Another Singapore CBD cityscape Part 2 =p

[thoongeng]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition and post-processing

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
After getting many great suggestions from the shi-fus in my previous post (http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/critique-corner/1060013-another-singapore-cbd-cityscape-=p.html), must go back to get something better. This was one rare day when the sky was relatively clear, and lucky was free in the evening, so tried again =)

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Taken from the Gardens by the Bay East, at dusk. Changed position from the previous post to try to include some foreground secondary interest.

Settings: 8s, F8, ISO100, Effective focal length 27.2mm
(still using CPL =p was trying to strenghten the reflections)
PP: Curves, increased saturation and sharpen

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I like the sky colour and streaks, and was trying to use the platforms/bridge on right to draw the viewer's eye to the skyline. Just nice 2 photographers were on platform to add some human interest heh...


Singapore CBD from Marina Bay East Apr '12 by knowenoughhappy, on Flickr

Thanks for viewing

 

[vee5]

Just my 2 cents.. not an expert here

Great Sky! But I think there's too much of the foreground, especially since the sky is so much more interesting. Perhaps if you compose with more sky and with just the tip of the platform and the 2 persons visible?

The bridge is distracting for me, rather than leading me to the sky.

 

[mds80]

Great colours, the sky is fantastic. I think the photo would be better if you had moved closer to the edge of the water. There's too much of the grass/rocky shore now which is underexposed and boring.

 

[MGohzxc]

Very nice sunset...a little too much distraction in the fg. If using right bridge to lead, it will be a little heavy on the right.
You may want to try this:

Let me know to remove this.

 

[vee5]

Very nice sunset...a little too much distraction in the fg. If using right bridge to lead, it will be a little heavy on the right.
You may want to try this:

Let me know to remove this.

Nice! How do you remove the right platform? Still working on my pp skills..

 

[thoongeng]

Just my 2 cents.. not an expert here

Great Sky! But I think there's too much of the foreground, especially since the sky is so much more interesting. Perhaps if you compose with more sky and with just the tip of the platform and the 2 persons visible?

The bridge is distracting for me, rather than leading me to the sky.

Great colours, the sky is fantastic. I think the photo would be better if you had moved closer to the edge of the water. There's too much of the grass/rocky shore now which is underexposed and boring.

thanks! great minds think alike. I was levelling my horizon and was keeping my aspect ratio of 3:2 so thus has too much foreground. I shouldn't stick to the original aspect ration since there's no regulations regarding this anyway heh...

Very nice sunset...a little too much distraction in the fg. If using right bridge to lead, it will be a little heavy on the right.
You may want to try this:

Let me know to remove this.

Thanks Manita for dropping by!! Please keep your picture, a picture is worth a thousand words and I'm sure others can learn from it. I've read about balance in composition but wasn't able to appreaciate it in this scene till you pointed it out :embrass:

I'm still striving to keep my pictures as close to the original scene as possible, next time I try I probably would be the one on the platform, keeping slightly back to use the platform in the foreground hee

To Vee5, regarding the PP, I'm guessing can use newer versions of Photoshop's Content Aware Fill, or by using the Clone tool which most software would have

 

[MGohzxc]

Nice! How do you remove the right platform? Still working on my pp skills..

In photoshop, just use the clone and patch tools and there are other options too. Sometimes is not easy but with more practice, you can do it nicely.We are all learning everyday...

 

[MGohzxc]

You are welcome and what you have suggested, I think is a good idea to have yourself at the platform and try out a different composition. I am learning too.

 

[thoongeng]

You are welcome and what you have suggested, I think is a good idea to have yourself at the platform and try out a different composition. I am learning too.

Thanks! Yup we're all learning, but my 'creative' department needs a lot more work hehe... your works are levels above mine

 

[Jason Wu]

Actually I prefer having the shore, ground there. Gives the whole pict

 

[vee5]

In photoshop, just use the clone and patch tools and there are other options too. Sometimes is not easy but with more practice, you can do it nicely.We are all learning everyday...

Tks for e tip! Heard of cloning but din dare to do it lest it looks doctored. But u did a good job of it.

 

[vee5]

To Vee5, regarding the PP, I'm guessing can use newer versions of Photoshop's Content Aware Fill, or by using the Clone tool which most software would have

Oh! Din know of content aware. Been using Lightroom mostly. Will check that out when I get e new CS6. Tks for e tip.

 

[SilverPine]

You have all the photographic technique skill for night photographic, but you had pick a subject of city landscape which I believe the degree of having a nice composition is more difficult.

My comments will only limit to photographic related matter, any advance pp will be a special field for graphic design will not involved here. To explain in word is difficult to imagine, allow me to crop the photo and explain the concept, you need to let me know if I should delete the edited photo.

Two Sunset Seeker

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The whole logic above is the composition, YOU MUCH KEEP the two plateform and the two photographers at the bottom to balance the composition at the bottom. The sky and water is in 1:3 ratio, remove part of the bridge on the right because relatively too tall to the building behind, and need to attract the viewer attention to the skyline. But, when the viewers discover the two photographers at the bottom, they will smile for what they discover. This make a very good story line for the picture.

Before you take any photo, you need to think what story you need to tell. Anyway, I can see you have a good eye for photographic, when you take photo just enjoy it as a hobby.





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[thoongeng]

Actually I prefer having the shore, ground there. Gives the whole pict

thanks for your comment! also agree with you that's why photography is so subjective

Oh! Din know of content aware. Been using Lightroom mostly. Will check that out when I get e new CS6. Tks for e tip.

you're welcome! I don't personally use Lightroom, but from what I've read, it's main use is for cataloguing and general tweaking of photos. For more heavy duty editing probably will need Photoshop, maybe at least Photoshop Elements

You have all the photographic technique skill for night photographic, but you had pick a subject of city landscape which I believe the degree of having a nice composition is more difficult.

My comments will only limit to photographic related matter, any advance pp will be a special field for graphic design will not involved here. To explain in word is difficult to imagine, allow me to crop the photo and explain the concept, you need to let me know if I should delete the edited photo.

Two Sunset Seeker

​

The whole logic above is the composition, YOU MUCH KEEP the two plateform and the two photographers at the bottom to balance the composition at the bottom. The sky and water is in 1:3 ratio, remove part of the bridge on the right because relatively too tall to the building behind, and need to attract the viewer attention to the skyline. But, when the viewers discover the two photographers at the bottom, they will smile for what they discover. This make a very good story line for the picture.

Before you take any photo, you need to think what story you need to tell. Anyway, I can see you have a good eye for photographic, when you take photo just enjoy it as a hobby.

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Thanks silverpine for your detailed analysis! Please keep your photo, I think it will benefit all of us newbies

Now I can see better why the bridge on the right, because of it's colour and size, may be distracting to some. And if remove it then have to keep the bottom right platform for compositional balance, which is also illustrated by Manita's example in another way.

And I love your story example + title! I thought landscape/cityscapes less story to tell but you showed otherwise. And once you reduce the water to 1/3 of the image the eye is more drawn to the skyline before noticing the people, making it a bit more surprising for viewers

Have to try to squeeze out more time to take photos like you do ;p

 

[SilverPine]

thoongeng, next time if you want to start a new thread, please consider other locations for shooting and testing your photographic skills.

 

[Chance]

Love this post. I have learnt much here thanks to all the examples.

Thank you TS and all the experts for taking the time to share.

This is what c&c should be about...not just mindless bashing and scolding/insulting that I so often see...

 

[thoongeng]

thoongeng, next time if you want to start a new thread, please consider other locations for shooting and testing your photographic skills.

hehe noted! maybe no more part 3 ;p Thanks for your valuable comments here and in other threads!

Love this post. I have learnt much here thanks to all the examples.

Thank you TS and all the experts for taking the time to share.

This is what c&c should be about...not just mindless bashing and scolding/insulting that I so often see...

maybe I haven't been here for long enough... or just haven't participated in other forums much... or I simply lazy to read through long pages of comments if I don't think they are beneficial to me hehe... so felt it was still ok
though I agree at the start there's a learning curve, need to do a bit of reading up first before posting, not that the reading up was useless
In the end the moderators have to decide the tone they allow in their forum cos ultimately they are responsible for the comments everyone posts =)

 

[MicSanity]

a lovely photo. indeed nothing to critique.
but just my personal preference: i would like the lights to be dazzling so will wait till darker time with a longer exposure.

 

[thoongeng]

a lovely photo. indeed nothing to critique.
but just my personal preference: i would like the lights to be dazzling so will wait till darker time with a longer exposure.

hi thanks for dropping by! I also like the lights which I was trying to show in my previous thread (http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/critique-corner/1060013-another-singapore-cbd-cityscape-=p.html)

However not easy to get best of both worlds, dazzling lights + nice sky, in 1 shot... guess would need some exposure blending or selective PP =)