Extend

[nitewalk]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
As this shot is done by exposure blending, I hope to receive some feedback about this aspect. If there are other feedback regarding composition and tone, please enlighten me.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Have seen some architectural shots in CS of such, so I thought of attempting to make sure a shot. Have been trying to learn exposure blending so I thought I could use this to bring out the clouds in the sky as well.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Day time around near 6pm. Spot-metered for the sky and the building separately and found that at f/16, the correct shutter speed is 1/100s and 1/8 for the sky and the building respectively. Used an ND110 and fire off two exposures at 15s and 187s (i usually multiply by 1500 times even though it is technically supposed to be 1028 times). Manually blended the two shots in photoshop stacking the 15s exposure on top of the 187s exposure and brushed off parts of the layer mask to reveal details in the building.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
I have tried to give a full account of how i did the blending. I hope to gather helpful and critical feedback as I would like to improve. Personally, I felt the brushing is difficult especially at the border between the top of the building and the sky. Some blown highlights made my brushing easier and the brushing marks less obvious, but in other situations this is definitely not ideal. I am quite bad at learning IT stuff, not just photoshop but other softwares as well, so I would hope you will pardon my ignorance and incompetence.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Kit]

The blending lets you find a middle spot in the exposure which is fine. The photo is dominated by mid tones and has a dreamy feel but I think its worth the while to experiment with tonal controls i.e. more contrast. Sometimes, a narrower tonal range will add depth into the photo. Let highlights be highlights and shadows be shadows.

 

[nitewalk]

The blending lets you find a middle spot in the exposure which is fine. The photo is dominated by mid tones and has a dreamy feel but I think its worth the while to experiment with tonal controls i.e. more contrast. Sometimes, a narrower tonal range will add depth into the photo. Let highlights be highlights and shadows be shadows.

Hi Kit, thank you for taking time to give your critique. I have seen you mentioning alot about highlight, midtone and shadows. Exactly how you tell from a photo, without histogram is something I wanted to consult u but never dared to ask. Anyway, I have seen most who had done this kind of shot, allows the sky to be blown whereas shadows along certain structures and lines on the buildings to be shadow. Is that what you mean by adding contrast?

 

[Kit]

In essence, there isn't a single right or wrong exposure. They all give you different results and feel. "Dominated by mid tones means there are more gray tones than black and white in your photo. If you are using PS, try experimenting with curves.

 

[nitewalk]

In essence, there isn't a single right or wrong exposure. They all give you different results and feel. "Dominated by mid tones means there are more gray tones than black and white in your photo. If you are using PS, try experimenting with curves.

Ok. I understand your explanation of midtone. Thank you so much, Kit.

 

[Kamera79]

This is damn awesome photo! Well done! Love the angles & feeling of the grey shades!

 

[nitewalk]

Thank you for your kind words.