Exposing images

Hi guys,

In the morning, I have filmed these two pics using my Lumix G7 with a 14-42 mm kit lens.

Two images are post-processed in Adobe photoshop and are shown below.

Is the first image is well exposed? What about their composition of two images?

Also, shoot your opinions about my post processing. Can you feel any differences between those images?

Kindly give your suggestions.

The exposure is decent, however on the second shot especially I would probably have sacrificed some shutter speed in favor of a lower ISO. Also a bit of fine sharpening would crisp the shots up some.

dark_matter wrote:

Hi guys,

In the morning, I have filmed these two pics using my Lumix G7 with a 14-42 mm kit lens.

They came out well. I would say they are four images - two of a flower, and two of a leaf.

Two images are post-processed in Adobe photoshop and are shown below.

Is the first image is well exposed?

I don't see any issues with exposure with any of them. The second leaf shot is just a bit soft, if you're pixel peeping.

What about their composition of two images?

Fairly boring subjects put smack in the middle. The second flower is a bit better cropped, but still very much centered so there isn't much to say in terms of composition.

Also, shoot your opinions about my post processing.

Nothing out of the ordinary. The second flower looks like you recovered some of the highlights well. I would probably have added a mysterious vignette or something to raise the level of excitement.

Can you feel any differences between those images?

Can you feel the beat...

Kindly give your suggestions.

May the force be with you...

dark_matter wrote:

Can you give some tips for composing a flower instead of too much centering ?

Search online for 'rule of thirds' - this is one way to get started with non-centered composition. Don't get me wrong, centering something frequently works well, and sometimes is really the only good option. Doing everything along thirds is just as bad as centering everything. My recommendation is to take lots of different images and see what you like most. Repeat that daily or weekly and over time, you will get a good eye for interesting compositions.

For example, try to find more than one flower/leaf and place one as your main subject, and a second/third one as an out-of-focus silhouette, or color splash...

Take a wide angle lens and show some of the surroundings to add interest...

Take a spray bottle and add some water drops (lol)...

Take lots of shots and throw out 95% of them, making mental notes what they lack and what to try differently next time...

Most of all, have fun! 🤪

Just a silly shot of weeds from my garden. No rule of thirds applied really. Maybe a bit too busy? Luckily, always room for improvement.

BTW I like how you backlit your flower to make it "glow", that's really attractive.

Lichtspiel wrote:

dark_matter wrote:

Can you give some tips for composing a flower instead of too much centering ?

Search online for 'rule of thirds' - this is one way to get started with non-centered composition. Don't get me wrong, centering something frequently works well, and sometimes is really the only good option. Doing everything along thirds is just as bad as centering everything. My recommendation is to take lots of different images and see what you like most. Repeat that daily or weekly and over time, you will get a good eye for interesting compositions.

For example, try to find more than one flower/leaf and place one as your main subject, and a second/third one as an out-of-focus silhouette, or color splash...

Take a wide angle lens and show some of the surroundings to add interest...

Take a spray bottle and add some water drops (lol)...

Take lots of shots and throw out 95% of them, making mental notes what they lack and what to try differently next time...

Most of all, have fun! 🤪

Just a silly shot of weeds from my garden. No rule of thirds applied really. Maybe a bit too busy? Luckily, always room for improvement.

BTW I like how you backlit your flower to make it "glow", that's really attractive.

Me too!

If you are going to give advice, I'm not sure that this is a good example.

The two main flowers are good, your comments, fine, as well. BUT the part flower in the top left is a distraction and could have easily been elimiated by cropping a bit off the top and a bit off the left side. That would also get rid of the leaf in the bottom left. (Yes, I know you were talking 'thirds' but we don't want to confuse a newbie!

Mike

Michael J Davis wrote:

Lichtspiel wrote:

dark_matter wrote:

BTW I like how you backlit your flower to make it "glow", that's really attractive.

Me too!

If you are going to give advice, I'm not sure that this is a good example.

The two main flowers are good, your comments, fine, as well. BUT the part flower in the top left is a distraction and could have easily been elimiated by cropping a bit off the top and a bit off the left side. That would also get rid of the leaf in the bottom left. (Yes, I know you were talking 'thirds' but we don't want to confuse a newbie!

Mike

Awww. Ok. Thanks for your thoughts... appreciate it. There are always a lot of different ways to look at and process images, and like I said, loads of room for improvement.

Square-er crop to eliminate the distracting (exciting?) partial flower. This also puts the center of the main subject on one of the thirds. Unfortunately, the third flower also balanced things a bit so now it feels like there's too much empty space on the right.

Anyway, back to the OP!

Lichtspiel wrote:

Michael J Davis wrote:

Lichtspiel wrote:

dark_matter wrote:

BTW I like how you backlit your flower to make it "glow", that's really attractive.

Me too!

If you are going to give advice, I'm not sure that this is a good example.

The two main flowers are good, your comments, fine, as well. BUT the part flower in the top left is a distraction and could have easily been elimiated by cropping a bit off the top and a bit off the left side. That would also get rid of the leaf in the bottom left. (Yes, I know you were talking 'thirds' but we don't want to confuse a newbie!

Mike

Awww. Ok. Thanks for your thoughts... appreciate it. There are always a lot of different ways to look at and process images, and like I said, loads of room for improvement.

Anyway, back to the OP!

I agree, but some more selective trimming would compensate.  Another local photo judge and I each found ourselves saying the same thing: "I've never seen a picture that wouldn't be enhanced by some subtle vignetting!"

BTW I love the subtle colours in the open flower!!

Mike