experimenting again

Here's a composition I tried and the crop with cloning in the second pic. I wanted to see if I could capture the colors of the carnival glass. Does it work, or not?

Liz, the photos I took last week were pretty much a bust, so I'm posting this instead. :)

The first is my favorite of the two. It's an interesting still-life, but I think maybe you've gotten too close and thus lost a little bit of the surroundings. For example, I like that hint of the decorative plants / jar in the backround. Maybe with a bit more of that (or if there's something of interest outside the window that can be taken from the same spot but with different exposure values). You could then overlay the the original shot on the window exposure and clone the properly exposed window in....

Not precisely "pure photography", but an idea if you like still-lifes with windows in the background (which a lot of us do).

;)

Thanks Dan. Something I haven't tried yet is putting up a piece of material as a back drop. There's nothing interesting outside my windows. :)

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Originally Posted by Lara

Here's a composition I tried and the crop with cloning in the second pic. I wanted to see if I could capture the colors of the carnival glass. Does it work, or not?

Liz, the photos I took last week were pretty much a bust, so I'm posting this instead. :)

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I like the set up here, nice composition.Only the too strong light on the left detracts from the effect and casts shadows all over the place.Try putting a small piece of white cardboard or news paper in position to reflect some of that light back into those areas of shadow. Good to see you working at this rather than just looking for an opportunity to present itself.
Bobby

Thanks for the tip Bob. I'll give it a try.

Nice experiment, Lara. I think your photo captured the glass very well. I agree with Bobby's white card suggestion, too. You could also try putting some thin cloth or something between the window and your subject to diffuse the light some more.

One thing to consider is depth-of-field. I like the content and composition of the first one best. But the out-of-focus cloth in the foreground distracts me. In order to get that are sharp you need a smaller aperture. Check your camera manual and see what you need to do to get the same exposure with a smaller aperture.

Thanks John. I'll work on it. Since I don't have a tripod yet, I have to be careful with the aperture.
A tripod is on my list as one of the things I really would like to get next.

Glad to see you're experimenting with things. I do agree with all of the comments here, especially about the white card (or piece of printer paper, whatever you've got) to bounce some light back into the foreground. Like it was mentioned, a tripod will help you with a longer shutter speed so you can use a smaller aperture for depth of field. It will also help you with keeping lines straight, etc - but you've done a good job of that here.

I do find the highlight distracting in the first shot. If you rotated the whole "set" a little bit counter-clockwise, you would have the same composition and your camera pointed parallel to the window. That would help with the highlight and still give strong side light. Usually a north facing window is preferred because the sun never shines into it, but that doesn't always happen in real life (like here, where my neighbors house is 20' away to the north...).

Good job with the colors that you were trying to capture in the glass.

Thank you Steve. I appreciate the feedback, and tutoring. It really is very helpful :) Same goes to PuckJunkey, Bob, and of course P.J. Most everyone here has so much more experience and time put into photography. Helping some like me with virtually no prior knowledge is extremely generous.

Oh, and tripod is on my Christmas list!

Two elbows plonked firmly on any surface is a good tripod !!
Bobby