... For Your thoughts?

Camera: Nikon 1 V1
Lens: Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm
Focal Length: 27mm (35mm equiv.)
Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure:1/40
ISO: 1600

This picture was taken at my mother-in-law's house on thanksgiving day. I just happened to have the V1 with me and thought this picture needed to be captured. They were rolling and counting all of their change that they collected through the year for a friend who had fallen on hard times and needed help. In total there was somewhere around $200 in change between them.

Looking for critique on the whole thing, composition, exposure, all of it. This was one of the first times I used a camera in manual mode. (I am an extreme newbie to any kind of photography.)

OK, it's just a regular close-up, taken with wide angle lens. Closest and the far end of the scene are blurred, whereas the middle of it is in-focus (third row of coins, counting from the position of the camera). What you could have done is to cut out that upper right-hand portion with that violet tissue (it can be removed by cloning, too). Photo can pass as a documentary, and that would be all...

Sorry wlhyatt I don't see anything interesting here. I don't see any of the pennies in focus just parts of the table. Maybe close up the lense to show more DOF. Some cropping needs to happen in order to get rid of the hands in the background and the rolled coins. To many things happening, my eyes want to wander all over the place.

Interesting comments, Thanks.

How about something like this... I cropped the s--t out of it to get rid of some of the distracting "elements" at the top of the frame and too accentuate the subject, went vertical with the whole shot to strengthen the lines, brought up the exposure, increased the contrast and sharpened it:

If you read the rules to the Critique section you know you have posted a photo for absolute honest critique. No hand holding in here.

While I am an amateur and cannot fully take advantage of the 12 Elements of Image Merit I will offer what I have.

I agree with both posts above. It is a generic looking shot, with no real interest and nothing stands out.

This photo as is has no real impact, no real color balance and bad composition.

I rated "1" on all merits.

I was not expecting hand holding, and have not taken offense at anything posted. I just started taking pictures on any camera that is not contained in a phone, and had no delusion that this was a groundbreaking photo.

I personally like the photo because it was a moment in my life, but that does not mean it is anything other people would like to look at. I hope it is not bad for a first attempt at full manual (not a priority manual either), as I am finding myself taking pictures of normal things just to see if I can make a picture that isn't over/under exposed.

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Thanks

Yeah, one of the biggest problems with the (over)use of wide angle lenses is the urge of putting "everything" into the image. That "everything" usually turns out to be "too much of things". Horoscope Fish did the best what can be done in terms of geometric sense of the composition, but, as it seems to me, the author wanted (probably, subconsciously) to have these hands in the image (like: hands and the money, money being counted etc.), so, like I wrote, it can (only) pass for a document. Possible solution: http://goo.gl/ITXjWp

For a moment of your life the shot will be fine as only you know what was going on at that moment. For others, it will do nothing much. Maybe you should have included more of the people involved in this moment. The image needed to tell a story, but for us, it does not.

As to the merit of your use of manual mode is different critique. The camera did what you told it to do and the image was captured in what looks to be a correct exposure. The rest was up to you as to composition and creativity.

None of us hate the image and are not slapping you for it. We are simply being honest so don't take this as personal.

I can tell by the reactions to my comments that there are a lot of people put off by the comments they receive in this particular section of the forum. I am not taking anything personally. I can take honest criticism, I would be annoyed if there was no explanation and a comment of "this sucks". That's not what I received, so I am pleasantly surprised.
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I do not understand the comments of "wide angle", since this was shot with a regular zoom on a mirrorless camera with a crop factor of 2.7, hence the 27mm focal length equivalent. Maybe someone can explain why that makes a normal zoom lens a wide angle lens?

So my notes from this particular experience can be summed up like this:
1. If the picture is of a stack of pennies, then just get a picture of the pennies.
2. If the picture is of a scene, including family counting and rolling those pennies, then use the 10mm end of the 10-30 and get them in the shot. Maybe not as foreground, but to show the action.
3. If in doubt with a dark background then slightly overexpose (according to the light meter). I may have had the metering set on whole scene or something, rather than center weighted.

Thank you for being clear that you are not put off by our criticism. Some of us can be hesitant at giving our honest input.

There are a million ways this photo could have been taken. Some of those would have told the same story others would have told no story. The photo impact would have been different on all of the versions.

I will again be honest and say that I think you were more wrapped up in actually taking the photo in manual mode than you were in actually setting up the photograph itself. I am guilty of this myself. A lot. I am also a relative newbie.

I would liked to have seen either a better composition and focus on the pennies themselves, showing more detail and some dramatic lighting or a more intimate shot including the hands of the people handling the coins. Hands are incredible and tell a fabulous story. Look at the shot taken by siamthai1 in the November photo assignment winner thread.

http://nikonites.com/monthly-assign...osition-assignment-winners.html#axzz2meS113Lc