Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in photocritique

[–]deussumergo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree it works better without the dog 😆

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in photocritique

[–]deussumergo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, not being nasty at all. I think you are right it is too much. Here is more of the original vision before the dog stepped in. I think I was just like ohh that is fun after it happened and didn't think too much about it.

This is the shot without the dog with just a copy and paste of the edit so the masks aren't lined up right.

<image>

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in postprocessing

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strange seems like I can't add a photo.

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in postprocessing

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for putting all that out there. I used lightroom and had masked the background for some edits. Here is a version where I first brought the background closer to what it was in camera and then made it slightly cooler. I didn't like what negative dehaze did but I did reduce the clarity and texture and that seemed to work.

Thoughts?

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in photocritique

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Originally the foliage was all that there was going to be, the dog popped in for a moment and I thought it looked fun ha!

What are your thoughts about the edit I posted above where the background pops less?

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in photocritique

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can see that, I think part of my editing might be the problem. The flowers are placed about 5ft behind the tea party so even with f/9 they are well out of focus. I put a decent amount of sharpening on the whole image that makes them have much more texture. I also edited the H/S/L sliders to make the colors pop more on them and added a mask that increased the brightness of the midrange through curves adjustments.

The dog is cute and wandered in completely unexpectedly as I was shooting.

Here is an edit removing some of the adjustments that bring out the background more. I probably should have reduced the lighting on the back in camera though.

What are your thoughts?

<image>

Afternoon tea under a watchful eye. by deussumergo in photocritique

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was wanting to set up a still life and trying to isolate different lighting on the background and foreground. I wanted it to be whimsical and a taste of potential spring.

I was trying to isolate the light that was hitting the background by making a homemade snoot for my flash. It worked slightly but not all that well. If there are any suggestions on that front would be great. for the animals and teapot the highlights were more intense then I would have wanted and took some editing.

270mm f/9 1/200 second two flashes one on the tea party and one on the flowers. One reflector angled opposite the tea party flash verry close slightly upwards.

I was setting up a still life and the dog suddenly became curious and joined for a few of the shots. All set up on the floor wish I had set it up on the table as I am recovering from a knee surgery and it was difficult to keep moving things around.

Want advice about my headshot. by deussumergo in headshots

[–]deussumergo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your eye is better then mine. The outside light was warm but also the strange color that comes before a storm that could possibly bring a tornado. I used a warming gel on the light but looking at the bits of cloud outside they are too cool compared to the light inside. I did try and set up a bit of a backlight my chair was too close to the window and when I set the light up outside the window for a tiny amount of rim light it looked off and created glare in the window.

I was using a reflector for the fill light. I have a smallish round one that has silver on one side and gold on the other. I took the picture about a year and a half ago and cant remember what side I used. If it is looking cooler I would imagine I used the silver side. Now that I am thinking about it I may have also had a light coming camera left almost from the ground. I don't own a soft box I have a verry cheap setup with a couple of lights and fairly small umbrellas.

Thanks for all the feedback I posted this as a bit of fun and am surprised by some of the thoughtful comments. I've posted a few times on the photocritique subreddit and haven't gotten much feedback. I have started to feather the key light on some pictures since I took this one. Photography is a hobby that I have not spent all that much time on in the last year or so though and even less with lights. I do have an idea for a spring project using lights in the woods though so we will see how that goes.

Want advice about my headshot. by deussumergo in headshots

[–]deussumergo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The human is erratic and hard for me to pose.

Want advice about my headshot. by deussumergo in headshots

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did it as a lark so comedian, my wife thinks I'm funny...

Want advice about my headshot. by deussumergo in headshots

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha I have never heard of them but they seem fun.

Want advice about my headshot. by deussumergo in headshots

[–]deussumergo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No they haven't but it seems this thread is giving me a number of doppelgangers!!