Nightlife at Clarke Quay

[scholesville]

Shot at 8s . f/29.0 . ISO 900 . 28 mm

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Exposure, Composition and Colours(saturation &Contrast)
2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
To show the vibrancy of the clubs and bars at Clarke Quay
3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Using standard kit lens with long exposure, about 45mins after the "Golden Hour" period
4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I find the picture very vibrant and shows the colours of the nightlife scene at Clarke Quay

 

[sqroot]

Shot at 8s . f/29.0 . ISO 900 . 28 mm

I like the composition and your way of incorporating light trails(of the boats) into the picture. And the singapore spirit shown by the flag

However, the lights at "Central" seems to be too overexpose to me and make the right part of the picture nt appealing to me, since i cant even see the details due to the glare.

And the sky seems to have weird patches(some grains and white patch above the central and black patch in centre of picture), is it because of the resolution? or the high ISO u used? Maybe you should lower the ISO, unless you are shooting without tripod.

Just my 2cents

Overall, not bad composition and vivid colours displayed.
:thumbsup:

 

[scholesville]

Thanks sqroot for the critique. Yup, the sky was patches maybe due to my high ISO, this was my tryout long exposure so still newbie. Will try to improve further on my long exposure technique.

 

[ovaltinemilo]

Thanks sqroot for the critique. Yup, the sky was patches maybe due to my high ISO, this was my tryout long exposure so still newbie. Will try to improve further on my long exposure technique.

If you use your lowest possible Iso, your exposure can be longer...

 

[candycaine]

Hi, a few thoughts to share:

1. Most glaringly, your white balance seems off. I am pretty sure the photo has too warm a colour tone. As such, the colours, although seemingly vivid, are not as appealing to the eye as they would if the WB was corrected.

2. Next, the composition is very messy. There is no clear object of interest, neither is there a leading line of sorts to take the viewers' eyes into the photo.

3. Any reason for the ISO900? This is... unnecessary. Definitely. Your shutter speed was 8s, and there is little/no motion blur which probably implies you are using a tripod. In a very simplified explanation, pumping up the ISO reduces the dynamic range and degrades the image quality. You can afford to reduce the ISO and, if you're not willing to use a shutter speed of at least... 1 minute (rough calculation), you can reduce the f number accordingly.

Hope this helps
AC

 

[stealthsilhouette]

sky would have been a nicer shade of blue if you'd taken the photo a little earlier methinks.

i like how you managed to show the contrast between the moving and stationary boat. but might be better to show the whole of the stationary boat?

 

[scholesville]

Hi, a few thoughts to share:

1. Most glaringly, your white balance seems off. I am pretty sure the photo has too warm a colour tone. As such, the colours, although seemingly vivid, are not as appealing to the eye as they would if the WB was corrected.

2. Next, the composition is very messy. There is no clear object of interest, neither is there a leading line of sorts to take the viewers' eyes into the photo.

3. Any reason for the ISO900? This is... unnecessary. Definitely. Your shutter speed was 8s, and there is little/no motion blur which probably implies you are using a tripod. In a very simplified explanation, pumping up the ISO reduces the dynamic range and degrades the image quality. You can afford to reduce the ISO and, if you're not willing to use a shutter speed of at least... 1 minute (rough calculation), you can reduce the f number accordingly.

Hope this helps
AC

hi candycaine thanks for the advice.
Yes, the WB is abit warm as I feel showing a more warmer tone will make the picture more vibrant than a blueish tone. As for composition, I guess I can work on it more as this is one of my first few LE pictures. As for ISO900, yes I should have use a lower ISO, haha didn't know about this and now I know that a low ISO should be use.

 

[nitewalk]

If possible, suggest using ISO 100.

 

[ietoshi]

Could probably stick to iso 100 as mentioned. Pictures feels generally overexposed. Nonetheless, I like the way your composition.

 

[candycaine]

hi candycaine thanks for the advice.
Yes, the WB is abit warm as I feel showing a more warmer tone will make the picture more vibrant than a blueish tone. As for composition, I guess I can work on it more as this is one of my first few LE pictures. As for ISO900, yes I should have use a lower ISO, haha didn't know about this and now I know that a low ISO should be use.

Warmer colours do not = more vivid colours. Vivid colours arise largely due to contrast rather than the colour tint. I have shot in the wrong white balance on purpose before to intentionally cause the colours to be warmer (here), but in this case, a warmer WB serves not much purpose.

What you can do, instead, is to correct the WB, as well as increase the contrast in lightroom.

WB aside, the thing the kills this photo is the composition though. It's a huge mess, with no clear object of interest. The boat on the bottom right-hand side is cut off abruptly.

Hope this helps

 

[tednbaby]

Just 1 concern..

Since its nightlife at clarke quay.. eh... wheres the "life" ah?

 

[nitewalk]

Could probably stick to iso 100 as mentioned. Pictures feels generally overexposed. Nonetheless, I like the way your composition.

Just realise TS is a Nikon user, I heard from another thread that Nikon bodies can only go down till ISO 200.

 

[scholesville]

Could probably stick to iso 100 as mentioned. Pictures feels generally overexposed. Nonetheless, I like the way your composition.

Just realise TS is a Nikon user, I heard from another thread that Nikon bodies can only go down till ISO 200.

thanks ietoshi and nitewalk for viewing.. yup should have iso 100 or 200 instead.

 

[alexpangestu]

Agreed! Where's the life? It's only a scene. Despite that, this is a great picture. But, longer exposure can make it better.

 

[stein]

Hey man.
I've got to agree that the picture's quite messy.The half-boat in the foreground is rather distracting and doesn't really contribute positively to the image.

But nevertheless, after correcting WB, and maybe adjusting saturation/contrast to bring out the 'life' it would make a good image.

 

[Override2Zion]

Use the lowest ISO possible if you have a tripod. An aperture of f/29 is way too small, diffraction will degrade image quality, keeping it to around f/8 to f/16 should be sufficient. White balance is too warm for this shot. The boat on the bottom right seems a little distracting and the image seems a bit tilted to the left (using the building in the center of the background as reference). Good learning experience, shoot more and learn from mistakes

 

[dougs]

generally, a tad messy but i think its not bad

 

[daredevil123]

Just realise TS is a Nikon user, I heard from another thread that Nikon bodies can only go down till ISO 200.

It really depends on what is the base ISO of the sensor. To maximize IQ for long exposures, it is recommended to leave ISO at base ISO.

For newer Nikon cameras, the base sensor is 200. It is still possible to go below 200 by using the Lo ISO settings, but you are just going to lose dynamic range if you do that.

For older Nikon cams like the D200/D80/D60/D3000 and before, the base ISO is 100.

For the coming D7000, base ISO will be 100.

For many other cameras, like the newer Sony, Pentax bodies, base ISO is also 200 I think. I am not sure about Canon or other brands. But be sure to check your manual.

 

[daredevil123]

Now, for my critique:

Most glaring problems with this picture:

1. There is an obvious tilt to the left in the picture. How do I see this? All the verticals are tilting to the left.

2. You blew the highlights at Central. Problem is, it is very blown, esp at the left side of the building, and most especially it is in the center of the frame where it gets the most attention. And the scene is overexposed in my view. Your picture could be a lot better if you pull back around 1 to 1.5 stops.

3. Composition is weak here. I would have waited for all boats to clear before shooting this. The 'moving' lights slashed from the right to the left and 'exited' the screen. Not only did it lead me out of the picture (which is bad), it also cuts the picture across (which is also very bad). Other bad choices in composition is to include the boat in the lower right corner. It is a single boat, and makes a good foreground element, but you chopped it into half in your framing. Either get the whole boat in, or leave it out. move around, get a better angle if you need.

Other problems I will not mention since many has covered here like ISO selection and timing selection.

So there. hope this helps so you can learn. I encourage you to go back there and shoot again. Try to keep these things in mind.