Bottles

[Mike Farley]

Nina rang me earlier today and amongst other items of conversation, asked me what I was doing. At that exact moment, editing this photo from yesterday was the answer. I sent her an interim version which was how the image was at that particular point. I had completed the initial Raw adjustments in Lightroom, but had not done the main monochrome conversion. It would be fair to say that Nina was not impressed, so I promised to post the final image here for critique when it was ready. When I sent Nina the image, I had it as a rectangular crop, but she suggested a square format. On reflection, I agreed. I do not think square images always work well, but this is one of those occasions. There was not too much happening on the left hand side, so I removed it.

One thing which I will say. This image is not here just for Nina to critique. One of the ways in which we can improve as photographers is to look at the work of others and comment on it. We also learn by seeing what other people have to say. And we have all seen enough competitions to know that there are no right or wrong answers. If, as far too often seems to be the case on this forum, people look at a shot and think to themselves that is good/rubbish* and move on, that does not help anyone. We all lose.

Why does the shot work or not? What do you like or dislike about it? Would you have photographed it in the same way or had a different approach? Have the adjustments made during processing helped or hindered? Etc., etc.

Bottles

Bottles.jpg (122.02 KiB) Viewed 72698 times

Technical information:
Camera: Fuji X-Pro-1
Focal length: 23 mm
Aperture: f/2.5
Shutter: 1/100
ISO: 1600

* Delete as appropriate

[Nina]

Hi Mike

I agree that critique on a photo can be a very useful tool for improving your work. I spent a lot of time over the years on various photo forums giving and receiving critique and found it useful and even enjoyable. What is even better is if the owner of the work agrees is to actually do your own version to show how you would process the image if it were yours.

Now for my thoughts on this image.

The composition now works really well. Technically the b&w conversion can not be improved, it is excellent. What would I do differently? Probably crop a bit of the bottom to remove some oof area of the bread board and also straighten the verticals on the left.

Very good image.

[Mike Farley]

Thanks for the feedback, Nina. I am not sure I would have got to the square format without your earlier input when we spoke. That said, I had been experimenting with a 8 x 10 crop, as I recognised that that something closer to the more conventional 3:2 ratio would not work.

What would I do differently? Probably crop a bit of the bottom to remove some oof area of the bread board and also straighten the verticals on the left.

Your comments do raise a couple of interesting questions. Does an image need complete front to back sharpness? Obviously it depends on the image. In this instance, does it draw attention to the bottles and hold the eye there or is the out of focus area a distraction? Personally, I do like the way the light falls on he board. I had already cropped into it quite heavily and stopping where I did has left a darker area at the bottom of the shot. We all know how judges just love lighter areas at the edge of an image. It gives them something to talk about.

Regarding the verticals on the left, it is not a distortion. Well, it is, but it is not due to the lens. The shot was taken in a 14th century house and that is the way it is. The wall might have been straight once, but time has intervened. As shot, I had not held the camera quite straight and corrected the bottles and the wall behind, but decided to leave the left hand side as is. I like the diagonal and think it shows some of the character of the building. That said, I can see that compositionally there could be a clash.

So yes, technically the image has a couple of "flaws". Which leads to my other question. Does the aesthetic rely on on perfection in every element of an image, or can imperfection also play a part?