December 2, 2004
Another Angle
There's been a few comments about my dismal photography skills. Let me say a few words. Re white balance, frankly I know nuts about adjusting it. I put my Canon IXUS 400 to Auto White Balance so an idiot like me doesn't have to worry about such things.
If my pictures turn out yellowish, then it's because often I don't use a flash as I sometimes find it too obtrusive. The flash also tends to make the picture look rather stark. I prefer the warmer, yellow tones. That's just my preference but to others it's grating on the eye.
As for technicalities like aperture and stuff, I wouldn't claim to know much about it. I'm hopeless with all these. I'll read and then forget about it.
Anyway, Yu Zi commented that he would take the picture I took of my poodle from a different angle. Yu Zi, so you mean something like the one below? I took this shot at the same time I took the first pic.
From your description, it seems like you'd have taken a tighter shot than this, but if you did so, you wouldn't be able to see the person either. Personally, I like the angle in which I've taken the first photo because the curve of the armrest seems to be parallel to the curve of the dog's spine. The picture seems to be divided into thirds because of this. Granted though, the focus was wrong. I have problems with the auto focusing!
And how is that photo below "better" than my food photos?
Comments from others are welcomed too!
Posted by DSD at December 2, 2004 12:04 AM
i prefer the first... i think granted that whatever technicalities involved could be 100% correct (if it ever happens... that is if you are highly trained) i personally would have preferred the previous angle because it captured the blissfulness of the sleeping dog... and for me that is 'the' moment i'd like to convey...
anyways me no expert here... just a tiggie.
tiggie: i prefer the first too! And frankly i don't think expertise has anything to do with it when you judge whether or not you like a picture. It could be the worst picture, technically speaking, but it could still appeal to you. To me, it's all about gut and feel and I don't really give a damn about technicalities esp when I'm not a pro.
As they say, the nicest photo is the one you like best!
But I think what made it less obvious was that it wasn't clear that Pepe was sleeping on ur mom.. It was only when I read ur description that it occurred to me..
I agree that people view photos differently. 用中文文雅的说是仁者见仁,智者见智。粗俗一点是青菜萝卜各有所爱。So let's keep it as a discussion.
Personally I think in the first photo, the armrest is a very big distraction. It's well focused and occupies more than 1/3 of the frame. And in my mind, it is not really significant in this photo.
You really make me seriously thinking how I would shoot this photo. Below are some of my ideas.
First I ask myself: what I want to present here. My answer is to present a serene atmosphere, the peaceful and harmonic relationship between the master and dog, and a leisuring twilight(BTW, did you shoot at twilight?) or afternoon. Do you agree?
Next, what are the things to put inside? Of course the sleeping dog and the sleeping master lying on the chair. And I would shoot horizontally, and let them occupy about 1/2 to 2/3 of the frame from the right. The head of the dog will be around 1/3 from the bottom, and the master's head will be around 2/3 from the bottom and the rest will be background.
What else? I notice the chair is actually quite close to the window/glass door. If it's twilight and the lighting is perfect, there may be some ray of light shining into the house. I would put them into the frame as well to reflect the time and boost the atmosphere.
How to shoot then? If the house is big, I have enough distance from the objects, I prefer a zoom lens, and focus on the dog (it's cuter) and the face of the master will be slightly defocus. Defocus the background even more. This can make the photo softer. However, if the house is small, then you have to use wide angel lens with big aperture.
Above are just some ideas. They may not be realistic in the actual situation.
BTW, some comment on the camera. Canon makes good cameras, but personally i think IXUS series yield the worse photo quality of all canon cameras. They are even worse than A series, not to mention the G series. But I have to say they are stylish especially the metalic outlook.
Yummy, your food pictures are getting better by the day, fried or boiled???
Yu Zi: Whoa...that's A LOT of information to take in. I got lost halfway. With this comment you have achieved two things--one, leaving the longest comment I've ever gotten (you might as well just take over the blog with comments of such lengths) and two, being the first person to leave a comment in Chinese! And that Chinese, may I add, is damn profound! So difficult that it left me stumped.
Ross: I know, it DOES get yummier by the day doesn't it? Remind me to send you some.
heavens, you guys, that's a whole new angle (pun intended) to the concept of "dog food." This is Pepe we're talking about here, DSD! =)
Ross started it! Just playing along...
Because I already spend some time reading your blog, so I don't mind providing some quality feedback. In this case, quality is proportional to quantity. 我丝毫没有喧宾夺主的意思. Don't know how to say it in English.
What are the chinese you don't understand? I don't mind giving some chinese tuitions.