Your photos 14

Your photos (14)

Take Better Photos

Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset

Sunset

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with comments from Philip Grosset

"I am very new to all this photography "stuff" but have decided to dabble in it... My 6 month old daughter is my model - the poor girl thinks white dots is part of her permanent vision .... Anyways - my first attempt was black and white -- let me know what you think??" (Lisa Lumax)

A really charming photo (on the left) - but even better if you move in just a bit closer (as on the right). You've caught her just at the right moment! You could avoid the hard shadows around her if you moved her further away from the background - but I can't say they worry me here.

Another excellent characteristic shot! Even better, perhaps, on the right where I've removed some of the unnecessary white area below her.

This is much less successful because the baby looks so obviously posed and totally uninterested in the guitar! The harsh shadow around her head doesn't do her much good either!

I can't help wondering: wouldn't all of these photos have looked even more attractive in color?

"I have studied your pages about "Take better photos". I like them very much and I think I learned a lot from them. I take photos with a Minolta Dynax500si/Sigma 28-200 for two years. At the beginning my photos were worse than the earlier took with automatic cameras. This and the possibilities offered by my SLR camera motivated me to learn something about photography. Now I feel I can make much better photographs in theory, but I have problems in practice. I send you some photos which I consider good ones. I would be very glad to hear your opinion about them, which you like the best. The attached files are very small, the originals can be found at: http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~s7373las/photo Thank you very much in advance. Andras Lasso, university student, Budapest, Hungary."

On left: I like this picture. It's full of atmosphere. Flash would have destroyed it! However, it tilts over a bit to the right. Correct this (as on the right) by getting the main centre of interest (the window) truly vertical, and it looks even better. Another, perhaps simpler, way of achieving this is by checking that the base of the window is really horizontal!

A pity we can't see what she's looking at, but all the stones around her give us a clue! It's sometimes worth taking a group of two or three pictures. If you'd also taken a big close up of what she's holding, they'd have made an interesting pair.

This is a fun picture that shows real imagination! If you'd come in a bit closer to the mirror, as on the right, you could have exposed more for it, and so got a slightly lighter picture as shown. A pity you weren't able to exclude the head on the extreme left - but you can't always have everything!
I like these pictures which look even better, of course, when seen in larger size on your web page. But this one, and the church, are my favourites.

Reply from Andras Lasso: "Thank you very much for your fast answer! It is very good to read competent, objective comments on my photos, and amazing that Internet can make it so easy. My reply for your comments:
The church: I took this photo in Innichen, Italy in a crypt. It was the red roses on the altar that gripped me, they are the only colour in the scene. I used a table tripod, and a film box to support the lens, and it is true, that it is tilted, your corrected version is much better. I exposed for 8 seconds at 9.5. After 4 seconds a tourist appeared in the door of the crypt. I had thrilling 4 seconds, while I tried to keep back him from entering by waving and telling him to stop in every language I speak. Finally the shutter closed, and the tourist went away - he saw enough from the door, or perhaps I was a very frightening phenomenon.
The mirror: The heads in the foreground were intentional, because it is very interesting (to me) to guess, who is who in the real and the mirrored picture. I also would have made sure the real-life picture appearance, so no one can say that he can make such picture with a simple distortion effect of Photoshop.The picture was taken in Brixen. After visiting the cathedral, we asked a local, what other sights are there in the city. He said the cathedral is the only one - well, as can be seen on the photo, we have found another place of interest. Thank you, again."

We'd need to be a lot closer to see the red roses!

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