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3 lights, old foam core, an E20, and a garage

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ksocool said:
Sorry, but that's the honest assessment of your pic. Too dark an
exposure. Uneven... Your shot tells me nothing about the product or
want to buy one. It screams amateur.

But, keep at it. You'll get better.
Click to expand...
I'd like to see some of your work, ksocool. Can we?
--
Cheers,
markE
  • Oly E-20, FL-40, WCON-08B, Nikon CP 990, & LOTS of batteries!
-Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/marke

 
I appreciate the honesty.

Your comments, however, seem directed towards it being an advertising photo, though. So, if you could, I'd like some clarification of your comments to file away for the remaining ones I'm gonna shoot. (I've got nine or ten more to go.)

From my perspective, this could never be an ad photo. First, the brand name is partially blocked on the shock, as is the blue damping control knob on the right side. Second, it doesn't show the shock well enough to give any real details about it or its construction and versatility.

The picture is intended to say "motorcycle suspension" and will be placed on a page with a title like: Chapter 5 - Suspension Modifications. Somewhere else on the page will be a couple paragraphs about the subject. All I'm trying to do is isolate parts of a system on a bike and present them in the relative positions they'd be in if they were still mounted on the bike.

As far as the unevenness is concerned, could you be more specific? Are you talking about the swingarm or the background? Personally, I'd like a little more light on the bottom right side of the swingarm. Not much, but enough to keep it from being black. I think a bounce card would have helped a bunch. As it was, I had no more cards or stands. In this shot I'm already hand-holding a bounce in for the lower front of the shock. If you're writing about how the swingarm itself darkens into the background, that was intentional. I wanted the aftermarket shock and linkage to stand out a bit more from the rest of the stock assembly so I flagged the light off the back half of the assembly. Perhaps this didn't work.

As far as being an amateur is concerned, you're completely right. I just started seriously shooting digital pictures in April when the pro photographer who was supposed to do the book with me refused to sign his contract. I immediately bought the E20 and a Travelite package to keep the project on track. The learning curve has been steep and intimidating but a lot of fun.

Again, thanks for your feedback. I look forward to reading more. Otherwise, how can I expect to learn?

Evans
ksocool said:
Sorry, but that's the honest assessment of your pic. Too dark an
exposure. Uneven... Your shot tells me nothing about the product or
want to buy one. It screams amateur.

But, keep at it. You'll get better.
Click to expand...
 
1. Though the shot angle is good, it does block the brand name.

2. You might try silver reflectors to give the enamel a little shinier finish. It can do wonders especially on hardware. You want the product to say BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW!!! There's nothing like a shine to give that off.

3. The background fades out. You probably want more light there, and you don't want the background to convey dullness.

4. I don't know whether that is the best angle, I find something unsettling how the product seem to just float. Maybe it has to be do with the background, but if it was me, I try some other angles. Or not.

Some people get all bristles when they get negative comments, but all the hand-holding people aren't doing you any favors. I find your abiility to take negative comment and to re-assess your pic to be admirable. You'll do fine in your endeavors.
 
ksocool said:
2. You might try silver reflectors to give the enamel a little
shinier finish. It can do wonders especially on hardware. You want
the product to say BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW!!! There's
nothing like a shine to give that off.
Click to expand...
I'll try this to see how I like it. I don't know if I'll like using a hard silver (although I will test it). I think a dull silver will work, though.
ksocool said:
3. The background fades out. You probably want more light there,
and you don't want the background to convey dullness.
Click to expand...
When I read this, I had to chuckle. I worked very hard to get the background to fade to black :) I was even planning of buying some duvetene (sp?) to make isolating the foreground from the background a little easier in the future. Since the photo will most likely be cropped in some way, I thought going to black would be a good option. I'm sorta operating in the dark here, though. I won't have an art director for the book until it's done. Part of my reasoning for shooting this image separate from the others chapter lead shots was to open dialogue with my editor and one of his staff art directors. You see, their reasons for not wanting to have me shoot the chapter leads have to do with fear that a 5mp image won't hold up when enlarged slightly. Without tooting my own horn (OK, maybe just a bit), I think this picture is much better than the chapter lead shots in previous books of theirs. I'm having an 8x10 print made at a pro lab in Hollywood to send them as proof that the pictures would hold up. After all, they won't run that big.

I'm at the bleeding edge with this company in respect to digital photography. They tried to talk me out of doing the book digitally, but given my newness to shooting for publication (instead of family snap shots), I told them I refused to shoot transparencies for the book besause I couldn't afford the down time waiting for stuff to come back from the lab. (Or having to reshoot entire projects due to mistakes in photography.) I'm still relying on trial-and-error rather than experience, at this point, and the E20 has allowed me to learn very quickly. They finally acquiesced by telling themselves that the how-to photos would run small anyway. They still cling to the idea that the chapter leads shots can only be done on medium format film. For now, that is. (I hope.)
ksocool said:
4. I don't know whether that is the best angle, I find something
unsettling how the product seem to just float. Maybe it has to be
do with the background, but if it was me, I try some other angles.
Or not.
Click to expand...
My choice of angles is limited to a plane around the parts (give or take a couple of inches up or down to add depth) if I want to stay true to the concept of having the parts in the position they'd be in when mounted to the motorcycle. The reason I chose to have the parts float is that, in the other books in the format that I'm writing to published by this company, most of the chapter lead shots have parts lying on some surface with colored lights on them. Functional but not exciting--although some of them are kinda cool. I wanted to do something really different to get their attention. Wait until I have an engine suspended in space!
ksocool said:
Some people get all bristles when they get negative comments, but
all the hand-holding people aren't doing you any favors. I find
your abiility to take negative comment and to re-assess your pic to
be admirable. You'll do fine in your endeavors.
Click to expand...
Like everyone, my first reaction to negative criticism is to get my hackles up, but constructive criticism--both positive and negative--can be extremely beneficial, particularly when I've put myself in a position of having an accelerated learning curve.

Thanks again for your comments,

Evans
 
From my point of view, we did a lot of MC racing a few years back, they will have no problem understanding what this photo is about. I think the photo is great and the set up is pretty clever too. Don't you just love the yahoos who dish out advice, it's so easy to be a critic. Maybe they just get a little fried when someone with talent manages to do something in a new way and it works. Keep up the great work.
 
ksocool said:
1. Though the shot angle is good, it does block the brand name.

2. You might try silver reflectors to give the enamel a little
shinier finish. It can do wonders especially on hardware. You want
the product to say BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW, BRAND NEW!!! There's
nothing like a shine to give that off.

3. The background fades out. You probably want more light there,
and you don't want the background to convey dullness.

4. I don't know whether that is the best angle, I find something
unsettling how the product seem to just float. Maybe it has to be
do with the background, but if it was me, I try some other angles.
Or not.

Some people get all bristles when they get negative comments, but
all the hand-holding people aren't doing you any favors. I find
your abiility to take negative comment and to re-assess your pic to
be admirable. You'll do fine in your endeavors.
Click to expand...
Now THIS is constructive criticizm! In your initial feedback, there just didn't seem to be much to learn from it. I agree that negative feedback is vitaly important, as long as it has specifics to learn from. Reading what you have posted here, and evan's explanation has provided some very valuable information (at least for me!).
--
Cheers,
markE
  • Oly E-20, FL-40, WCON-08B, Nikon CP 990, & LOTS of batteries!
-Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/marke

 
Fred Carter said:
From my point of view, we did a lot of MC racing a few years back,
they will have no problem understanding what this photo is about.
I think the photo is great and the set up is pretty clever too.
Don't you just love the yahoos who dish out advice, it's so easy to
be a critic. Maybe they just get a little fried when someone with
talent manages to do something in a new way and it works. Keep up
the great work.
Click to expand...
C'mon, Fred. I must confess to being a little taken aback by kscool's initial response, but subsequent postings have shown it all to be very positive. How good to follow a thread with no hackles raised or 'handbags at twenty paces' reactions . . .
--
Al

E10

All you ever wanted to know about Kalymnos island (Greece) but were afraid to ask:
http://www.kalymnos-isl.gr
 
Very very good! You have the eye!! And your cam is great. Out of five stars I would give five.
Keep on shooting
Sunny
--
E-10 for now
 
to back up your qulaifications to offer such critiques?

I would love to see you do a better job at the same project, and then come back and tell us all how you did it.



tracy is waiting ;)

regards
ksocool said:
Sorry, but that's the honest assessment of your pic. Too dark an
exposure. Uneven... Your shot tells me nothing about the product or
want to buy one. It screams amateur.

But, keep at it. You'll get better.
Click to expand...
--
Oly E-20's? -- Aint no doubt about it!
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mackey135/njdigitalservices.htm
http://www.pbase.com/mackey
http://www.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=3459
 
Oh my....something just stood up and saluted!!! :o)

Great image Brian. ;o)
Brian Mackey said:
I would love to see you do a better job at the same project, and
then come back and tell us all how you did it.



tracy is waiting ;)

regards
ksocool said:
Sorry, but that's the honest assessment of your pic. Too dark an
exposure. Uneven... Your shot tells me nothing about the product or
want to buy one. It screams amateur.

But, keep at it. You'll get better.
Click to expand...
--
Oly E-20's? -- Aint no doubt about it!
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mackey135/njdigitalservices.htm
http://www.pbase.com/mackey
http://www.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=3459
Click to expand...
--
Vance.

http://users.ev1.net/~txcowboy
http://pub57.ezboard.com/bthedigitaldinguscommunity
 
Today I heard from my editor. He gave me the OK to shoot the rest of the chapter lead shots!

I guess I'm experiencing one of those "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it" moments. Nine more to go. Sigh....

Evans
 
The only thing that I see is that a fourth, dim light might be needed for giving the underside beveled edge a little color. Other than that, I would give it a very good rating.

It has a professional appearance without a bunch of weird pizzazz that allows the equipment to speak for itself. Well done!
evansb2 said:
Here's a shot from my how to book that I'm particularly proud of. I
think that my editor will stop telling me that I need to hire
someone with a medium format camera to shoot the chapter lead shots
when he sees the 8x10 print I send him next week. Sorry about the
copyright across the picture, but I am selling it.



Here's the unprocessed photo:



Let's not forget the fabulous studio (uh, garage...) that I labored
all night in:



This shot was taken at 3:00 AM. I was getting a little punchy. At
4:00 I went to bed. I started shooting again around 9:30. The final
selection came from one of the last setups I did. I finally got the
right amount of separation from the top of the shock and the back
of the swingarm without losing the depth of the swingarm itself.

Comments appreciated.

Evans
Click to expand...
--
If a picture paints a 1,000 words, how come mine only make 3?
 
next thing you know you will be converting your garage into a studio....I did .....guess where I will be all winter ? ...
steve
evansb2 said:
Today I heard from my editor. He gave me the OK to shoot the rest
of the chapter lead shots!

I guess I'm experiencing one of those "Be careful what you wish for
because you just might get it" moments. Nine more to go. Sigh....

Evans
Click to expand...
--
Steve
http://www.swilkes.com/
E-20/Minolta Dynax 7/ETRSI/5X4 & kodak Instamatic
 
Zephalephelah said:
The only thing that I see is that a fourth, dim light might be
needed for giving the underside beveled edge a little color.
Click to expand...
Yes, that would make a huge difference. I don't think another light is in my budget, but more reflectors are and will be there for my next shoot.
 
Tracy said to tell you hello ;)



regards
Vance said:
Great image Brian. ;o)
Brian Mackey said:
I would love to see you do a better job at the same project, and
then come back and tell us all how you did it.



tracy is waiting ;)

regards
ksocool said:
Sorry, but that's the honest assessment of your pic. Too dark an
exposure. Uneven... Your shot tells me nothing about the product or
want to buy one. It screams amateur.

But, keep at it. You'll get better.
Click to expand...
--
Oly E-20's? -- Aint no doubt about it!
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mackey135/njdigitalservices.htm
http://www.pbase.com/mackey
http://www.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=3459
Click to expand...
--
Vance.

http://users.ev1.net/~txcowboy
http://pub57.ezboard.com/bthedigitaldinguscommunity
Click to expand...
--
Oly E-20's? -- Aint no doubt about it!
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mackey135/njdigitalservices.htm
http://www.pbase.com/mackey
http://www.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=3459
 
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