Lesson 8 – Advanced Composition

[Claudia Samples]

Hi there,

This is my Work for Lesson 8!
You have asked the Question, what kind of theme we find ourselves interested in over and over again and for me it’s Flowers!
I love flowers and I especially love showing off the whole beauty of them!

This Photo shows the Love of two People, “two Hearts” go the Journey together through thick and thin!
So i put one tulip behind the other, making it look like they were showing their Affection for each other!
The Light on the left might be a bit too bright but I have gotten great feedback for this on my Portfolio! 🙂

Now this is not the kind of photo i have seen here in the forums but i used hard light to create shadows on the leaves so that the Tulip itself would be highlighted since the Focus of the Viewer should be pointed at them!
I hope you’ll like it! 🙂
Thanks! 🙂

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Hi Claudia,

Thanks for submitting another assignment.

Here is the exif data for this image.

[attachment=0:1393tjk6]DSC_1044-2 EXIF.png[/attachment:1393tjk6]
Date Time Original: 2013:05:01 17:34:47
Exposure Time: 1/100
F Number: f / 7.10
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO Speed Ratings: 400
Metering Mode: CenterWeightedAverage
Flash: Flash did not fire
Focal Length: 55mm
White Balance: Manual white balance
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3100
LensInfo: 180/10 550/10 35/10 56/10
LensModel: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Lens: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Exif Version:
Color Space: 1
Pixel X Dimension: 2682
Pixel Y Dimension: 4102
Date Time Digitized: 2013:05:01 17:34:47
Subsec Time Original: 50
Shutter Speed Value: 6.64
Aperture Value: 5.66
Exposure Bias: 4
Max Aperture Value: 5
Light Source: Fine weather
Sensing Method: One-chip color area sensor
File Source: DSC
Scene Type: Directly photographed
CFA Pattern: 830
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Exposure Mode: 1
Digital Zoom Ration: 1
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 82mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: Low gain up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Subject Distance Range: Unknown
Image Width: 2682px
Image Height: 4102px
ExifIFDPointer: 284
BitsPerSample: 3
PhotometricInterpretation: 2
Orientation: 1
SamplesPerPixel: 3
X Resolution: 240
Y Resolution: 240
Resolution Unit: 2
Date Time: 2013:05:02 05:21:09
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
DateCreated: 2013-05-01T17:34:47.005

Aperture Value: 5.656
Color Space: sRGB
Contrast: Normal
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Date Time Digitized: 2013-05-01 5:34:47 PM
Date Time Original: 2013-05-01 5:34:47 PM
Digital Zoom Ratio: 1
Exif Version: 2.3
Exposure Bias Value: 4
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 1/100
File Source: DSC
Flash: Flash did not fire
FNumber: 7.1
Focal Length: 55
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 82
Gain Control: Low gain up
ISO Speed Ratings: 400
Light Source: Fine weather
Max Aperture Value: 5
Metering Mode: CenterWeightedAverage
Pixel X Dimension: 2,682
Pixel Y Dimension: 4,102
Saturation: Normal
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Scene Type: A directly photographed image
Sensing Method: One-chip color area sensor
Sharpness: Normal
Shutter Speed Value: 6.644
Subject Distance Range: unknown
Sub-second Time Original: 50
White Balance: Manual white balance
Image Number: 1,747
Lens ID: 154
Lens Info: 18, 55, 3.5, 5.6
Lens Model: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Serial Number: 4066061

First there a few things that are really nice about this image. For one you have managed to light it in such a way that focuses the viewers eye entirely on the flowers themselves. This is nice and it shows you are progressing in your skills.

What’s more, the composition of the image is lovely. Shooting in portrait and the arrangement of the flowers really works nicely. It’s excellent.

Here are a couple things you could do to improve the image.

For one if you are shooting in a controlled environment like this and you are shooting such a static (non-moving) object you should shoot at as low an ISO as possible to ensure the image is as clean as you can make it.

Beyond that you should control the light such that there are not any areas of the image that are blown out white or hot.

In this case the flower is blown out and this is a problem because you lose all detail in the blown out region of the image.

In most cameras you turn on highlighting and what this will do is the areas of your image that are blown out will blink when you review the images.

For your camera you can do it using the playback up and down arrows:

You can cycle through a variety of Playback displays using the up/down arrows on the multi-selector, including the image alongside either file information, basic shooting data and a luminance histogram, or an RGB histogram (if enabled in the display mode menu). Four further displays include the image with either three screens of overlaid shooting info and image parameter information, or the image with a blinking indication of clipped highlights. To reduce the number of button presses to get to your desired screen type, the highlights, RGB histogram, and info displays can be disabled in the display mode menu if you don’t use them Perhaps more unusually, the D3100 offers two slideshow-like transition effects, applicable not to the slide show function itself, but to when you switch between individual images or movies in the standard “image with file info” display type. It’s very much a consumer-oriented feature, but doesn’t slow the camera down as much as you might think, given that you can interrupt the transition effect to continue switching between images and movies.

via http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D3100/D3100A3.HTM

That way you can see what part of your image is blown out… With images like this you can take your time, the thing you are shooting is not moving.

You could also try playing around with an off camera strobe unit or flash here.

Given all that I think you are progressing quite nicely.

Keep shooting and having fun!!!

See you on the next one.

[Author]

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