Church of the Good Shepherd Milky Way


victorng

New Member
May 10, 2016
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Kuala Lumpur
Hi all, I have this shot of the Church of Good Shepherd that I shot few months back during my solo trip to NZ. It was a pretty busy night as usual there at the Church, with lots of tourists and photographers. But I managed to stay until past midnight since I was well prepared with thick clothing:D And just when most of the people left, I managed to try different composition and got this shot.

Church of Good Sheperd by Victor Ng, on Flickr

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
composition, processing, and pretty much anything


2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
a more interesting shot that is worth a print out

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
i purposely composed the milky way appears from the bell tower. as there was one split second that i thought that bell tower does look like a chimney..

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
this is one of the pictures that i love most throughout the entire trip.. but i kinda feel like there is still lacking of something and definitely has something to work on
 

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Nice. I too thought it was a chimney for a split sec.
 

In my opinion the picture works to your expectations.You have followed textbook rules in terms of composition (rule of thirds) and wide angle (foreground and background).However to give and have more impact you need to examine what elements are extra or superfluous (not necessary).For instance the foreground boulders I feel are distracting since you want the church and night sky to be main elements.
If you had not said it was a church people might have thought it was a house because obvious elements
like the cross (at the back) and bell tower is small in terms of visual scale.Again it's a matter of scale, I would shoot from a geometric perspective making use of the inverted V of the roof and bell tower towards the front pointing at the milky way.Of course talk is easy!:)
 

I think it is a wonderful picture, one that I would place on a wall in my place. If you want to nitpick, I think the rocks on the bottom of the frame is a little distracting, just a little. Maybe you can darken that area by 0.3 to 0.5 stops, it may make the church and the milkyway more prominent. Great photo anyway. Awesome.
 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yea, I agree that the foreground is little bit distracting. And therefore I have this which I cropped slightly tighter and it seems better to me now.

Church of Good Sheperd by Victor Ng, on Flickr
 

I think the recropped pic is a refined pic.

A masterpiece. The only suggestion I have next time is to add a little details to the black area foreground,a separate exposure or a little light painting.
 

I think the recropped pic is a refined pic.

A masterpiece. The only suggestion I have next time is to add a little details to the black area foreground,a separate exposure or a little light painting.

Thanks for the comment. Yea, I agree with you.