Composition/ Cropping Advice....

[InaGlo]

First of all, appologies for the quality of the pic. I cant seem to get it right for the net and yet I can zoom right up to her eye before it gets noisy on my pc.I did get too much glare on the nails & this looks worse with resizing.

Pic is from my first play with the 5D. The pic is supposed to have emphasis on the hands (its for nails) I have a theme for the pic which is the 1930's. So my idea was screen siren type of thing, hence the pose.
I dont shoot people & had only one security light for lighting. Basically I didnt know what I was doing but this is something Id like to learn as it appeals to me.
I cropped the deadspace at the top but think I took too much as thats where she's looking! Ive since thought of cropping tighter but would lose the stem/bottom of the glass. basically I think I messed up!
What do you guys think? is this pic a dead loss?
Dont bother treading gently ... Id really like opinions as Im soo new to all of this!
I dont know if I should have put the pic in 'critique' but I dont think Im worthy of that section yet.
Thanx for looking.

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[minimeeze]

Maybe you will get more constructive criticism in the 'critique' section, as that's the whole idea of it...
I am no expert at all when it comes to photos (I'm still learning), but I do find the background in this shot very distracting, and my eyes are drawn to that rather than anything else. The shot seems a little 'busy' (if that's the right word) with no real focal point, leaving one's eyes to wander around. Maybe if the background was OOF, it would be better.
On a positive note, I do like the idea you've tried to create, and with a little fiddling around, I think it could work really well. I'm sure someone who knows what they're talking about will put you right

 

[Venomator]

Great conceptually but Minimeeze is right - if you really want critique then pics need to go into the appropriate posting forum.

I agree the background would be much better plain, and probably a different colour ? You do have the exposure on the boa about right so it will not be all bad news ! Does she have a tear in her eyes ?

A bit of practice and these could be really nice pics !

 

[CT]

Inaglo I've moved this to Critique for you, where I think you'll get more help with it.

It's a nice shot, but I agree, you have a problem cropping it as it stands. Any chance you still have the orginal uncropped version which might be a big help?

 

[stepheno]

Hi Inaglo - as said, the idea is good. Also I would have to agree about the b/g. My twopenneth is that I would lose the boa at the bottom and I feel there isn't enough contrast to make the model stand out. As Minimeeze said there is so much going on I don't know what to look at first. But... an ace attempt

regards

 

[SammyC]

Well it seems a bit obvious to me but if you're trying to draw someone's attention to just the nails the focus on them and use a very large appature to throw everything else out of focus.

I think that combined with a different coloured background, something in keeping with the era you are trying to represent, you will have a recognisable backdrop to your nails. The strong (red) make up on the model will also work effectively.

The EXIF of the image says f7.1 was used, you should be able to use a much larger appature to throw the model OOF.

What lens was this on?

To reduce the depth of field even more (if you are struggling with it) is to use a long lens from far away rather than a wide lens close up.

 

[Steve]

The idea is great as is the lighting considering that you only used a security light!! As has been mentioned by yourself and others, the crop is wrong with the model looking out of frame. To really draw all the attention to the hands and nails I would do several things, the first one is use a larger aperture (smaller F stop) and possibly position yourself further away and zoom to frame the shot, if you then focus on the hands again this will basically throw the background out of focus and have the desired effect of making the viewer focus on the hands. To further emphasise that I would have the model look down at the glass as well but ensure that we can still see her eyes, this will again allow the viewer to follow her line of site which will take us back to the glass. The last thing I would change is the angle of the models left hand, as it is now her fingers are kind of limp and lead you off the photo, if you got her to raise her whole hand but keep her holding on to the cocktail stirrer then her fingers would naturally point down into the centre of the photo, that coupled with the other suggestions would really force the point of the nails. As for framing, cropping and the background, I would have moved slightly to the right and positioned the shot so that her head was centre top of frame and with my suggestion of her looking down that would give you a nice triangle of her head, the left hand, and the glass (now tipped slightly towards the stirrer) to take everything towards the centre and keep balance.

HTH

 

[InaGlo]

Wow! thanx guys for taking the time to look & give me some critique here,
I really do appreciate it as Im on the steepest of learning curves.
Ive never taken this type of shot before as I only ever take pics of nails. I dont have a clue about posing but all the above comments & advice make perfect sense.

The cocktail glass was an after thought, initially she was draping her hand across a candlestick phone below centre but the dark phone took over the pic so I tossed it without giving much thought as to how to intergrate the idea of the cokctail glass.

I had purpously wanted to keep the whole pic in pale tones (I was thinking high key but it didnt come out that way, lol!). I bought the satin throw (background) for the rainbow type pattern sewn in it as it reminded me of Art Deco, the pattern looked minimal in the flesh & I never dreamed it would look so busy nor did I give any thought to it being so reflective, doh!

I enjoyed 'playing' at this & would definately like to do it again...but maybe next time without spending 3 hours creating the nails first, lol!
If anyone can recommend any literature or anywhere I can learn more about taking these kind of pics, Id be ya bestest mate!