Newbie's Night Shot at NUS University Town

[robinlxz]

D300s, 30s, f/6.3, 16mm, ISO200.
1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Is the color feels good in this photo?
Also I want to ask that is the combination ok for this kind of night shot? I know that the light is over exposure, but this is the price for have the green on grass looks like this at 0:02 a.m.
2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
A different view of this place. Sometimes I think night view can provide more colorful scene, esp. with longer exposure.
3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
While after a long discussion with friends I back to Utown alone with my DC and tripod, and feel like I'd love to record this view.
4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Somehow I favor this style of photo that using long exposure at night shot, which provides a vivid color which cannot be directly seen by eyes at night. But this also maybe because that I am still a Newbie. Thanks for reading

BTW, the color of sky is modified with Capture NX, which was just dark and grey in original photo. Color of other parts is not modified at all. Next time I will try it at "blue hour".

[Kit]

Over exposure works well in some instances, especially B&W. This unfortunately, looks more distracting than anything else, especially in colours. Composition is unbalanced and the tree grabs more attention than everything else.

[thoongeng]

think you already know what most people will say... shooting during the golden hours helps because the dynamic range is less, so you can balance the ambient light and the lights from the buildings.

You may also want to think more about what you would like to capture before shooting... in this case the architecture? the greenery?
If it's greenery, and at this time probably have to avoid the lights, cos they will blow and be distracting, unless they are small
If it's architecture, the path on the bottom right is a leading line, it leads to a building but it is blocked by the trees. The lights on the building further back is too bright, obscuring details of the building.

Next time before shooting take a little more time and think about what you're achieving. I often make this mistake and the results are usually not good =p But I still keep most of them because the photo reminds me of what I was thinking at that time, just that others will not be able to read my mind and have the same feelings about it

Thanks for sharing and keep shooting!

[robinlxz]

Over exposure works well in some instances, especially B&W. This unfortunately, looks more distracting than anything else, especially in colours. Composition is unbalanced and the tree grabs more attention than everything else.

I tried B&W one below, which do make the photo much more clearer. While I thought the intense color from over exposure is an advantage, it seemed that I was wrong. Thank you.

[robinlxz]

think you already know what most people will say... shooting during the golden hours helps because the dynamic range is less, so you can balance the ambient light and the lights from the buildings.

You may also want to think more about what you would like to capture before shooting... in this case the architecture? the greenery?
If it's greenery, and at this time probably have to avoid the lights, cos they will blow and be distracting, unless they are small
If it's architecture, the path on the bottom right is a leading line, it leads to a building but it is blocked by the trees. The lights on the building further back is too bright, obscuring details of the building.

Next time before shooting take a little more time and think about what you're achieving. I often make this mistake and the results are usually not good =p But I still keep most of them because the photo reminds me of what I was thinking at that time, just that others will not be able to read my mind and have the same feelings about it

Thanks for sharing and keep shooting!

Thank you very much for your kindly comments. You are right that I should think more about the subject of the photo before shooting. While for me it is more like trying over exposure at night and dazzled by the color, then I forgot anything else. Even when I view this photo at PC, my attention is still only about color and how shining they are, which depart from the basic rules about shooting.

[nedy77]

You could try a smaller aperture if you want to do long exposures

[robinlxz]

You could try a smaller aperture if you want to do long exposures

Yeah I've tried f/11 and even smaller one, and it need to use Bulb-shutter as 30s is the longest preset shutter time for D300s. And I didn't bring any time counter, so...
Thank you anyway.

[CZJena]

The tree was the main culprit here.
WITHOUT that tree, i might step in to the right across the pavement, and emphasize the path with a wide-angle.
WITH that tree, i might walk way backwards (say 10-15metres) to find a higher view-level (building/trees) to mount my camera with short telephoto/standard lens.
Of course as the few critics mentioned above, over-exposure was a problem too.

Also perhaps you have too many things occurring in your mind then, ie. the sky, the buildingscape, the field, the path, the path-lighting ... in fact everything looks good and when you were trying a big bang with them, the whole frame just failed: this is always the tricky part about landscape photography.

So be patience and spend more time to walk around to find the right perspective, and don't limit yourself to that split-second mindframe/nature; try something more exciting esp. with ultra/super wide-angle. Perhaps walk under the trees and fill most of your frame with the purple sky (clouds) with a little of those treelines/building.

[zaren]

this could make quite a funky surreal shot too by playing around with swapping colours....

[CZJena]

Please read this very helpful tips on photography that all of us can learn:
10 Reasons Why You Suck at Photography « FusionDub Design Studios – Web Design, Web Development, and Photography

[robinlxz]

I've read that, thank you for your suggestion.

[CZJena]

The article/link was sent to me recently by my close photographic friend and personally it helps me align my bearing too. And i hope you are discouraged from solarisation of your photos.