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Hi again. It's a fun subject, and your focusing is much more careful here - the little scarecrow and the area immediately around him are reasonably in focus.
You have used a 'fake model village' - fake tilt shift - to isolate your subject. I would prefer to see the composition without the effect, it seems to my eye to be more of a distraction than an asset. When it is achieved in camera, for example using a Lensbaby, it creates a little oasis of calm amid the chaos of the world. Here it doesn't quite have that effect!
The main problem for me though is the colour, which features massively oversaturated yellows and greens. It makes the background jump forward and rather swamp the foreground.
The next problem is the composition - there's the basis of a very enterprising and adventurous composition here, but I think you needed to angle the camera just a few degrees to the right. The frame is split down the middle by a strong vertical, which rarely works, while the actual subject is way over to the edge of the frame - it took me a moment or two to find him when I opened the upload!
So I would crop to square here, to place the vertical stem off-centre and to make the scarecrow more important in the frame. I would also tone down the yellows and greens a bit. Not totally - this is about hot colour and a feeling of sunshine.
And - a totally different approach - it occurs to me that black and white could be interesting here too...
Modifications to follow, I hope...
Moira
You have used a 'fake model village' - fake tilt shift - to isolate your subject. I would prefer to see the composition without the effect, it seems to my eye to be more of a distraction than an asset. When it is achieved in camera, for example using a Lensbaby, it creates a little oasis of calm amid the chaos of the world. Here it doesn't quite have that effect!
The main problem for me though is the colour, which features massively oversaturated yellows and greens. It makes the background jump forward and rather swamp the foreground.
The next problem is the composition - there's the basis of a very enterprising and adventurous composition here, but I think you needed to angle the camera just a few degrees to the right. The frame is split down the middle by a strong vertical, which rarely works, while the actual subject is way over to the edge of the frame - it took me a moment or two to find him when I opened the upload!
So I would crop to square here, to place the vertical stem off-centre and to make the scarecrow more important in the frame. I would also tone down the yellows and greens a bit. Not totally - this is about hot colour and a feeling of sunshine.
And - a totally different approach - it occurs to me that black and white could be interesting here too...
Modifications to follow, I hope...
Moira
Modifications uploaded, I think the scarecrow 'sits' more comfortably in the square crop.
Did you set your camera to something like Vivid colour or Boost saturation? I would definitely avoid such a setting particularly in strong sun!
Moira
Did you set your camera to something like Vivid colour or Boost saturation? I would definitely avoid such a setting particularly in strong sun!
Moira
I edited trying to boost colors Moira but i like your upload, mainly because highlights moss details in the body of the scarecrow.
Black&white really surprised me because i didn't expect that its going to work but really looks good!
You are helping me a lot and i appreciate that! Thanks
Diego
Black&white really surprised me because i didn't expect that its going to work but really looks good!
You are helping me a lot and i appreciate that! Thanks
Diego
Black & white concentrates attention on lines, textures and the overall structure of the composition - all of which are strong here. That's why it works!
Moira
Moira
A couple more points to bear in mind: you set yourself quite a challenge here as the frame includes areas of strong light and dark shadow. Look at those very white patches - so much light has got into the camera that it has 'dazzled' the sensor, wiped out any detail that might have been available. When you look at a subject, if there's light bouncing off a light or shiny surface, this is what is liable to happen. You can instruct the camera to use an exposure compensation (there's a little button marked +/- in front of the shutter button, it works in conjunction with the thumb wheel), but the easiest way of dealing with this is to move around until you find an angle where the reflected light is reduced!
Secondly, it's not a good move to add saturation to the more 'acidic' colours - yellows, oranges, reds - oversaturated colour means loss of detail. Once you reduce saturation on yellows here a lot more surface detail becomes visible in the stems.
Moira
Secondly, it's not a good move to add saturation to the more 'acidic' colours - yellows, oranges, reds - oversaturated colour means loss of detail. Once you reduce saturation on yellows here a lot more surface detail becomes visible in the stems.
Moira
I've had a go at a different approach to a mod.
First, I cropped in on the scarecrow. This loses a lot of the most distracting and troublesome highlights.
I desaturated a bit, because the colours looked too bright (and tastes differ: I love muted and very soft colours, and many people prefer something with more impact).
And then I did quite a lot of cloning, to cover up some of the blown highlights - in the background, in the wood the figure's sitting on, on a highlight near the left-hand edge, and (least convincingly) on the straw hat.
I hoep this shows how controlling hte contrast makes it easier to conventrate on the subject of the photo.
First, I cropped in on the scarecrow. This loses a lot of the most distracting and troublesome highlights.
I desaturated a bit, because the colours looked too bright (and tastes differ: I love muted and very soft colours, and many people prefer something with more impact).
And then I did quite a lot of cloning, to cover up some of the blown highlights - in the background, in the wood the figure's sitting on, on a highlight near the left-hand edge, and (least convincingly) on the straw hat.
I hoep this shows how controlling hte contrast makes it easier to conventrate on the subject of the photo.
