SP reader Deepak K. Pradhan from New Delhi wants to know how this picture of this ‘wonder bike’ could be improved.
The ‘chopper’ was shot at the Canon India Showroom at Delhi.
Since you had no control over the lighting, I shall not discuss that part. But we certainly can discuss the framing.
It seems to me that you have shot the picture at eye level, and the angle you have chosen, places greater importance to the tear-drop petrol tank. If that was intentional, then that’s fine. To me, the bike now looks less powerful; less royale!
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Before we decide the shooting angle, we should decide what part of the bike we would like to highlight – are we trying to show the size/power of the engine, the elegant-looking disc-brakes, the modern-design headlamp, the special heavy-duty tyre, the drive chain, or the entire bike in general. This will decide the camera position.
One way to shoot bikes is to place the bike perpendicular to the lens axis, with the lens more or less at engine level, and the handle-bar turned towards the camera side (which allows you to see the headlamp). You have turned the handle bar the other way. I am not saying that what you have done is wrong; rather I would say that you have tried to be different.
Due to the angle you have chosen, the portrait of the lady on the wall behind the front shock absorbers, seems to be competing for attention. If you had to chose the angle as mentioned above, may be the photo frames would have been hidden/partially hidden behind the bike.
And finally, you have clipped some part of the front wheel but may be, you had no space to move back to include the entire chopper.
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Let Me Fly
SP reader Raunak Sharma has sent us an interesting photo of two kids having a rollicking time. I’m sure the two guys must be Raunak’s friends and Raunak must have made them jump umpteen number of times trying to get the right shot. Whatever be the effort, it has definitely paid off. Shooting into the sun has created the silhouette and the star-burst effect created really enhances the picture. The enthusiasm of the care-free jumpers shows itself even in the silhouette. I think they should get equal pat on their backs for the charming picture.
The foreground seems too dark (which is not necessarily wrong in this case), and hence I opened up that area to get some details. I also darkened the sky a bit.
P.S. I asked Raunak as to how many times he made his friends jump. He said “only thrice”. Good work, Raunak. Raunak also mentioned that he wanted the sunburst between the two guys. To me, the way it is, looks better.
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A Modern ‘Sadhu’?
SP reader Nomeesh Dubey has sent us this interesting photo of a young ‘sadhu’ relishing Thums Up against the backdrop of a river bank with devotees. His closed eyes says it all!
It is good the backdrop is not too sharp. This causes the viewer’s attention to stay fixed on the principle subject, which is sharp and crisp. The composition is good too.
So, can this picture be improved? What would I have done if I were you?
I feel that the picture is a bit overexposed. I would have re-shot the picture with reduced exposure. Since that is not possible now, I’ll take help of my friend, Photoshop.
Using Levels in Photoshop, I moved the Gamma slider (the mid-gray slider) to the right till the backdrop looked correct to me. But this also made the sadhu darker than what I wanted. So using the Brush Tool with black as the Foreground colour, I painted on the sadhu’s face (with reduced opacity), and painted on the black hair (to bring back the lost detail) at 100 percent opacity. That’s it!
