Finally a decent lens and first attempt at arty

So I got my new lens today and since the weather is bad I thought I would try my hand at some indoor stuff. Anyways just my pens and brushes on my art desk. Light sources were the desk's light with 5500K CFL and a YN560III speedlight diffused. Some feedback would be nice, I didn't go to crazy in Lightroom (edited in RAW) and barely made adjustments and I hope I'm doing it right. If not how would you have edited it?

You need to limit photos to 1 in the feedback / critique section. Makes it easier for people to talk about your photo.

Ok let me pick my fav and edit real quick

Ok done, real hard to pick between the b&w and color LOL

I like the image and I like the tones

Things that stick out for mine instantly

1) You lost some of the bristles on the brush on the left. Too tightly cropped or missed in composition
2) My eyes are drawn to the upside down B.... if that was your intention, maybe turn the pen so the letter is up the right way

Actually their is no crop, unless you meant crop as in I shot it too tight, and the upside down B is the focal point. This is how my tools lay in a natural state, but when I saw the B, it was so representative of what my life and Art is.

I think it's a pretty good conversion overall, to B&W. I like the concept of the shot and the shallow DoF.

To improve on the shot I would suggest you frame it a little differently. I'd like to see a little "breathing room" on the left edge and a little less space on the right. The brushes are your focal point and create a strong, hard line and the way the shot is framed currently, that line leads my eye right out of the shot. See where you've clipped the bristles? Give the shot an inch or so space on that edge, at the expense of the corner of the pencil box, and I think you'd be just about golden.

Horoscope Fish said:

I think it's a pretty good conversion overall, to B&W. I like the concept of the shot but I would have framed it a little differently. I'd like to see a little "breathing room" on the left edge, a little less space on the right and a little less "head room". The brushes are your focal point and create a strong, hard line and the way the shot is framed currently, that line leads my eye right out of the shot.

On second thought, leave the top edge alone... You're good there. Frame the shot with a little more on the left edge and you're golden.

Click to expand...

I'd agree with needing to adjust the framing, as the chopped off bristles on the left lead me to feeling like this was a casual shot, or the camera slipped, or... Also, although it's not a hard rule, a bit more "rule of thirds" would benefit here.

As far as the B&W conversion, the look and feel are quite nice for the subject matter, and the bokeh feels right for making the pens/brushes the emphasis of the pic. Isn't it fun shooting with a wide-open lens??

Now that you've got a start, you can practice all ya want! This shot gave me an idea for something to do with a cousin of mine that's in the painting side of things... THANKS!

Thanks for the feedback guys, I now know to back off the subject a little to leave more room as I can always crop in not crop out (even though I have heard to never crop). I will re look at the subject and see if I can get a different composition and if you guys think it's better or worse.

I always try to get the whole shot filled but I don't succeed all the time. That's when cropping is handy. It's not a problem if you crop but the amount depends a bit upon what you will do with the finished shot. The more you crop, the less pixels you have left.

If really needed, you can blow it back up a degree without much quality loss if you use PS or any other decent prog to do that.

crewchief227 said:

(even though I have heard to never crop). .

Click to expand...

Cropping is one of our best tools. If you go to print then depending on the size the shot will get cropped. Also if you are shooting landscapes and it is not exactly level then you will need to rotate and then you will have to crop a little to square it up.

I used to try and shoot so I did not have to crop. I lost a few great shots because I did not give myself room to crop.

crewchief227 said:

... (even though I have heard to never crop).

Click to expand...

Well that's curious...

While I think we can all agree it's a good practice to get things right in the viewfinder cropping is simply a tool, just like any other.

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