Piano - C&C please

pharmakon · Jan 6, 2010

Hi.

It's been a few weeks since I posted for C&C so here goes... Please let me know how i'm doing.

This was the first pic I posted for a weekly photo post on my personal blog fro friends and family. It was taken handheld at 44mm, 1/13 sec (yay for IS lenses!)@f/4.0, ISO 800, no flash.

Slight exposure and WB adjustment, some selective sharpening, and a little bit of a vignette.

Thanks!

thebeatles · Jan 6, 2010

This shot would seem more intimate to me if it were just the piano, player, and music (without yellow tag.)

inTempus · Jan 6, 2010

I corrected the white balance for you and removed the yellow flag. Let me know if you would like for me to remove this edit.

pharmakon · Jan 6, 2010

Thanks Tim, it looks good. I have no problem with people editing my photos. I'm still trying to develop an eye for post processing. It looked ok to me until I saw your version and now I can see it was off.

bazooka · Jan 6, 2010

It's difficult for me to determine what you intended the subject to be. The hands? The rings on the hands? The keys? The sheet music? The red candle? Christmas card? All of these things seem to be fighting for my attention.

I think the sheet music wins, but that, at least in this composition, is pretty boring for me.

Sirashley · Jan 6, 2010

Alrighty, I did a real quick edit to remove some of the distracting stuff in the background... Mind you the edit was quick, i really like it without all the clutter...

Anyway, that's something to be mindful of when shooting... I did some shots a few weeks back where the flash kept bouncing off my necklace. I didn't notice until I was done, so I had to set up everything again and re-shoot... Anyway, good shot and keep up the good work...

--ares-- · Jan 6, 2010

I like the composition and exposure but I would have cropped tighter around the hands to make them look more dominanite. You have a lot of distracting elements.

Lazy Photographer · Jan 6, 2010

Sounds good to me...

pharmakon · Jan 6, 2010

bazooka said:
It's difficult for me to determine what you intended the subject to be. The hands? The rings on the hands? The keys? The sheet music? The red candle? Christmas card? All of these things seem to be fighting for my attention.

I think the sheet music wins, but that, at least in this composition, is pretty boring for me.

--ares-- said:
I like the composition and exposure but I would have cropped tighter around the hands to make them look more dominanite. You have a lot of distracting elements.

Thanks to both of you. I actually was going to mention I might have cropped it tighter after reading the post by bazooka but someone else beat me to it.

and to sirashley: I like the idea. Now that all the christmas decorations are gone I might just try it again with some actual planning.

Thanks for the comments.

bazooka · Jan 7, 2010

Ashley's edit is more appealing to me. The only things that are going on are the fingers playing and the sheet music which is easier to grasp at once. Perhaps, if you try shooting this again, play with your composition DOF to either get the fingers focused and music OOF, or vice versa. It's a subject that certainly has potential.

thebeatles · Jan 7, 2010

Sirashley said:

Wowzers

Photoshop is crazy.

Sirashley · Jan 7, 2010

Actually that was done with GIMP

I love freebies!

PeterParker · Jan 7, 2010

I'd say, from the original shot, I like the focus on the hands a lot, the sense of motion really places the image in time.
I think the top of the shot is a little dead. I think this might work a lot closer and portrait format, and maybe with the candles lit? Never pass up a chance to complicate the lighting of a shot, that's what I always say!
Also, I like the uncorrected white balance better. I know technically the image is more accurate with the WB correction, but I feel it looses some of it's natural nostalgic qualities and warmth.
It's a nice picture overall. It makes me think of Sweden. Not sure why, I've never been.