Helix + MBS Night shot

[bojee]

1. In what area is critique to be sought?
Composition and exposure.

2. What one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
I wish to improve composition and exposure as I am a newbie.

3. Under what circumstance is the picture taken?
Late evening.

4. What the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I love how the colors came out and I also like the lighting.

 

[coolthought]

this is one of the local favourite spot to shoot and there shouldn't be a lack of good examples.

1. Composition and balance looks ok and exposure looks good with no blown hightlight and or lack of details in the shadows.

3. a better timing is to retake this photo at twilight when there is still light in the sky and the lights at the building and bridge are turned on.

4. The colour looks somewhat dull to me and not enough contrast for a nice "punchy" photo.

Photo looks just a tad soft. This can be due to a number of reasons from "shakey" tripod to dirty optics to lousy optics....etc.
This looks to me that this seems like you did not post process your photo.
What you can do during pp is to increase contrast, vibrancy, bit of saturation and sharpening which can make a big impact to this photo.

 

[bojee]

this is one of the local favourite spot to shoot and there shouldn't be a lack of good examples.

1. Composition and balance looks ok and exposure looks good with no blown hightlight and or lack of details in the shadows.

3. a better timing is to retake this photo at twilight when there is still light in the sky and the lights at the building and bridge are turned on.

4. The colour looks somewhat dull to me and not enough contrast for a nice "punchy" photo.

Photo looks just a tad soft. This can be due to a number of reasons from "shakey" tripod to dirty optics to lousy optics....etc.
This looks to me that this seems like you did not post process your photo.
What you can do during pp is to increase contrast, vibrancy, bit of saturation and sharpening which can make a big impact to this photo.

Thanks for your in-depth critique. I'll definitely retake this photo at twilight.

Yeah I just noticed that the photo looked a bit soft. It must be because I was practicing hyperfocal distance and there must be something I'm not doing correctly.

Thanks for the suggestions as well. I'll work on this photo tonight and tweak a few things in PP.

 

[coolthought]

with regard to soft, hyperfocus doesn't seem to be the problem here or maybe I am wrong about it. You should know best.
Anyway, I won't be too bother by hyperfocusing when there aren't any foreground and/or objects near to camera.

 

[bojee]

with regard to soft, hyperfocus doesn't seem to be the problem here or maybe I am wrong about it. You should know best.
Anyway, I won't be too bother by hyperfocusing when there aren't any foreground and/or objects near to camera.

Well aside from that I had my UV filter on. Next time I'll take it off. My tripod is sturdy enough, so I guess it's not that. I also had the exposure delay on, self timer set to 2secs, manual focus. What do you suggest for this scene? Would it be better if I just focus close to infinity?

 

[jed091270]

What's your setting? Looks a bit underexposed to me.

 

[bojee]

What's your setting? Looks a bit underexposed to me.

Base ISO, f16, 15secs.

 

[coolthought]

Well aside from that I had my UV filter on. Next time I'll take it off. My tripod is sturdy enough, so I guess it's not that. I also had the exposure delay on, self timer set to 2secs, manual focus. What do you suggest for this scene? Would it be better if I just focus close to infinity?

no need to take out uv filter.
looks like everything you did is right.
For a lazy bum like me, I will just let the camera do the autofocusing.
I will only do focus at infinity (manual) only when the camera can't autofocus due to lack of contrast, etc.

 

[jed091270]

Maybe try lowering your your shutter speed to 25 to 30 sec.

 

[coolthought]

What's your setting? Looks a bit underexposed to me.

doesn't really look underexpose to me.
after all, this is a night scene.

 

[jed091270]

try comparing this from TS shot. The lights are more detailed!

 

[bojee]

try comparing this from TS shot. The lights are more detailed!

I can't seem to view the photo...

 

[jed091270]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jed091270/5178837038/in/photostream/lightbox/

try opening the link, I seem to have problems uploading my image

 

[coolthought]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jed091270/5178837038/in/photostream/lightbox/

try opening the link, I seem to have problems uploading my image

from jed091270 link

your highlights are all blown.... unless this is what you want to see in your photo.
normally, we try to avoid having blown highlights.

 

[jed091270]

here's another one http://www.flickr.com/photos/jed091270/5178834464/in/photostream/lightbox/

Yeah you are right there, that is what I wanted to achieve, or maybe I'm the one who needs improvement!

 

[jed091270]

Sorry about that TS, your exposure seems ok now, I forgot to adjust the brightness on my laptop. Maybe just a bit soft.

 

[coolthought]

Sorry about that TS, your exposure seems ok now, I forgot to adjust the brightness on my laptop. Maybe just a bit soft.

I think for ts's photo, he just need to pp this photo to increase contrast will do.

 

[jed091270]

Yeah I agree with you coolthought.

 

[bojee]

Thanks for the insight guys. I'm currently working on the PP for this photo right now.

 

[daredevil123]

no need to take out uv filter.
looks like everything you did is right.
For a lazy bum like me, I will just let the camera do the autofocusing.
I will only do focus at infinity (manual) only when the camera can't autofocus due to lack of contrast, etc.

Actually it matters, especially if the UV filter is not a good one.

Also the apparent lack of contrast will also make a picture look softer than it really is.