# I think I got it right this time...



## allison_dcp (Jul 3, 2012)

I'm having a hard time figuring out which pictures will work in B&W. I fell like this one looks nice, what do you think? C&C wanted


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## JoshuaSimPhotography (Jul 3, 2012)

Great pic! Usually, things that are very detailed(like and old mans wrinkles) make great b and w pics


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## o hey tyler (Jul 3, 2012)

He's holding the guitar upside down... Its one of those things you can't not notice if you have played guitar.


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## fjrabon (Jul 3, 2012)

I actually know a pretty amazing studio guitarist who plays that way. Plays a right handed strung guitar left handed.


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## allison_dcp (Jul 3, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> He's holding the guitar upside down... Its one of those things you can't not notice if you have played guitar.


he is left handed...


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## DorkSterr (Jul 3, 2012)

Like this one! Love his expression.


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## jowensphoto (Jul 3, 2012)

Watch your backgrounds and horizons. This is a bit crooked and my eye goes right to the run-off pipe.


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## fjrabon (Jul 3, 2012)

allison_dcp said:


> o hey tyler said:
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> > He's holding the guitar upside down... Its one of those things you can't not notice if you have played guitar.
> ...



don't want to totally derail the thread, but is he learning to play a right handed strung guitar?  The guitar in the picture is strung for a right hander (and it's a right handed body as well).  If he is serious about it, that's a really bad way to go about it, because it basically means he will have to self teach himself everything.  It can be done, but it's like trying to win a race running backwards, it'd be a lot easier to just turn around and run forwards.  

And yeah, visually it is distracting for anybody that has played to see someone holding an obviously right handed strung guitar with a right handed body left handed.  Hence why we are talking about it.  Like 2/3rds of the white male population plays guitar and would notice this and totally lose everything else about the image.


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## o hey tyler (Jul 3, 2012)

allison_dcp said:
			
		

> he is left handed...



You need to restring the guitar if he wants to be the next Hendrix


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## allison_dcp (Jul 3, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> allison_dcp said:
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 His dad is in a band, plays Left handed too, and I'm pretty sure he restrung it the right way.


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## o hey tyler (Jul 3, 2012)

allison_dcp said:
			
		

> His dad is in a band, plays Left handed too, and I'm pretty sure he restrung it the right way.



I regret to inform you that he did not restring it the right way. The low E string is on the bottom, and the high E is on the top. To be playing left handed guitar, it's backwards.


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## jowensphoto (Jul 3, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> allison_dcp said:
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Nice attention to detail!


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## o hey tyler (Jul 3, 2012)

jowensphoto said:
			
		

> Nice attention to detail!



I try


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## amolitor (Jul 3, 2012)

Great photo, overall! I find it's a little heavy on the left side, since the guitar extends almost to the edge of the frame, with nothing to balance it on the other side. I'd have just placed the kid a little right of center to give the left a little more room to breathe. Otherwise, looks great!


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## deeky (Jul 5, 2012)

I too noticed the guitar.  But in the greater context of a kid with a really goofy smile (not on stage, not plugged in, not at the front of a band), I just took it as a kid goofing off, so it actually worked for me.  Added a little more humor to it.  I agree with moving things to the right, but I kind of liked the guitar (and I even play guitar and bass).


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## allison_dcp (Jul 5, 2012)

DEEKY......THANK YOU Now he may grow up to be a famous guitarist one day.....but today hes only 7.


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## Joel_W (Jul 6, 2012)

o hey tyler said:


> allison_dcp said:
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You can actually tell the difference in the strings in that small picture. Simply amazing.


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## o hey tyler (Jul 6, 2012)

Joel_W said:
			
		

> You can actually tell the difference in the strings in that small picture. Simply amazing.



You can too. Look at this crop I made on my phone. Not sure the quality will be the same as an attachment...


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## Fred Berg (Jul 7, 2012)

That the guitar is upside down, wrong way round or whatever makes no real difference to the aesthetic value of the image though, does it? Indeed, like a set of first-day-issue stamps mounted back to front, it adds to the value if anything. Great shot!


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## allison_dcp (Jul 7, 2012)

Fred Berg said:


> That the guitar is upside down, wrong way round or whatever makes no real difference to the aesthetic value of the image though, does it? Indeed, like a set of first-day-issue stamps mounted back to front, it adds to the value if anything. Great shot!


thanks!


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## SCraig (Jul 7, 2012)

Well, he apparently knows how to play it that way 'cause he's either fingering a chord or shooting a bird.  Not sure which since I don't play guitar.


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## o hey tyler (Jul 8, 2012)

Fred Berg said:


> That the guitar is upside down, wrong way round or whatever makes no real difference to the aesthetic value of the image though, *does it?*



Yes


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## fjrabon (Jul 8, 2012)

Fred Berg said:


> That the guitar is upside down, wrong way round or whatever makes no real difference to the aesthetic value of the image though, does it? Indeed, like a set of first-day-issue stamps mounted back to front, it adds to the value if anything. Great shot!



It distracts people who know how to play guitar.  The fact that we are talking about it is probably good enough indication that it's a distraction.  Think about something you know how to do.  I"m sure you've seen an ad where the person in the ad was doing it wrong, and you laughed at it, and it completely distracted you from the rest of the otherwise good ad.  Same thing here.  Because the guitar is upside down and backwards, people who know how to play guitar get distracted by that and miss a lot of the rest of the image.  Is it important to remove distracting elements from your composition?  Yes.  Is this distracting?  Well, it obviously is for at least some people, because we've talked about it this much.  A lot of people play guitar and can immediately see this.  THis really is no different than a tree growing out of somebody's head in a portrait.  Some people might not notice, but those that do, it's all they see.

When you use props for your shot, you need to make sure they're being used in an appropriate way.  The shot would have been better if he was simply there, sans guitar.  You still get the cute kid, but without an awkward looking and placed guitar.  Heck, even though the kid is left handed, he would have been better off holding it right handed, just for the shot.


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## amolitor (Jul 8, 2012)

I think that the kid is clearly doing it wrong (and I didn't need to look at the strings to see that) is cute. He's clearly mugging for the camera, fooling around, like a kid sitting in the driver's seat of a car hauling on the wheel and laughing like an idiot. I think it works just fine.


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