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Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. -John Wayne
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. -John Wayne
ahjenny


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: The Spirit Of A Country (Basic Editing)
Camera: Olympus E-620
Lens: Olympus 14-42mm f.3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Zoom
Location: My kitchen table
Date: Nov 17, 2009
Aperture: 3.5
ISO: 500
Shutter: 1/80
Date Uploaded: Nov 17, 2009

Auto contrast, adjusted curves, saved for web.

I had a hard time with the lighting, as I couldn't get the glare off of all the angles. I like the off-white of the background. Having a pure white background was too harsh with the medals. I'm not sure if the medals follow the rule of thirds, or if they're in the best place, either. And looking at the left ribbon, it seems out of focus to me, but I can't really tell.

Statistics
Place: 50 out of 63
Avg (all users): 4.9231
Avg (commenters): 5.0000
Avg (participants): 5.0000
Avg (non-participants): 4.9109
Views since voting: 1095
Views during voting: 343
Votes: 234
Comments: 8
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
11/28/2009 04:53:37 PM
One of the tricks to glare is actually more light. The reason you get glare is because you're trying to expose for the darker areas of the subject whether you realize it or not. If you give those darker areas their own light you don't have to push your highlights to the max. For shots like these, you might want to make your own little light tent, which diffuses harsh light and spreads a nice soft light all over.

To your comment about the left ribbon being out of focus, it's not really. Your focus is great. The reason it seems that way is because it's out of the Depth of Field. You chose f/3.5 for this shot, which gives you a pretty narrow "DOF". If you were to bring that up to say f/8, the ribbon would be in the DOF also. Keep in mind that in doing that you'd need to increase the amount of light too by one more more ways; slower shutter speed, increased ISO, increased exposure compensation, or simply more light from your light source (gogo light tent!).

And for Rule of Thirds... meh, close enough! Maybe the angle of the left one is leaning too much to the right side? It's a simple straight forward, level shot, so if anyone is complaining about Rule of Thirds, they're probably being too picky. Yes, there is ways to make subjects like this have more impact. You can angle them differently, or lift them off the table and give them a fancy backdrop (hold them to a stormy sky, etc). I see this as a product shot though, and those are generally just as you have it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
11/24/2009 02:03:01 AM
Great idea!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/22/2009 12:25:14 PM
I know this is picky...just wish they were a bit straighter and smoothed out more. otherwise a great picture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/19/2009 02:42:02 PM
Love the title.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/18/2009 08:29:11 PM
If only these medals could talk.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/18/2009 04:49:30 PM
Too bad you couldn't get a hold of one of them cool lil' sheriff stars they had back in the day. That would really complete the puzzle.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/18/2009 03:06:50 AM
How is a medal the spirit of a country? Which country? Sorry, DNMC IMO.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/18/2009 01:33:29 AM
Biggest complaint with this photo personally is the white balance. It looks like it should be on a white background, it may not have been. I would put it on a rich colour like a blue, or purple to contrast the medals.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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