Re: Re: Lesson 1

#20996
Duncan Rawlinson
Keymaster

Welcome! Thanks for finally starting your lessons!

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Now let’s get on with it shall we?!

Here is the EXIF data for this photograph for anyone looking at this in future.

[attachment=1:grtcu8if]2X8C3696 copy EXIF.png[/attachment:grtcu8if]

I noticed a few things instantly when I looked at this image. First I liked your use of line and the angle at which your positioned yourself or your camera. This makes for a more interesting perspective for a photograph of a guitar instead of just the standard eye level straight on image.

I also noticed the use of shallow depth of field. In this case the depth of field (basically the part of the image that is in focus) is a small area of the strings.

As is almost always is the case one of the simplest things you can do to make a photograph more interesting is to add people.

Here is an example:
[attachment=0:grtcu8if]example of a guitar photograph with a hand.jpg[/attachment:grtcu8if]
photo by seriousbri

So that is a simple takeaway from your first lesson right off the top. Add people to your images!

Now beyond that on a more technical level you shot this image at ISO 8000. In simple terms this means that your camera’s sensor was VERY sensitive and thus it produced a fair bit of grain/noise in the image. It also means that any highlights (bright parts) in your image would be fairly blown out.

If you have little or no motion in your frame in a low light situation like this I would recommend putting your camera on a tripod and shooting at lower ISOs and slower shutter speeds. Shooting at high ISOs is good when you are in low light but if you can control the amount of light or the amount of motion you can choose your ISO accordingly and control it to give the look you want.

All of that said you’ve done very well here. For one thing you’ve gotten started on your journey of photography and that’s more than most people can say. You’ve also managed to create an interesting photograph that is shot from a unique perspective which is also more than most people can say when they are starting out.

So job well done here!