New York Cityscape


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viclam

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Dec 19, 2004
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East, Singapore
jwc1.blogspot.com
Hi again,

Here's another picture I like you guys to critique. Took this in a rush during my first trip to NewYork. I was on the Empire State Building when this was taken.

Did some cropping and changed it to B/W. Thought that the effect is nice. Pls comment.

Regards

NewYork_Cityscape.JPG
 

That's quite a view. I agree with what Kit said though, my first impression was blown highlights.
 

yeah. it's too overexposed. try to tone it down and add more shadows into it.
 

For this view, a coloured image will look better.
 

Hi,

Hm...good try!
If you ask for my preference, I will prefer the photo to be in color.
Cause the city is pretty congested, and if you turn it B&W, you will lose the uniqueness of the buildings.
The presentation now looks abit "messy" to me. :)

Cheers!
 

Thanks all for the feedback!
Yongsak and Parchiao - It was taken at about 11 plus in the morning and was a little cloudy/hazy. The colour version looks washout. That's why I decided to convert it to B/W. Most of the buildings in New York about the same colour (sandstone) apart from the particular few that stands out either in colour or in architecture.
Would further cropping or undoing the cropping help? Original picture shows a bit more sky area.
 

The composition did not work for me. Too much crowding towards the left. And the horizon did not work. Looks like a rushed job indeed.

Nice try though.
 

the shadow of empire state building is quite distracting:think: right side of ur pic has good exposure or atleast better than ur left side of ur pic:bsmilie:if one and a half inch of the top part been cropped,this pic wud have had more appeal and interest to the viewer:think:i prefer a color shot:)
 

OK. Point taken. Thanks to all for feedback.

the shadow of empire state building is quite distracting:think: right side of ur pic has good exposure or atleast better than ur left side of ur pic:bsmilie:if one and a half inch of the top part been cropped,this pic wud have had more appeal and interest to the viewer:think:i prefer a color shot:)
 

the shadow of empire state building is quite distracting:think: right side of ur pic has good exposure or atleast better than ur left side of ur pic:bsmilie:if one and a half inch of the top part been cropped,this pic wud have had more appeal and interest to the viewer:think:i prefer a color shot:)

Cropping the top part by one and a half inches effectively removes all headroom that there is to the photo. Care to explain why you think cropping it by that much would help?
 

mrcalebk:)in my opinion,if there were two pic with a cropped top and another one with the breathing space u desire sooo much:think: keep them side by side,u wud see that the cropped one wud give the viewer a more pleasant experience than the other;) its just a matter off more comfortable viewing pleasure.......thats all;p
 

I prefer the cropped one too. I feel that the horizon somehow did not go with the busy portion of the picture. I guess it is probably due to the fact the buildings occupy around 80% of the picture and the almost empty horizon stand odd. just my opinion.
 

mrcalebk:)in my opinion,if there were two pic with a cropped top and another one with the breathing space u desire sooo much:think: keep them side by side,u wud see that the cropped one wud give the viewer a more pleasant experience than the other;) its just a matter off more comfortable viewing pleasure.......thats all;p

I prefer the cropped one too. I feel that the horizon somehow did not go with the busy portion of the picture. I guess it is probably due to the fact the buildings occupy around 80% of the picture and the almost empty horizon stand odd. just my opinion.

i really cannot help but beg to differ here.

with such a wide view, you can try cropping and showcase what you mean, without the horizon you are going to get a whole mess of buildings that look very crowded. not my best idea of a "comfortable viewing pleasure". photo critique is NOT about "viewing pleasure" or about the feel of the photo; if one cannot substantiate it properly with any logical substantiation then perhaps one needs to re-examine his critique. no one is going to take you seriously if you blabber around without much order of thought with not much basis except "feeling".

on the other hand, i am sure that a little perspective correction (not entirely because here it is too overdone).. would help a tad with the "oddity" that blackpearl mentions

2442672116_fe45639ec2_o.jpg
 

i really cannot help but beg to differ here.

with such a wide view, you can try cropping and showcase what you mean, without the horizon you are going to get a whole mess of buildings that look very crowded. not my best idea of a "comfortable viewing pleasure". photo critique is NOT about "viewing pleasure" or about the feel of the photo; if one cannot substantiate it properly with any logical substantiation then perhaps one needs to re-examine his critique. no one is going to take you seriously if you blabber around without much order of thought with not much basis except "feeling".

on the other hand, i am sure that a little perspective correction (not entirely because here it is too overdone).. would help a tad with the "oddity" that blackpearl mentions

2442672116_fe45639ec2_o.jpg

Perspective is difficult to control in such pictures where there are so many verticals. I usually reference a landmark that is near each edge of the picture to adjust, but each viewer will latch on to his individual vertical. My reference vertical is the bright building along the LH third, rising from near the bottom of the picture. I find this to be slightly slanted and immediately compared to the next building that caught my eye, for which the slant was even worse.

This is merely my view on the difficulty of correcting perspectives, not PS skills by anyone.
 

Cropping the horizon, gave me a more "cramped" feeling like a sea of buildings with no end...
With the horizon, it gave an end to the flow of the buildings. So I believe cropping or not is something you have the option to play with as part of the "story" your picture tells. As for perspective... correcting it if you wanted, i believe at a wide end of your lens (18mm from exif) you not only have to figure out the tilt in horizon, lens distortion plays a part too and then verticals.

In any case, sometimes, is correcting vertical perspective so important? Hmm... probably on a case by case basis. After all in 2d drawings (art class and what not), we learn from basics about perspective and such and drawing converging lines toward horizons and etc to mimic our eyes... Sorry, I'm just ranting on.
 

Perspective is difficult to control in such pictures where there are so many verticals. I usually reference a landmark that is near each edge of the picture to adjust, but each viewer will latch on to his individual vertical. My reference vertical is the bright building along the LH third, rising from near the bottom of the picture. I find this to be slightly slanted and immediately compared to the next building that caught my eye, for which the slant was even worse.

This is merely my view on the difficulty of correcting perspectives, not PS skills by anyone.

that's for sure, i did not intend this to be any display of ps skills anyways, so no offense taken.

for one, there is also lens distortion present, probably, which is a little tricky to correct here. my main objective was to put forth some form of reasoning with regards to the slight disagreement here about whether to "chop off the horizon or not".

what do you think, though? i tried chopping off many ways, once you exclude the horizon the picture becomes extremely cramped and messy.
 

In any case, sometimes, is correcting vertical perspective so important? Hmm... probably on a case by case basis. After all in 2d drawings (art class and what not), we learn from basics about perspective and such and drawing converging lines toward horizons and etc to mimic our eyes... Sorry, I'm just ranting on.

for one, there is also lens distortion present, probably, which is a little tricky to correct here. my main objective was to put forth some form of reasoning with regards to the slight disagreement here about whether to "chop off the horizon or not".

what do you think, though? i tried chopping off many ways, once you exclude the horizon the picture becomes extremely cramped and messy.

Personally, I prefer some headroom and the original was about right. But it really depends on what TS was trying to capture. If taken as a snapshot to show the metropolis NY is, it will do. If he wanted to show an unending urban sprawl, perhaps another angle would be preferable.

Two things when observing from a great height:
  • Verticals will converge towards the bottom. That is probably why the original picture looks more 'natural' then night86mare's version. Periodicals frequently recommend correction to avoid objects having the appearance of toppling over but sometimes I do not really understand that. I just know that when I actually look from their perspective, the further the object is, the smaller it appears. Nonetheless, I do correct myself in PS but stop long before it starts looking ridiculous.

  • The horizon will not be straight. Humans like symmetry and that usually means perfectly level horizons in landscapes. However, when at such heights, one will also notice the slight curvature of the Earth, lens distortion notwithstanding. I would suspect something if the horizon was perfectly level in the original picture - not that it will be wrong though
 

on the other hand, i am sure that a little perspective correction (not entirely because here it is too overdone).. would help a tad with the "oddity" that blackpearl mentions

NewYork_Cityscape_2.jpg


This is my version of crop. I cropped most part of the horizon because it did not bring any added interest and I cropped the bottom portion because too many of the shorter buildings stole some of the interest from the taller buildings. And I gave a panaromic crop to give a "wide" feel. I thought the original picture had a bit of a boxy feel.

What do you guys think?
 

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