Dangerspouse
Senior Member
In a recent Weekly Challenge where the subject was "Books" I posted the following picture, a diptych I titled "Married Life":
The first part of the diptych was composed using two softboxes, one to either side of me, and a reflector that acted as a halo light and also lit up the globe, decanter, and bottle of scotch in the background. I clicked an IR remote and then had 2 seconds to throw the remote to the side, grab the snifter, and pose before the shutter fired. That motion took a number of takes.
The second half of the diptych used both softboxes, but no reflector so as to cut down on glare on the glossy page.
It took a while to position the lights, the camera, the props, and the reflector. But eventually I got a shots where I was happy with the focus and exposure. I then went online and managed to figure out how to stitch two pictures into one, making a diptych.
However, when I posted the picture early in the competition it only garnered 2 "Likes".
I'm really curious about this. In previous challenges my pictures receive quite a few more votes than that, even though I didn't think those pictures were that much better than this one. What made a difference this time, a difference I can't seem to discern?
I am genuinely looking to learn from this, as someone who only recently took up the hobby. What am I missing here? What can improve on? Did I completely misjudge the lighting and subsequent exposure? Was my little jape at married life offensive, rather than amusing as I intended? Is it that it's a diptych, and so not considered a single photo? Am I really that ugly?? (Ok, I do know the answer to that last one, so don't bother. I'm in radio, not TV, for a reason.)
So if you have any thoughts about how I can improve my technique when it comes to shots like this I would really appreciate if you could pass them on to me. I'm not concerned about faring well in the competitions. Win, lose, or draw I'm having fun just testing my abilities by trying to get creative with the posted topic. But I would like to improve as a photographer overall, and I think taking advice from the more seasoned members here would be a great way to go about that. Thanks very much!
The first part of the diptych was composed using two softboxes, one to either side of me, and a reflector that acted as a halo light and also lit up the globe, decanter, and bottle of scotch in the background. I clicked an IR remote and then had 2 seconds to throw the remote to the side, grab the snifter, and pose before the shutter fired. That motion took a number of takes.
The second half of the diptych used both softboxes, but no reflector so as to cut down on glare on the glossy page.
It took a while to position the lights, the camera, the props, and the reflector. But eventually I got a shots where I was happy with the focus and exposure. I then went online and managed to figure out how to stitch two pictures into one, making a diptych.
However, when I posted the picture early in the competition it only garnered 2 "Likes".
I'm really curious about this. In previous challenges my pictures receive quite a few more votes than that, even though I didn't think those pictures were that much better than this one. What made a difference this time, a difference I can't seem to discern?
I am genuinely looking to learn from this, as someone who only recently took up the hobby. What am I missing here? What can improve on? Did I completely misjudge the lighting and subsequent exposure? Was my little jape at married life offensive, rather than amusing as I intended? Is it that it's a diptych, and so not considered a single photo? Am I really that ugly?? (Ok, I do know the answer to that last one, so don't bother. I'm in radio, not TV, for a reason.)
So if you have any thoughts about how I can improve my technique when it comes to shots like this I would really appreciate if you could pass them on to me. I'm not concerned about faring well in the competitions. Win, lose, or draw I'm having fun just testing my abilities by trying to get creative with the posted topic. But I would like to improve as a photographer overall, and I think taking advice from the more seasoned members here would be a great way to go about that. Thanks very much!