Commons:Photography critiques/November 2014

Bayreuth Festspielhaus: Perspective

This picture was heavily modified distortion- and "perspective"-wise (see file history). I'm still pretty new to this kind of post-processing, so: Do you think I've overdone it? --El Grafo (talk) 09:54, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi El Grafo,
Thanks for sharing your questions if the community
Could you help in one point?
Why do you let in both sizes a little bit of the wall?
But looks like ok for me, maybe in greater resolution the line between the roof and the sky could receive a lens correction
And one small point, the line in the right banner are not parallel to the line in the left, this not affect that much, but can be a point for future images, because this pass the affect of " | / " in your image, so you overpass a little bit in the right banner.
Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton (talk) 16:37, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
Hi Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton, thanks for your comments, I'll answer to them in their original order:
  • You may notice, that I stopped adjusting the "perspective" before the outer borders of the banners were perfectly vertical - they are leaning in a bit. This was done on purpose to achieve a more natural look, since the actual perspective the image was taken from is significantly below the vertical centre of the building. For the flat surfaces of the banners, it would have been possible to simulate a higher camera position by making them perfectly rectangular. But this wouldn't have been in line with the three-dimensional elements in the middle, which are clearly seen from below (e.g. you can actually see the underside of the balcony). So, since the outer verticals of the banners are converging, I had three choices: 1) a very tight crop that removes the walls to the left and right entirely but also cuts the banners at the bottom, 2) a slightly wider crop that doen't cut the banners at the bottom but leaves a little bit of the walls at the top or 3) a still wider crop that shows more of the walls. Option 3) looked best, as it gave the banners some space to "breathe".
  • Concerning the roof, if you mean what I think you mean: That may actually be a result of too much correction.
  • You are right about the last point, I can think of three factors that may all have played a role in this: 1) it looks like the camera position was not 100% centered horizontally, 2) the scaffolding below the banners may not be exactly straight or at least different on the two sides, 3) I may have screwed up in post-processing.
Nota bene: I had a DSLR in my backpack, but I was too lazy to pull it out and went for the mediocre point-and-shoot camera I had on my belt instead. Probably a bad idea in this case ;-) --El Grafo (talk) 09:53, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

stovetop coffee makers

I've been experimenting with a makeshift "studio" setup and I'd like to hear some opinions about that. I chose a dark backgound on purpose, because I felt that the aluminium would look boring if I'd went for something like this. Now of course I've got problems with the black plastic parts disapearing in the shadows. I assume this could be avoided with better lightning arrangement, but I'm pretty new to this. For reference: I've used a single off-camera flash with a makeshift softbox positioned on the right side of the camera. Comments on other aspects of the images are welcome too, of course. --El Grafo (talk) 13:17, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

I am also interested by answers, and I'd like to know which camera, lens, and settings (EXIF data?) you use for this. Regards, Yann (talk) 14:08, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
Oh dear, looks like Gimp stripped the EXIF – thanks for pointing that out, I'll try to remember to fix that. I'll have to look up the rest, but as you can see from the categories, I used a Pentax K-5 and one of my old manual SMC Takumar 50mm F1.4 lenses with an M42 to K-mount adapter. --El Grafo (talk) 14:48, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
New versions with EXIF available now. In a nutshell: 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100. Shot RAW, developed and fine-tuned in LightZone, background cleaned in Gimp. --El Grafo (talk) 17:19, 3 November 2014 (UTC) And of course the whole experiment was inspired by this FPC – so far I've failed to produce something better, I guess ;-)
  •   Comment El Grafo, Just my opinion: the photo with the wooden base is better IMO because there is no reflexion, I mean it's better to have or the entire reflection or not at all reflections. But a cut reflection is always a bit disturbing. On the both images the reflection of the light source on the aluminium is also a bit disturbing. I'm not a specialist but maybe the use of diffusers can help here. -- Christian Ferrer Talk / Im. / Fav. 17:08, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Thanks for your opinion, Christian. Good point about the reflection being cut off, I didn't really consider this until now. I'm not really content with the other picture either: Imho the wooden base I took from the kitchen doesn't seem to harmonize with the dark background – I can't really put my finger on it, but somehow it doesn't feel right. Maybe it's because it is lighter than both the background and the coffee makers?
The reflections have been bugging me as well. I actually used a softbox-like diffuser (made from two pizza boxes, staples, gaffer's tape and a white A3 paper sheet as the actual diffuser). Maybe that single sheet of 80g/m² paper was too thin. I'll try to double it up next time or look for something else (there are professionals out there on the web preaching that white shower curtain is the the way to go ;-) --El Grafo (talk) 20:17, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
El Grafo, I don't know nothing about diffusers so I can't talk about that. However the only issue, if there is, with the wooden base is not that it don't harmonize with the dark background but certainly more it don't harmonize enough with the main subject. Maybe it would have been better if you had choose a base with another form/size for a better harmonizarion with your subject. Or maybe an other disposition of the coffe makers on this base. Here for the size of this base the coffe makers are too close, or the base is too wide. With your composition, the base is too much prevailing with regard to the subject (coffe makers) not with regard to the black background. -- Christian Ferrer Talk / Im. / Fav. 22:04, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Yes, Christian, the wood is certainly taking away the attention from the subject. I tried a darker round board first, but it seemed a little too small, so I picked this one without really adjusting the placement of the subjects. That's tricky stuff, I can see why there are people who can live from doing that professionally. --El Grafo (talk) 14:59, 11 November 2014 (UTC)
El Grafo, in more the crop around the wooden base is maybe a bit tight, it seems to be the main subject. You must think at what you want to show, try several placements, compare them, and find why one placement is better than an other. But at the end all is matter of taste. -- Christian Ferrer Talk / Im. / Fav. 15:35, 11 November 2014 (UTC)
Well, that's what makes it fun, isn't it? ;-) Thanks for your time! --El Grafo (talk) 13:08, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Polished granite surface

Hello, I'm thinking about entering this at QIC, but I noticed that the sharpness drops a bit at the top and bottom. Obviously, corner sharpness of this lens is not that great at f/5.6, but I was too lazy to swap to the dedicated macro. Do you think I should upload/nominate a cropped version (I'm thinking of a square crop)? --El Grafo (talk) 13:17, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

General view of Festos disk

Hellow, can you provide some tips for background choise for items in a museum that are not in a showcase at the wall, eg. one this case. Thank you in advance. --C messier (talk) 21:50, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi C messier, that's a tough one and of course it depends heavily on the situation. I haven't shot under conditions like that, but I'd guess that, apart from using a wide aperture, the key for a non-disturbing background would be to find a camera position that 1) shows the subject well and 2) enables you to have something in the background that's as close to an even surface as possible. One thing that might help is to step back from the subject as far as possible and instead zoom in/use a longer lens: This way you can keep the size of the subject constant, but at the same time have less background to deal with, due to the narrower w:Angle of view. Instead of having (for example) three other showcases in the background when using a wide angle lens/zoom setting, with a short tele lens you might be able to reduce that to only one – or maybe even manage to find a small empty spot on the opposite wall that can serve as a background.
Another idea: If you have another person with you, ask him/her to wear something evenly-colored and then place them behind the subject with the back facing in your direction (like a walking backdrop). Don't know if that actually works, but it might be worth a try. --El Grafo (talk) 13:48, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Do you think as a composition could be promoted as QI. --C messier (talk) 11:28, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
Difficult to say, C messier. I think you've done a good job when it comes to separating the main subject from the background just enough to make it stand out, while at the same time keeping the environment … well … recognizable. Some of the reviewers are a bit picky when it comes to "perspective distortion", so the pillar on the right being broader at the top than at the bottom could become a problem. However, I'd say "no risk no fun", just give it a try at QI and see how it goes. Cheers, --El Grafo (talk) 13:33, 11 December 2014 (UTC)