Around the House

[jar_e]

Anything in these pics stick out for anyone? Been somewhat in a slump lately and the weathers sucked, so I've been stuck in home to take pictures. As always, comments/critiques greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Jared

[Aaron]

The first one didn't do a lot for me, but I love the color and shapr focus of the second one. I like flowers anyway - they always are interesting, usually sit still, and don't fuss a lot! I especially like the amount of DOF you had on this one Jared.

[LauriePriest]

I think your first image has potential, play with other angles and lighting directions it could go somwhere very simply i think, its hard to pin point what isnt working with it at the moment.

Second picture is very well taken and has beautifull colors, ive allways wanted to photographically animate a flower opening, but appart from that i havnt ever planned much nature photography.

Good work.
Laurie

[gahspidy]

Jared, the first shot in concept does have potential,, but i think the lighting is hurting this as it is. Too harsh shadows and highlights. A shot like this i think should be very soft moody lighting with a natural light sort of look as opposed to this which almost looks like you may have used flash here.
The second one is sharp and colors are great, but i feel the bg is distracting. I feel as if you should have gotten down a bit lower and vertical frame might have been stronger.
I think you should keep at that first shot and try different lighting and tripod and see how far you go with it. Really has potential. Good work

[jar_e]

Aaron, Gary, Laurie,

Thanks for all the words. Gary, I actually took around 30-40 shots with the piano keys. Let me upload a little more moody one. Does this one work? Looking back at my shots, I think I needed a little more DOF for the keys.

Thanks everyone,

Jared

[PlantedTao]

Really love the concept of the first photo...and your second post of the piano keys is great. I like the less harsh lighting and how the keys trail away to the background.
I would keep playing with this until you get "the one". But with 30 - 40 shots (you must be shooting digital!) you probably have one which just needs a bit of tweek to be right on.
Great work and excellent concept. Cheers.

[OldSchool]

Hey Jared,

I like the keyboard work. I like the composition of the 2nd shot better. But, is it missing some of the sharpness of the 1st? I think leveling the image would help too. Just musing, what does it look like if you crop out the top such that it looks as if the keys go to infinity?

BR,
Tim

[Knight]

Hope you dont mind if i played with your Keyboard , if its not cool to do so pls let me know . But i had a little spare time this after noon and i had some fun with PhotoImpact.

Hope you like it

[Tuna]

The first keyboard post has an interesting and, to me, a pleasing point of DOF. The contrast of the sidelighting, for me, adds some interest to this shot that I have seen tried many times before. I like it Jared.

Tuna

[Aaron]

Jared, I agree that the concept on the keyboard picture is sure a valid one - perhaps for me it is I'm expecting to see the keys in sharpest focus closest to me, and then gradually fade away with the perspective change as the dwindle in the distance - but, I also think this is a preconception on my part and would not be valid to Your Perception of the photo. Hmmmm, wonder if that made any sense to anyone?????;)

[jcharris]

Hallo Jared

I like your flower shot . The colors are very nice and sharp and the dof is good.
Maybe a suggestion ( do not know if it will work allways ) is to maybe put some water on the flower .

I like your shot of the piano keys. Maybe the light is a bit too harsh , but still a good photo.
Regards
james

[jar_e]

Wow, I goto school and this thread gets tons of responses! Awesome. Thanks everyone for your response, and let me see if I can reply to all of you.

PlantedTao, yes, thankfully, I'm shooting digital. I experimented with the lighting, using natural light, flash, etc. I believe the first pic was 1/2000 shutter speed, because the flash was so harsh and the subject was so close. Thanks.

Tim, The second one is using a 'soft' focus on my Fuji S5100. Just realizing that now, I agree that the second one might look better with the sharp focus, maybe even a hard focus. Nice crop suggestion too.

Knight, no worries about the PS job. I enjoy seeing what other people can come up with in my photos when my PS skills lack (greatly). Thanks, and I like the border on it.

Tuna, Thanks for liking the DOF. My goal was at first to just get a group of keys focused, but didn't work as well, and this is probably one of the oddest DOF I had, it kinda looks like it was focusing in the midground, not background or foreground. Thanks for the words.

Aaron, What I spoke about in regards to Tuna's comment apply to your post. I agree, my ideal shot would be the keys in the foreground in focus, with a nice DOF, and the keys fading as they go further into the BG. Thanks again.

James, I like the idea of the water in the flower. I read in one of my photo books that it not only adds an interesting subject, but also allows texture to come through, the smoothness of the flower.

Thank you every body for your words and I appreciate any more comments if anyone else wants to post!


Thanks,

Jared