On the Menu- xpost

[natatbeach]

Something about the placement of the flower and the menu intrigued me... and how literally picture perfect the table was set....What do you think....? boring on reasonable?

again straight out of the camera using an 18-50 mm on auto, D70 natural light.

[Chunk]

Something about the placement of the flower and the menu intrigued me... and how literally picture perfect the table was set....What do you think....? boring on reasonable?

again straight out of the camera using an 18-50 mm on auto, D70 natural light.

The natural light coming through the window is blue skylight and leaves a bluish cast thoughout the picture. You might want to try a custom white balance (what WB setting did you use, btw) when so much of the scene is white or warm it a little afterwards like this.

I'm bothered (silly me) by the alignment of the one piece of bread with the corner of the menu and wish that the bread extended more clearly over the paper.

Both shots convey a good feeling for this elegant setting.

[natatbeach]

extends to every ends of the nation LOL THAT piece of bread was one of the irritants for me! lol that's funny you should notice the same thing...

I see what you mean about the bluish cast. Mystic seaport? Is that where you grew up...my sister in law was originally born there. it's an hour and half from us....

[jcharris]

Dear Natalie

I do not regard myself yet as someone who can give constructive critique ,
but imo i do not think either one of the photos was boring !
The first one with the flower on the right side is very well done . The way the photo is composed is very good . Especially the flower .
Great work .

Regards
james

Something about the placement of the flower and the menu intrigued me... and how literally picture perfect the table was set....What do you think....? boring on reasonable?

again straight out of the camera using an 18-50 mm on auto, D70 natural light.

[Chunk]

Mystic seaport? Is that where you grew up...my sister in law was originally born there. it's an hour and half from us....

I was stationed in Groton for a few years in the early 70s. Every once in a while I have a longing for a pitcher of steamers, or a lobster grinder from the Red Oak north of town, or a double lobster at that little bar across from the shipyard, or...

Mystic Seaport was one of the easy places to take folks from back home when they came to visit. Sturbridge village in Mass. was another favorite. I have to get back there with a camera some day.

[Wings]

Nice, pictures, I like the one with the flower best, good composition, nice soft colors.

leaves a bluish cast

I looked at the image and I had my doubts about your comment. Normally I don't comment on the replies of others, but this time I couldn't resist, I hope you forgive me Chunk.

I took the image in Photoshop. I sampled several white areas and in none of them blue has the upper hand, but only a tiny bit of green, most visible if you turn up the saturation a few notches. Actually, the white balance is quite good. ;)

Personally, I don't think one should make this image warmer by adding red, it now looks a tad unnatural. I don't even mind if the whites aren't always perfectly white, some whites in a shot (depending on the scene) look more natural with a tiny bit of blue (in case we're dealing with a sky cast) that's hardly visible.

[Chunk]

I looked at the image and I had my doubts about your comment. Normally I don't comment on the replies of others, but this time I couldn't resist, I hope you forgive me Chunk.

I took the image in Photoshop. I sampled several white areas and in none of them blue has the upper hand, but only a tiny bit of green, most visible if you turn up the contrast a few notches. Actually, the white balance is quite good. ;)

Personally, I don't think one should make this image warmer by adding red, it now looks a tad unnatural. I don't even mind if the whites aren't always perfectly white, some whites in a shot (depending on the scene) look more natural with a tiny bit of blue (in case we're dealing with a sky cast), but hardly visible.

I don't mind at all that you commented on my comment, I hope that happens more often. It's good that more than one view of a picture be given.

To my eye the original has an overall cool tone from the sky light and I would prefer the warmer. One place I thought was improved was the inside of the bread where the yellowish color with the mixed with the cool overall cast resulted in what originally looked a little bit greenish to me.

None of the this is overpowering in the original and I'm sure there are many who prefer the cooler color for whites. That preference is the reason for bluing in laundry products among other things.

[Wings]

Thanks Chunk.

I was just expressing my my opinion. Everyone goes for slightly different corrections, sometimes there are no written rules, so thanks for allowing me to shine my personal light on this.

[natatbeach]

Thanks to both of you for spending that much time looking and "investigating" this shot...

situations like these are what keep me posting on here when I get discouraged about the lack of critiques. I really enjoyed reading your posts and actually learned quite a bit and re-examined the shot from both perspectives...

I had originally thought the shot had good white values but after reading Chunks post i noticed (the greenish tone in the bread too) the tone he was refering to so I find it interesting that three people can look at a shot and see such different things---again thnaks for taking the time

[natatbeach]

regardless of your experience you can ALWAYS give an earnest critique

Composition---did ya like it was it off---could it have been shot differently for a different feel or appeal?

Color/exposure---were the colors on the mark, washed out, overly saturated, overexposed underexposed.

Creative critique----what feel did you get from it...what would you have done differently,etc

I guess the point is you are entitled to any opinion and I am able to learn from every post---it's all in the perspective thanks for looking and PLEASE critique away!