Singapore Cityscape


chaoticbusher

Member
Oct 16, 2007
351
7
18
35
Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
1. What area is the critique to be sought?
Sharpness

2. What one's hope to achieve with the piece of work?
The magnificent skyline view of the Singapore cityscape during the sunset moment.

3. Under what circumstances is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
During the sunset. The sunset light shining behind the Singapore Cityscape during that day was beautiful & tranquil.

4. What the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture?
The big patch of dark clouds behind the buildings seem distracting.

430039_10150584300692998_584792997_9002780_1367921650_n.jpg
 

I think there is more to comment on, other than the sharpness of the photograph as for web-viewing it is sharp enough. My view:

1. Horizon is a little tilted to the right. This can be easily adjusted in post-processing, or you may consider getting your camera leveled during composition.
2. Vast empty areas at the top and bottom. Consider doing a tighter crop to confine the viewer's attention onto what you wish to emphasize.
3. I am not too keen on HDR effect, just personal preference.

and if you happen to have Photoshop installed on your computer, you may consider exploring lens correction: vertical perspective correction to straighten up the buildings.

Cheers.


Regards,
Daniel
 

Here are my comments :

1. Sharpness is the least you need to worry about here. Can't tell much about it from small web sizes. I'd suggest to work on the other composition and technical elements first.
2. Watch out on the converging verticals. While they do work sometimes to convey a sense of size, it does not for in this case. Either shoot straight or PP out the converging sides.
3. HDR is too overdone. The midtones and blacks have all become a luminous grey.
 

It will be even better if Vibrancy and the Darks can be enhance/exaggerated.
Maybe can try other modes from your HDR Toning software (Photoshop CS5/Photomatix)

Or maybe HDR with +2-2EV 7 shots will improve it.
Just sharing my green opinion :)
 

what is the purpose of this photo?
 

TS,

I do not wish to echo the rest of the previous comments which I think are valid.

Maybe you wish to upload the original version of your picture, prior to your HDR processing.

Off the bat (apart from the processing), some problems you need to look out for, is the tilted horizon, and the perspective distortion (all the buiidings are leaning in to the center) you left uncorrected.
 

I don't really understand what is the end goal of this photograph, but my immediate thoguht is that this looks more like a very weird stencil of a scene rather than a photograph. I personally do not like the effect.
 

The purpose of this photo is to ask for feedback good or bad, and suggest ways to make it better. If you have some, please share.

i should have phrased it better. what is TS trying to show here? if he is going for radioactivity, i'll give him a 10 out of 10. if it is about HDR techniques, then its pretty badly done.

all i know is

The magnificent skyline view of the Singapore cityscape during the sunset moment.

and
Sharpness

what does it really mean? magnificent itself is subjective. if he feels star trek scenery is magnificent, then i'll say he achieved it. if its about sharpness, i can't tell.

so just trying to understand his aims a little better. it was not meant to be sacarstic.

ps: i quite like the angle (apart from the tilt). its from the bay gardens if i'm not mistaken.
 

Last edited:
Wow ... okay ... my thought of postin the photo for comments was far worse than i thought...

anyway, heres the original after the lens correcting and some cropping ...
hopefully, it will be better than the 1st...

423047_10150587799857998_584792997_9018465_1224746332_n.jpg


anyway, thanks for all the comments... it helped me alot for my next photo...
hope to be able to keep posting & get great comments from u guys...

cheers :)
 

Last edited:
Wow! I thought this is better.
Just that its a bit off center and the city skyline view is blacked out and no subject to show the depth and a "bad hour" for the day.
 

Wow ... okay ... my thought of postin the photo for comments was far worse than i thought...

anyway, heres the original after the lens correcting and some cropping ...
hopefully, it will be better than the 1st...

423047_10150587799857998_584792997_9018465_1224746332_n.jpg


anyway, thanks for all the comments... it helped me alot for my next photo...
hope to be able to keep posting & get great comments from u guys...

cheers :)

i prefer this actually... i think its a really different angle. most ppl shoot from the MBS/esplanade side. i like this view instead
 

i should have phrased it better. what is TS trying to show here? if he is going for radioactivity, i'll give him a 10 out of 10. if it is about HDR techniques, then its pretty badly done.

all i know is



and


what does it really mean? magnificent itself is subjective. if he feels star trek scenery is magnificent, then i'll say he achieved it. if its about sharpness, i can't tell.

so just trying to understand his aims a little better. it was not meant to be sacarstic.

ps: i quite like the angle (apart from the tilt). its from the bay gardens if i'm not mistaken.

i prefer this actually... i think its a really different angle. most ppl shoot from the MBS/esplanade side. i like this view instead

Thank you for your feedback.

Maybe you can share more on how TS can improve? I think that will help him greatly.
 

TS, your second shot is a lot better. Just take note that your horizon is still tilted. The best way to look for this is to look at vertical lines in the centre of the frame. Make sure those are vertical.

You might also want to read up on correcting perspective distortion. In your case, the buildings are all leaning towards the center. This is due to the camera's angle pointing slightly upwards with a wide angle focal length.

The sky is also quite uninteresting. This creates too much empty space at the top of the frame. You can try cropping the photo to wide angle aspect ratio something like 16:9 and see how it feels.

Hope this helps.
 

Thank you for your feedback.

Maybe you can share more on how TS can improve? I think that will help him greatly.

first: a better timing. i'm assuming he shot that while it was dusk. iirc, one way will be to wait for the lights to light up, and shoot in the dusk. that shld help to get a better lighting.

alternatively, shoot at dawn when the lights will be lighting up the buildings.

next, check the weather forecast before going down. nothing spoils your plan more than a bad weather occuring.

lastly, check out what others have done with the MBS, the timing when they shot. i like the angle really much, so if u can keep it and still get good lighting, you will have gotten a raelly unique shot. i don't recall many ppl shooting from this side before. keep going down because the clouds etc will be different every single time.
 

first: a better timing. i'm assuming he shot that while it was dusk. iirc, one way will be to wait for the lights to light up, and shoot in the dusk. that shld help to get a better lighting.

alternatively, shoot at dawn when the lights will be lighting up the buildings.

next, check the weather forecast before going down. nothing spoils your plan more than a bad weather occuring.

lastly, check out what others have done with the MBS, the timing when they shot. i like the angle really much, so if u can keep it and still get good lighting, you will have gotten a raelly unique shot. i don't recall many ppl shooting from this side before. keep going down because the clouds etc will be different every single time.

Well, perhaps to add on... Sometimes it is worth taking a risk (if you have the time and are not too tired) to even go down with bad weather being forecasted. Firstly, all the weather forecast sites are not always going to be spot on. That isn't really their fault, though, weather being weather. Of course, even with bad weather, it can clear up at the last minute, and you get beautiful, beautiful sunsets that are a result of clearing up storm clouds. These recent shots were taken after drizzles, as I recall..

141627134 photo - Edutilos photos at pbase.com
141684393 photo - Edutilos photos at pbase.com

Which goes to show that (as an old photography contact of mine would say) the faithful will be rewarded... Eventually. Naturally I have gone down to spots in rain to only sit there waiting for a sunset that never came. But that's just how it is. You win some, you lose some.

This spot from the new Gardens by the Bay area is actually much easier to access now (though still quite a pain to get to if you do not have a car). It used to be that one had to climb over railings from the Tanjong Rhu condo area (at least that's the route I knew). I suspect as it gets more convenient to go there, it will near Esplanade Waterfront status (i.e. every Singaporean photographer will have a shot from this location soon). :bsmilie:

Marina Bay Sands : Singapore 2012 Countdown : | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Marina Bay_HDR | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The Singapore Skyline and Nature’s own way of rewarding unlaziness | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Sunset [Explore] | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Enchanting | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pity this view faces west (better for sunset). The water here seems to be more still in the mornings, which will give mirror reflections. But you won't get the bulk of the colors from sunrise.. :)
 

Well, perhaps to add on... Sometimes it is worth taking a risk (if you have the time and are not too tired) to even go down with bad weather being forecasted. Firstly, all the weather forecast sites are not always going to be spot on. That isn't really their fault, though, weather being weather. Of course, even with bad weather, it can clear up at the last minute, and you get beautiful, beautiful sunsets that are a result of clearing up storm clouds. These recent shots were taken after drizzles, as I recall..

141627134 photo - Edutilos photos at pbase.com
141684393 photo - Edutilos photos at pbase.com

Which goes to show that (as an old photography contact of mine would say) the faithful will be rewarded... Eventually. Naturally I have gone down to spots in rain to only sit there waiting for a sunset that never came. But that's just how it is. You win some, you lose some.

This spot from the new Gardens by the Bay area is actually much easier to access now (though still quite a pain to get to if you do not have a car). It used to be that one had to climb over railings from the Tanjong Rhu condo area (at least that's the route I knew). I suspect as it gets more convenient to go there, it will near Esplanade Waterfront status (i.e. every Singaporean photographer will have a shot from this location soon). :bsmilie:

Marina Bay Sands : Singapore 2012 Countdown : | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Marina Bay_HDR | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The Singapore Skyline and Nature’s own way of rewarding unlaziness | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Sunset [Explore] | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Enchanting | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Pity this view faces west (better for sunset). The water here seems to be more still in the mornings, which will give mirror reflections. But you won't get the bulk of the colors from sunrise.. :)

first: a better timing. i'm assuming he shot that while it was dusk. iirc, one way will be to wait for the lights to light up, and shoot in the dusk. that shld help to get a better lighting.

alternatively, shoot at dawn when the lights will be lighting up the buildings.

next, check the weather forecast before going down. nothing spoils your plan more than a bad weather occuring.

lastly, check out what others have done with the MBS, the timing when they shot. i like the angle really much, so if u can keep it and still get good lighting, you will have gotten a raelly unique shot. i don't recall many ppl shooting from this side before. keep going down because the clouds etc will be different every single time.

TS, your second shot is a lot better. Just take note that your horizon is still tilted. The best way to look for this is to look at vertical lines in the centre of the frame. Make sure those are vertical.

You might also want to read up on correcting perspective distortion. In your case, the buildings are all leaning towards the center. This is due to the camera's angle pointing slightly upwards with a wide angle focal length.

The sky is also quite uninteresting. This creates too much empty space at the top of the frame. You can try cropping the photo to wide angle aspect ratio something like 16:9 and see how it feels.

Hope this helps.

wow!

thanks alot for all the great tips!!

I will keep shooting & keep improving :)

and will also keep posting to further improve my shots ;)

anyway, i just learnt photography about a few months ago so still have much to learn... :)

thanks once again guys! greatly appreciated!!
 

first: a better timing. i'm assuming he shot that while it was dusk. iirc, one way will be to wait for the lights to light up, and shoot in the dusk. that shld help to get a better lighting.

alternatively, shoot at dawn when the lights will be lighting up the buildings.

next, check the weather forecast before going down. nothing spoils your plan more than a bad weather occuring.

lastly, check out what others have done with the MBS, the timing when they shot. i like the angle really much, so if u can keep it and still get good lighting, you will have gotten a raelly unique shot. i don't recall many ppl shooting from this side before. keep going down because the clouds etc will be different every single time.

Thank you. Now you know what is a good and helpful critique. Keep up the good work.
 

Thank you. Now you know what is a good and helpful critique. Keep up the good work.

a critique shld be directed at what the TS wants to show. whats the point of saying how to shoot this way that way, when its not even to what TS wants to show? which is why i always ask questions first, before dropping replies. i find it more effective.