First Timer


zhiminggg

New Member
Oct 10, 2012
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Singapore
1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Anything, Everything that can help me improve
2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Better composition and better adobe lightroom skills.
3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Near Clarke Quay, Night, D7000 & 35mm 1.8g, 1/40 ISO 2000
4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Not very sure either, thats is why i need some help :)

This picture is after post editing, need some help in correcting my Camera setting if needed and Lightroom Skills. CHEERS! ;)

8213356522_e1c502390b_c.jpg
 

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For a ISO200 picture, it sure looks really really noisy. Did you push the exposure/levels of this picture a lot?

I also thought you could have excluded that horizontal ledge on the extreme right side.

And this picture might do much better in B&W.

A good attempt for a first timer.
 

The subject itself is quite well chosen and interesting though the slant of the building doesn't seem pleasant to me. Perhaps shooting vertically rather than landscape would have been more suitable for this subject. There seems to be a lot of noise in the photo. When shooting night shots and you have a tripod, always use the lowest ISO, in this case it's 100 for the D7000. Can also clean up the noise using photoshop. The top part of the building shows some blown out areas that are very white. You can use the shadows/highlights function in photoshop to correct this to a certain extent.
 

For a ISO200 picture, it sure looks really really noisy. Did you push the exposure/levels of this picture a lot?

I also thought you could have excluded that horizontal ledge on the extreme right side.

And this picture might do much better in B&W.

A good attempt for a first timer.

Thanks :D Exposure was +2.0 if i'm not wrong. Anyway, the ISO is on 2000. I think i got a typo. Wrong ISO setting i guess.
But i have some question,
What do you mean by really noisy from this picture? How do you spot it.
 

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The subject itself is quite well chosen and interesting though the slant of the building doesn't seem pleasant to me. Perhaps shooting vertically rather than landscape would have been more suitable for this subject. There seems to be a lot of noise in the photo. When shooting night shots and you have a tripod, always use the lowest ISO, in this case it's 100 for the D7000. Can also clean up the noise using photoshop. The top part of the building shows some blown out areas that are very white. You can use the shadows/highlights function in photoshop to correct this to a certain extent.

Thanks for your advice. Yes i agree with the slant, guess i should have cropped it in Lightroom.
What do you mean by clean up noises in photoshop and how do you clean it up in lightroom, cause i only have lightroom.
I've yet to learn how to use the brushes in lightroom to correct the 2 bright spots :(
Any idea how can i like do some specific details in lightroom cause i'm still new to it.
 

Thanks :D Exposure was +2.0 if i'm not wrong. Anyway, the ISO is on 2000. I think i got a typo. Wrong ISO setting i guess.
But i have some question,
What do you mean by really noisy from this picture? How do you spot it.

No wonder there's so much noise. Try using the lowest ISO for night shots. Use a tripod and a remote shutter release to stabilise your camera. Noise is the grain or the spots you see in your photo. Look at the clouds and the sky and you can see there's a lot of noise.

Thanks for your advice. Yes i agree with the slant, guess i should have cropped it in Lightroom.
What do you mean by clean up noises in photoshop and how do you clean it up in lightroom, cause i only have lightroom.
I've yet to learn how to use the brushes in lightroom to correct the 2 bright spots :(
Any idea how can i like do some specific details in lightroom cause i'm still new to it.

Sorry I only used Lightroom for a short time and can't remember most functions. I learnt how to use Lightroom and Photoshop from books that I've been borrowing from the National Library. The one near Bras Basah has hundreds on image editing and photography and it's a good place to pick up some technical skills :)
 

Alright! Thanks for all those tips and advices! :)
 

Thanks for your advice. Yes i agree with the slant, guess i should have cropped it in Lightroom.
What do you mean by clean up noises in photoshop and how do you clean it up in lightroom, cause i only have lightroom.
I've yet to learn how to use the brushes in lightroom to correct the 2 bright spots :(
Any idea how can i like do some specific details in lightroom cause i'm still new to it.

In Lightroom, under the develop module, on the right panel go down the options till you hit the "Detail" section. Within that section there is a "Noise Reduction". Luminance slider takes care of normal grainy noise. Colo slider takes care of color noise.
 

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Thanks :D Exposure was +2.0 if i'm not wrong. Anyway, the ISO is on 2000. I think i got a typo. Wrong ISO setting i guess.
But i have some question,
What do you mean by really noisy from this picture? How do you spot it.

ISO 2000 is relatively high, plus you increased exposure by quite a bit that's why all the noise got amplified such that even at such a low resolution it is obvious (if you view it at 100% I'm sure you'll notice a lot of specks of white/colourful dots AKA noise in areas which are usually more uniform like the sky).
As mds80 has pointed out set your camera on a tripod and use the lowest ISO. Also try to expose the photo correctly such that you don't have to bump up the exposure much in Lightroom

Thanks for your advice. Yes i agree with the slant, guess i should have cropped it in Lightroom.
What do you mean by clean up noises in photoshop and how do you clean it up in lightroom, cause i only have lightroom.
I've yet to learn how to use the brushes in lightroom to correct the 2 bright spots :(
Any idea how can i like do some specific details in lightroom cause i'm still new to it.

DD123 has addressed the noise reduction part
For the bright areas, in the 'Develop' module, under 'Basic' you might want to reduce the 'Highlights' (or 'Recovery' if Lightroom 3 and before, pull the slider to the left) to reduce the blown highlights

Yup agree with mds80 I also feel it'll be better you read a book to get the basics of lightroom right, then you can search the internet/read advanced books to try the different tricks. I'm also still learning and borrowing books :)

Thanks for sharing and happy shooting!
 

Haha! Thanks for all those advice guys! Gonna head out for dinner after studying, time to take more photos! :D
 

Reducing the noise especially in the sky, along with a modest bump up in contrast and cropping away the 2nd building at bottom right, will result in a stronger image.
8216482877_eeaa96f792_o.jpg
 

Reducing the noise especially in the sky, along with a modest bump up in contrast and cropping away the 2nd building at bottom right, will result in a stronger image.
8216482877_eeaa96f792_o.jpg

Oh.. its nicer as compared to mine. :eek:
Haha! But the most important part is still the noise reduction i think, will do some research on it after exams.
But what are the reasons to crop away the bottom part? Is it like too bulky?
 

Most of the time ISO is 100,200.
Try settings like F8-11 with shuttle about 8-15 seconds with a tripod and a remote, play around with similar settings
 

Oh.. its nicer as compared to mine. :eek:
Haha! But the most important part is still the noise reduction i think, will do some research on it after exams.
But what are the reasons to crop away the bottom part? Is it like too bulky?

yup and mod zaren usually uses free programs for the edits ;)
eh... if situation allows better to avoid noise in the first place by using low ISO. Noise reduction usually degrades the quality of the photo

Most of the time ISO is 100,200.
Try settings like F8-11 with shuttle about 8-15 seconds with a tripod and a remote, play around with similar settings

watch your spelling hehe... it's 'shutter' speed and not 'shuttle', commonly joked about spelling mistake here ;p
 

yup and mod zaren usually uses free programs for the edits ;)
eh... if situation allows better to avoid noise in the first place by using low ISO. Noise reduction usually degrades the quality of the photo

this true as NR tends to soften the image.
 

from InterfaceLIFT: Wallpaper sorted by Date

03148_officesatnight_1280x720.jpg


you can learn from this.
-no noise
-'metallic' dark colour feel over your greenish yellow building (however colour is subjective, so up to you)
-composition - your building can protrude out from bottom left or right (more balance, harmony). yours is more like starting at the bottom.
- use wider lens if you have. to show distance and 'stretching'.
 

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