that picture, and had taken several with that in mind. Most looked too cheesy because it was a flat farmer's field and the sky, not much going on except the sun. Editing was a bit harsh and a little too extreme.

Oh, and I don't think anyone should be reluctant to click on a photobucket link. It's not like it's some random website. Do you not click hyperlinks when you search on Google? I posted the link so I didn't have to eat up everyone's bandwidth with the pictures.

Here is a couple that are on the Photobucket link for those that don't want to click it:

6)

7)

8)

Basically, a big reason I wanted to get a camera, was to take shots of guitars and such. I had taken a few shots from some other angles/perspectives, but didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I'm waiting to take some more. Photo 6, I think I may have had a bit too much noise in the photo, I shot at a long shutter speed, with lights off so I could emphasize the glow of the power tubes. What methods would you all recommend for a shot like that (and the door reflection is gross)?

In 8, due to the different diametre of the strings, how would you shoot this, and have all 6 strings in focus, while retaining the blurred background?