So I've been complaining about how I have no artistic style, that I mostly take cliched pictures.. I still think that's true, but I've also been holding off posting some of what I think is my better stuff from December, because to do so would require inviting criticism, positive or negative. But I have to do it. Let me know what you guys think of these.. especially the first one. How do you feel about the exposure? I'm sure it could be better, but my post processing skills aren't really up to it. I was debating making it a little darker because I thought it emphasized the neon better, but my judgment of such things is rather unreliable. How about composition.. is it interesting, or just distracting? I really do want to know what you think, good or bad.. pay no attention to my story of my hesitation to post this. I'm trying to improve my pictures, to do so I need to know what works and what doesn't. The second shot is more of a low risk extra contribution.. it's the first one that I'm more interested in.
dan, i think the exposure is fine on #1. i am not sure about the comp., although i like the photo. i find myself wanting to see more, as if you should have been another few feet to your left to show a bit more of the guitar body. conversely, a few more feet to the right could have really emphasized the neck or brige by going right down the line. all in all, this is a good couple of pics that should give you confidence that your artistic sklls are improving. keep plugging away, dan. by mousefest next year this will be second nature to you.
the color imho is excellent, if i might offer ma suggestion, i think i might have tried to frame this stepping to the photographers left if possible, it then would have made this look like a real strat, by drawing the eyes down the neck via the strings, at that point it would have been difficult not to think this was a real guitar guitars can be very photogenic if sidelit with the right color lights, particular favs of mine are the older les paul models, worthy of photo essays to those of us old enough to vaguely remember the favored axes of the 60's guitar gods
Thank you both for your responses. To an extent I think I don't spend much time looking through a viewfinder.. I think this stems from an issue I tend to have where my sunglasses don't let me get close enough to see the whole frame of the viewfinder so instead of taking them off I just crudely frame the scene through what I can see of the viewfinder. This was of course at night, but I'm wondering if that practice may have made me get sloppy. Gary, I was actually trying to emphasize that it's not a guitar... okay, maybe that's a weird idea, but I was going for emphasizing the unreality of it. However that's two votes for move to the left, and emphasize the guitar aspect. I'd actually get a kick out of trying to photograph guitars. Product photography would be something new for me, and although I'm no devotee of classic guitars it's not hard to imagine a classic guitar shined up to a mirror finish with carefully placed lighting gleaming off it. That actually tells me how I could approach it. I was treating it as a large structure that's NOT a guitar, I was more going for revealing the night lighting.. instead I could think of it as a giant guitar, an altar of Rock and Roll, and think more along the lines of presenting it like that.
I like both of them Dan. Very different perspective on the 1st one. I like it. My last trip I wasn't able to get to MGM at night. I'm looking forward to the next trip to get some night shots there. Especially this guitar. I'm always looking for different perspectives and compositions. Well done.
