The Good Book

[Leo Douglas]

Looking for some CC re this one please folks. Work / not?. Taken in Chillingham Castle Northumberland (the most haunted castle in the country so they say) in the chapel there. Light was very difficult as it was bright sunshine outside and very dark inside. I used Nik HDR and analogue fx to get the look I wanted. I don't do much still life work and would appreciate any feedback.

The Good Book by Leo Douglas, on Flickr

[Tigger]

Re: The Good Book

I like the image but its a bit to bright and cheerful for me and I would have processed this darker espceally as its been shot in a castle

[chrisec]

Re: The Good Book

Leo that's a great composition but I agree with Ian on the pp.

[AlexR!]

Re: The Good Book

Yes, Leo, the makings of a lovely image there, with the book lit in the foreground and the castle still visible but in deep shadow. This would have the added bonus of masking the noise visible in the flags etc somewhat. Worth persevering with.

[anderson.council]

Re: The Good Book

Agree with Ian and Alex's suggestions.

[@imagesBV]

Re: The Good Book

I have a slightly different view....hope you don't mind my suggestions.....I should say firstly that its and impressive and attractive image as it is.....but to throw my ten penneth in here goes...Firstly I think a tripod would have been better than hi ISO to ensure image quality....and then choosing a DOF to either provide clear focus of the background or alternatively defocus it more would improve the image. I'm guessing a tripod was not possible?
Also I can't tell what the object is peeping above the spine of the book - could the composition be improved to either hide or reveal it more as its a tad distracting.
Hope you don't mind and hope you don't think I'm being over critical.

[tesarver]

Re: The Good Book

I would have to concur with Brian, that a lower ISO works much better with HDR.

Over all I like the image and the composition, however I do feel that the background needs to be darker. To do that I would use layers (PS or Elements) to create the exposure for the background, then a layer for the book, then using the mask feature, I would mask in the book.

Tom

[Leo Douglas]

Re: The Good Book

Cheers for the feedback. I didnt have any choice re ISO (6400 I think) as I had about 3 feet of space behind the lecturn and didnt want to knock stuff over (probably bad form in a 600 yo chapel). Difficult light and a lot of recovery added to the mush and grain, hence the analogue fx to try and use it. I'll go back a grunge it up a tad more. Cheers.

[Tigger]

Re: The Good Book

interest to see what you do