Artsy photography

[GGJaguar]

My daughters are accomplished photographers and have given me some tips. Here's my first attempt at an artsy guitar photo. Maybe I'll stick to researching guitars instead of photographing them.

 

[Canard]

Maybe I'll stick to researching guitars instead of photographing them.

Why? If you find photography fun and you enjoy it, go for it.

Umm ... like ... I mean ... what if you had taken this attitude with actually playing the guitar? "Maybe, I'll just stick to looking at gutars in shop windows ..."

Nice picture. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[GAD]

Fun!

Photography is about composition, angles, and light. The most difficult part is composition. The least important part is gear (sound familiar?)

There are some great books out there but this is one of the best:

Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition: Design, Color, and Composition in Photography: Peterson, Bryan: 9781607748274: Amazon.com: Books

Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition: Design, Color, and Composition in Photography [Peterson, Bryan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition: Design, Color, and Composition in Photography

www.amazon.com

Once you learn to “see” through your lenses you’ll start to envision or recognize shots you want and then the magic starts.

 

[Guildedagain]

Composition hasn't changed a lot since year one.

If I was to critique your image, I'd say keep trying, and get a better shot.

Cutting the bridge off bothers me, but your artistic license is your own.

Review or learn the "rule of thirds" which can be broken willy nilly.

Seeing what you're looking at, a Blue ASAT Tele, I would;

Try to capture the F hole and bridge complete, maybe look down on the frets just a bit more in a way that does the "vanishing point" railroad ties disappearing in the distance, get the guitar square in the frame, you're slanting a bit to the right, (uncomfortably looks like it's sliding?), move the switch to a position, the straight up position is rather "static", make sure the guitar is very well cleaned and dusted (keep a duster on hand while you work), and eliminate any distracting shadows in the top by changing camera angle or suspending a large reflector above, something to make ceiling lines disappear, and also get the light temp just right, here it's too warm unless the wall really is that yellow but I doubt it.

Not claiming I'm that great but I did complete a Commercial Photography program with outstanding grades, 1995-1997, and getting all this just right is never easy, but worthwhile.

 

[mushroom]

Dude that is one clean guitar!!

If photography doesn’t work out then maybe you could start a cleaning service.

 

[walrus]

I see a cool looking photograph that I like. Nice!

Simple matter of personal taste. Like music and writing, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

walrus

 

[JohnW63]

Bryan Peterson has a number of good photography books.

I like the shot. I think it all comes down to what feeling you wanted to convey and what you wanted the shot to be about.

Having a part of the subject cut off by the edge can be very effective, if you want a sense of things being unbalanced, I think. Like a diminished chord or ending a section of a melody without resolving it to the 1 chord.

 

[Opsimath]

My daughters are accomplished photographers and have given me some tips. Here's my first attempt at an artsy guitar photo. Maybe I'll stick to researching guitars instead of photographing them.

I think it's a very nice shot. Your first effort? Wow! I'm looking forward to watching you progress!

 

[Guildedagain]

Having a part of the subject cut off by the edge can be very effective, if you want a sense of things being unbalanced, I think. Like a diminished chord or ending a section of a melody without resolving it to the 1 chord.

The cut off bridge is actually the biggest problem in the picture.

Our eyes see things whole, so that's what we like to see instead of people with feet cut off, but even worse - technically - is that it is "leading the eye" out of the picture. Your eye goes to the edge of the pic and that really is a no no. You need to lead the eye back into the pic, no out.

And the foreground would be described by an instructor as "a whole lot of nothing".

So maybe a little too much nothing in foreground, lacking interest, and the composition basically leading the eye out of the picture makes it a picture that might be "artistic" to some, but to me would make no sense at all in an ad for the same guitar, because it has serious "technical flaws", and so easily rectifiable, a slightly different angle and Bob's your uncle.

 

[JohnW63]

I never felt I was being lead out of the picture. I tended to bounce around the F hole, the pickup selector switch and the bridge. The fretboard had a tendency to guide my eye out, if anything did.

Breaking the rules: When is it OK to break the active space rule? :: Digital Photo Secrets

 

[West R Lee]

Beautiful shot! Especially helpful if selling one. But great for showing them off. I wish I could take pictures like that. Dad got his photography degree after he retired. He had a master's in mechanical engineering he'd earned back in the 40's, and got quite a kick out of it when the local Junior College asked him for his transcript when he applied to their photography program. I've intentionally never mentioned this here, but I worked for Eastman Chemical Company, a division of Eastman Kodak back then, and we made the chemicals needed to develop the old 35mm photos, so I get that stuff and the paper for him at work. He had a dark room in the house. I enjoy great photography, just never had the touch.

West

 

[Rusty Chops]

It’s a nice shot.
Has balance!

 

[Midnight Toker]

I like the shot. My only hangup is if there is a straight line (the bridge), it should be perfectly straight. (IMO) Very easy to do in post w/ any photo editing tool that provides a grid, like on your phone.


Here it is w/ just a slight tweak to straighten the bridge line.

It’s not like there are photography laws, but living near water for most of my life, and water (except rivers) being the ultimate leveling tool, I’ve been a stickler for lines being level in pictures.

 

[Guildedagain]

Yes, level is very important, as well as square, as well as where the eye of the subject goes in portraiture, and the rule of thirds puts the bridge at the optimal viewing space, the G spot saddle.

Beyond composition, lighting is actually everything. Natural lighting is best.

Using "scrims" to soften light, and reflectors to "bounce" light back, such as on the "dark side of the bridge", a bit of soft light bouncing back would illuminate the string end balls for added interest.

 

[Opsimath]

My daughters are accomplished photographers and have given me some tips. Here's my first attempt at an artsy guitar photo. Maybe I'll stick to researching guitars instead of photographing them.

Any new photos?

 

[GGJaguar]

Any new photos?

Nothing I've been happy with.

 

[Guildedagain]

Keep trying. No one will ever be as hard on you as your are, I mean critically.

 

[Opsimath]

Nothing I've been happy with.

I'll bet they're better than you think. Looking forward to what you have when you are ready to share.

 

[Cougar]

Artsy photography....

Here's some "artsy," but not of a guitar. Just a little photoshopping .....

 

[Uke]

The most difficult part is composition.

I used to be into photography until digital cameras (and later, cell phones!) turned me off completely. However, I still consider myself a photographer of sorts because I still compose shots all the time -- just don't do anything with them because I've ditched the cameras.