So i am not very good with photography what might be the reason why i am not satisfied with my outcome . There is a litte photography contest on my university site (not professional - just for fun) and the theme was "as time goes by". Ive seen this old house today and wanted to take a picture of its door where people stick posters of any kind of stuff whats going on in town on it. The last picture is the whole door. I tryed several angles and setups but it didnt get better at all . Can you may tell me what to change so it doesnt look like a crappy snapshot anymore and maybe a lil more professional ?! Or is it possible to do some post edit so it gets a beter look ?

Thanks so far !









This post was edited by Dvnty on Apr 15 2013 01:58pm

I really like your idea of shooting the different posters stuck on after time
can you give us a wider shot of the building, this should give us more ideas (give us one very wide shot, try include the roof and ground in front)
what camera are you using?
dslr? if so what lens(es)?
if compact camera does it have manual modes?

some basic tips for now, shooting it straight on is going to be boring so shoot it at an angle, as you did in the 2nd pic (you started right ) maybe even more of an angle though, also try a shot from ground level up at it (if you can get it wide enough and also include some sky this might add to the whole feeling of passing time)
open your aperture up so you get a shallower depth of field (aperture = f/# , the lower the # the wider open it is = the shallower the DoF, try around f/4)

by the looks of that building there is some post production that you could do to make it look a little older / run down / dirty - others could help you more here, I SUCK at "photoshop" etc
B&W might also work but think this will be better to experiment with once the whole series is finished

oh and obv shoot from the same spot everytime, unless you would like to do a "timelapse style" shoot but that could get rather complex


e:


haha obv we have different opinions on the angle
but that's a good thing I think

This post was edited by jayandnix on Apr 15 2013 02:23pm

Sure its just around the corner. Just let me know what rly would be the "best way" to do this shot. Do you want a lil bit of the wall on each side or the door only ? Ive done it this evening when the sun wasnt that bright anymore so i wait for this again. If i got time ill try it tomorrow or in two days.


@jayandnix just read your post. gimme a sec ;D

This post was edited by Dvnty on Apr 15 2013 02:24pm

I am shooting with a Canon 600D and a tamron 18-200mm lens. People told me to get a straight lens but i wanted to experiment a lil bit. I can try to get the whole building on a shot even if it might be kinda difficult because of the street near to it

The lense can go from f/3.5 so if i zoom a little bit i might get a DoF with arround 5. Whats the best point to cover with the DoF ? Should one poster be sharp and the one next to it not or just focus on the old posters ?

whats the best way to get good colours ? I tryed to under expose with 1/3 - 2/3 f. Is that the right way ?


thank you for your help. Ill post some more trys when the weather is fine again and i got some time

id try an extreme angle to cause a dramatic effect. (would need some editing maybe.)

something like this



stay close to the wall and frame the posters on the wall at an extreme angle. this photo is of a wall with two windows looking up. (did not take this simple googled "extreme angle photo wall" lol)

This post was edited by AbDuCt on Apr 15 2013 04:44pm

Not a lucky day today. I went to the spot but they changed the whole door and its not worth a shot anymore I tryed this extreme angle thing at a random door but my battery fucked up after a few trys only -.-

This silver thing (where the lock is in - i dont know the english word tho) doesnt fit and its kinda the focus of the picture...

i think people just call it a door lock or door nob lol.

and yea its a shame they changed the posters.

this show i think you should of tried more positions of the extreme angle. im not a fan of the position/angle of the door nob.

This post was edited by AbDuCt on Apr 17 2013 03:12pm

I like what you tried to do with the angle there, but I think a juxtaposition of symmetry (centered on the doorknob) vs. asymmetry (natural via the paint cracks and graffiti) would really lend itself to the overall image. Here's a couple ideas for editing:

(Let me know if you want me to remove these, by the way. I don't mean to take over your image.)





This post was edited by Eruionmel on May 2 2013 11:40pm