French Classic

[tjdelikat]

I've been wanting to do some still life work. Here's a recent try open for critique!
1/5 sec | F 5.6 | ISO 3200 | Sony A200

[Ed V]

Good morning Tj.

Here goes. I really like the classic and elegant composition. It does feel a slight bit heavy on the right. My biggest concern on the right side is that it is so tight at the lip of the glass. It definitely needs more room there. If you were to mat this, the mat would overlap the edge of the glass making it look more like a mistake in shooting. Also I think the image couple be sharper. When I look at the label, the printing particularly as I move down toward the date looks a bit fuzzy. Finally as I move up toward the neck of the bottle, I feel it gets lost a bit against that background probably because of the color similarity between the foil and the background material.

These are all small points that can be easily corrected in what is, overall, a strong composition.

Thanks for sharing, Tj.

[lotus]

We do have several images posted for the critiques in last couple days that is a good sign. The best thing I like in this image is the real look of the grapes and a glass. What troubles me - is a central position of bottle and lighting on a bottle and background. Random reflection above the label and blown out part of label along with greenish top makes my eyes move from one place to another without rest - what is a main object here?

[tjdelikat]

Ed and Alex, thank you for the comments.

I played around with several ideas, including a bowl of fruit, but they just didn't have the look I wanted. Out of frustration, I put the grapes in the glass and liked that so I played on that idea....a paradox with the wine in the bottle and the grapes in the glass. 

I've got to work on lighting with the bottle. I didn't like the reflections either. I agree with the right side being to close to the glass rim. Definitely needs more space. This was hand held, so I want to try it again with an adjustment in the lighting and with a tripod. Maybe a different color background cloth too.

Like I said I've been wanting to work on still life so when my international photo forum had still life for our recent assignment, I took the challenge. Out of 25 photos entered, mine took the win!  Label me shocked! There were at least 4 other photos that I was sure would win!

[film2shoot]

I think it look great...

[Brian Keifer]

I'm with Ed on the composition and the crop.  Very well composed, but a little extra room on the right would go a long way.

It also looks like you're still a bit underexposed, even at 1/5, ISO 3200.  The high ISO isn't helping your image quality, so get the camera on that tripod and see what a longer exposure at a lower ISO does.

[tjdelikat]

Thanks for the critiques/comments everyone. This recently took 1st place in a still life competition. 

[bellamia]

Congratulations!

[Gary_W]

Congrats on the win.