Light, tone and "shape"

[Ginn]

Sort of as the title says, was on my way up to bed when it struck me that my bedside lamp may make an "educational" photo.

So to begin with I just took a shot on Auto everything:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/simple_serendipity/Miscillaneous/autolines.jpg

Then I adjusted the white balance, exposure time and F number until I was happy and got this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/simple_serendipity/Miscillaneous/linessettings1.jpg

So tear me apart, does it work in any way and if so what am I doing right? where is it going wrong? How do I improve and learn from this?

[moomike]

For a start the image is very nicely exposed Ginny so well done for that one.
I prefer the 1st one although others may disagree with me due to the warmth of the 2nd. There seems to be a little too much space to the left of the image for my liking (due to the dark red being more predominant on that side) & if you look at the sides of the table they look more angled on one side.
Given these things though I do think that as an "educational" image you have done well to cope with the light & dark of the image, especially with the brightness of artificial bulb lighting, keep on going, am looking forward to more :clap:
This sort of shot is ideal to test out the other modes of your camera too (*manual* cough *manual*) so as you can see how shutter speed & aperture are affected by ISO, etc.

[tank]

Not a bad idea. The shot *** isnt straight and slightly sideways on which is a bit off putting.

I agree with moomike, shots like this are good ways inwhich to learn your cameras manual settings.

[CT]

I much prefer the first shot with natural looking colour and light. The edited version is really exhibiting that awful orange tungsten light. Just needs a bit of a sharpen is all IMO. :)