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Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
I'm curious what people think of this image. It is only a basic edit so color, levels and all that aren't correct. What I'm interested is what you think of the composition. I'm trying to figure out crop and angle. (Or if it just flat out sucks. ;))

Thanks
 

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Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
That actually looks pretty good, the only thing I would suggest is that you try cropping it so the head is a little closer to center vertically. Note that I think it's something to try - it may or may not be better.

And I would really like to see it when you're done with the editing.
 

seveej

macrumors 6502a
Dec 14, 2009
827
51
Helsinki, Finland
Nice photo, but my eyes got stuck on the red blotch of the elbow, and can't let go... May be just me, but I'm not cognizant of having a fetish for elbows.

RGDS,
 

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
Bit square for me and there seems to be a bit to much pure black on the right.
 

Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
The composition looks fine to me... giving the image an air of mystery...
Can't say I don't like to hear that. ;)

That actually looks pretty good, the only thing I would suggest is that you try cropping it so the head is a little closer to center vertically. Note that I think it's something to try - it may or may not be better.

And I would really like to see it when you're done with the editing.
I'll give it a try while I'm playing with the cropping. As it is I'm dumping 2/3 of the pixels but it is still sitting at 12MP. At print size it is around 250 dpi.

Just for fun, lay a fibonacci spiral on top of the image. I have a feeling that some minor adjustments to the cropping might bring some of the image elements nicely into the spiral.
I hadn't thought of that. I believe Photoshop has that as an option - I know the crop tool in Lightroom supports it.

Nice photo, but my eyes got stuck on the red blotch of the elbow, and can't let go... May be just me, but I'm not cognizant of having a fetish for elbows.
Actually that also jumped out at me. Once I was satified with the composition I was going to get to work on the image.

Bit square for me and there seems to be a bit to much pure black on the right.
Interesting - the target size is 12x16 so not quite square but I get where you are coming from. In this case I have a series of three images that I wanted printed at the same dimensions.

As far as the black goes it was dark outside and I was shooting against some black felt. This was a total experiment and I had never done anything like it before. I love the mirror effect from the water. It is something I will revisit but with better wardrobe and props. :)

Thank you for all the input.

For reference, the original file looks like this:
 

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Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
I was looking at square for one of the other images so it isn't too far of a streach. ;)
 

genshi

macrumors 6502a
First off, great photo from the start!

Secondly, I usually shoot and prefer the square format, but in this case, a more rectangular crop would be better (in my humble opinion) as well as showing more of the model. If I may be so presumptuous, I took a shot at editing your photo...
 

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snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
Just for fun....

Made it square, and altered the cropping somewhat....

I think you have a great idea that needs exploring...

First off, great photo from the start!

... If I may be so presumptuous, I took a shot at editing your photo...

Interesting that we both de-emphasized the hand, either by darkening it or cropping it out entirely. Just for fun I re-cropped it without the arm at all. Hope the OP doesn't mind us mucking about with their image, eh? :)
 

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Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
I don't mind the crops at all. There are a lot of things that I like about the image but the original shot just didn't do it. The idea of this post was to see the shot in other ways and that is what I got.

Since none of us had done any underwater work I was happy to get what I did. :)
 

Prodo123

macrumors 68020
Nov 18, 2010
2,326
10
To me the original crop looks a little weighted to the left; the negative space on the right is throwing the composition off a tiny bit. I'd crop the right side off a little.
That rose was a little distracting, but I see how it fits in to the theme of the photo. It just felt odd that she would have a rose by her chest underwater. But maybe I'm just carping...

Great shot! How did you take it? An underwater housing?
 

Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
Yeah, Nikon D800 in an Ikelight housing with a Tokina 11-16mm lens, two DS51 Substrobes and a big studio strobe above water (don't know the brand/model).

I brought a bunch of silk flowers and she kept grabbing them. There wasn't really any direction in the shots. It was a complete learning experience. I can't wait to try it again.
 
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