Marina Bay (experimenting with textures)

[moonstomper]

1. In what area is critique to be sought?
appreciate some feedback on the composition and post-processing work. new ideas/suggestions are certainly more than welcome.

2. What one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
#1 - shot containing both structures (helix & marina bay sands)
#2 - view of the urban night scene from marina bay

3. Under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
both were taken on a hazy night last friday. for #1, i wanted a vertical shot but there was a strong light source from an ongoing construction which caused harsh exposures on the mbs building. also wanted to try hdr but the other pics in the bracket were also bad. managed to get a decent set (-2, 0, +2) for #2 and decided to go for it. unfortunately, the result based on the article i followed (hdr in gimp/qtpfsgui) wasn't to my liking so decided to play with textures again.

4. What the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture?
the out-of-cam pic for #1 was under exposed. not sure on how the framing turned out for both pics too. overall, what i enjoyed the most was the trial & error part of post processing. there's a bit of excitement and anxiety while waiting for the final outcome to appear. looking forward to your helpful tips for future work. thanks in advance!


# 1




# 2

 

[allenleonhart]

well... my take.

when playing with special effects, i will always question, how does the effect help enhance the photo and bring out what u wanna tell?

perhaps an old building would do well with a sepia tone + worn out texture. that helps to bring out the age.

honestly, with regards to the 2 images, i personally feel that the texture touch was hua she tian zhu, a step that was unnecessary

 

[night86mare]

does the special effect (texture) add to the picture?

or are you just doing it for the sake of going through the motions?

 

[Override2Zion]

The post-processing has taken the focus away from the photo itself. I think the photos will look good without the textures.

 

[moonstomper]

thanks for all the input guys!

well... my take.

when playing with special effects, i will always question, how does the effect help enhance the photo and bring out what u wanna tell?

perhaps an old building would do well with a sepia tone + worn out texture. that helps to bring out the age.

honestly, with regards to the 2 images, i personally feel that the texture touch was hua she tian zhu, a step that was unnecessary

hi allenleonhart, i did have a feeling they looked overdone. i'll keep ur tip in mind next time i find a subject similar to that.

does the special effect (texture) add to the picture?

or are you just doing it for the sake of going through the motions?

actually that i'm not really sure about. i just didn't like how the actual exposure turned out. i'll try to do some more research on how to process them cleanly (without effects). guess i got carried away after enjoying the possibilities of textures. hopefully next time i can do a better match (subject + texture) that will make more sense.

The post-processing has taken the focus away from the photo itself. I think the photos will look good without the textures.

this will be my next assignment i guess - learn how to process and improve images that need some work.


appreciate your time & input folks! hopefully i can apply them in the future. many thanks!!!

 

[coolthought]

unless you have a clear idea what you want to achieve by having such effects, if not, just leave it as it is.

 

[night86mare]

actually that i'm not really sure about. i just didn't like how the actual exposure turned out. i'll try to do some more research on how to process them cleanly (without effects). guess i got carried away after enjoying the possibilities of textures. hopefully next time i can do a better match (subject + texture) that will make more sense.

must be clear what you are setting out to achieve...

effects are just tools to achieve an end. if you are not clear on what end you are achieving, then you are just taking a hammer and knocking the wall, because you have seen others doing it.

 

[sinned79]

maybe u want to take convert it to b/w see if the effect is better. else just leave it as it is.