Singapore Flyer Night Shot

[pauicardeno]

Hi Guys,

Just want to share my favorite shot when I went to Marina Barrage.

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
The whole composition.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?

Singapore Flyer at night and city lights.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)

Taken from Marina Barrage around early evening. 90mm Focal length, F/11, 30 secs.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture

Personally, I like the composition and the reflect of the purple light of the flyer on the water. I guess the pic is also a bit soft. I did not sharpen it thru photoshop.

Best Regards,
Paui Cardeno

 

[aprilmoon92]

1. The whole composition.
Composition not bad, but the glowing buoy at the bottom right corner seems to be there for no reason at all; can crop it out?

2. Singapore Flyer at night and city lights.
Quite nice, but since you went with a slightly long exposure already (Flyer blurred), you might have gone all the way with a 2-3 minute exposure (lowest iso, smallest f-stop) to get a full circle of light? You might have needed to wait till later at night, though.

4. Personally, I like the composition and the reflect of the purple light of the flyer on the water. I guess the pic is also a bit soft. I did not sharpen it thru photoshop.
I don't think the picture looks too soft-- and if so its probably because of the long exposure. Perhaps you could have tried a HDR? The dark trees etc could have been more interesting and contributed to the idea of night life along the river if they had been properly exposed in a HDR

 

[evilorgi]

1. The whole composition.
Composition not bad, but the glowing buoy at the bottom right corner seems to be there for no reason at all; can crop it out?

2. Singapore Flyer at night and city lights.
Quite nice, but since you went with a slightly long exposure already (Flyer blurred), you might have gone all the way with a 2-3 minute exposure (lowest iso, smallest f-stop) to get a full circle of light? You might have needed to wait till later at night, though.

4. Personally, I like the composition and the reflect of the purple light of the flyer on the water. I guess the pic is also a bit soft. I did not sharpen it thru photoshop.
I don't think the picture looks too soft-- and if so its probably because of the long exposure. Perhaps you could have tried a HDR? The dark trees etc could have been more interesting and contributed to the idea of night life along the river if they had been properly exposed in a HDR

i second that... i personally think it will be nicer if the flyer isnt blur... it's hard to achieve it thou...

 

[pauicardeno]

Thanks guys for the comments, next time I will create the HDR. But question though, how can the Flyer not be blurred? Is is possible at night?

 

[Blur Shadow]

Thanks guys for the comments, next time I will create the HDR. But question though, how can the Flyer not be blurred? Is is possible at night?

That is because the flyer is in motion, and I believe you used long exposure to capture the shot.

 

[qwerty628]

I have this feeling that the softness is caused by camera shake. Might have been due to wind or unstable tripod. Thats based on what i am observing on the words on the hotel buildings. Check out the wording on the pan pacific hotel, it seems a bit blur at this size although its quite hard to tell without 100% crop. This is based on my experience of pushing image stabilisers to the limit(i'm lazy to bring tripod most of the time)

Might have also been caused by diffraction due to large apertute though

 

[night86mare]

oh dear, there are a load of misconceptions being imparted here.

 

[night86mare]

The dark trees etc could have been more interesting and contributed to the idea of night life along the river if they had been properly exposed in a HDR

no, to get those trees bright and nice would require a HUGE load of images to combine in the hdr software. if you have tried such a wide dynamic range before, you would know that it would result in ghastly effects. so no, hdr would not be advisable here to try to brighten up those trees.

i would, however, use hdr to control the blown highlights on the buildings there. of course blending also works fine.

 

[night86mare]

I have this feeling that the softness is caused by camera shake. Might have been due to wind or unstable tripod. Thats based on what i am observing on the words on the hotel buildings. Check out the wording on the pan pacific hotel, it seems a bit blur at this size although its quite hard to tell without 100% crop. This is based on my experience of pushing image stabilisers to the limit(i'm lazy to bring tripod most of the time)

Might have also been caused by diffraction due to large apertute though

1. F/11 is in no way a candidate for diffraction, it usually sets in around F/16 for crop frame dslrs.

2. small aperture, you mean.

3. the wording is not blur, it is overexposed.

4. there is no shake here, those buildings behind the flyer are tack sharp.

 

[night86mare]

now onto the picture:

1) composition wise, this is way too tight. the flyer is your central subject here, yet it has no space to breathe. i would go a little wider here, and crop the left side away in post.

2) do the reflections here add to the picture? are they nice reflections? the current here has resulted in significant texture despite the 30 second exposure, i would choose to minimise the presence of that here to add attention to your subject.

3) do consider a longer exposure using bulb mode (you need a shutter cable to do this properly, or a remote) to increase the amount of blur here to the flyer, as suggested by someone else. since you can't beat the motion, embrace it and employ it to your advantage.

4) as others have suggested, hdr is an option. alternatively though, you could have exposed this by half a stop less, or even a full stop (should be the former) to avoid blowing out the highlights and lift the shadows in post process. this is called "exposing for the highlights" and will give you optimal exposure.

 

[pauicardeno]

now onto the picture:

1) composition wise, this is way too tight. the flyer is your central subject here, yet it has no space to breathe. i would go a little wider here, and crop the left side away in post.

2) do the reflections here add to the picture? are they nice reflections? the current here has resulted in significant texture despite the 30 second exposure, i would choose to minimise the presence of that here to add attention to your subject.

3) do consider a longer exposure using bulb mode (you need a shutter cable to do this properly, or a remote) to increase the amount of blur here to the flyer, as suggested by someone else. since you can't beat the motion, embrace it and employ it to your advantage.

4) as others have suggested, hdr is an option. alternatively though, you could have exposed this by half a stop less, or even a full stop (should be the former) to avoid blowing out the highlights and lift the shadows in post process. this is called "exposing for the highlights" and will give you optimal exposure.

Thank you night86mare for all the tips. Will try that when I get a chance.

 

[pokiemon]

it's an interesting attempt.

quick comment - there are too many things going on in this picture. from the sea, to the bridge, to the buildings and to the flyer.

because your flyer is blurred, only those who knows about the flyer will know it is the singapore flyer. so will that serve your intention if a foreigner saw your picture?

the other acid test is to the title of the picture and does the viewer know what you want to portray?

 

[mimik07]

it's an interesting attempt.

quick comment - there are too many things going on in this picture. from the sea, to the bridge, to the buildings and to the flyer.

because your flyer is blurred, only those who knows about the flyer will know it is the singapore flyer. so will that serve your intention if a foreigner saw your picture?

the other acid test is to the title of the picture and does the viewer know what you want to portray?

IMHO I don't think that is a major issue. To me it is pretty obvious that the spinning wheel is the main subject in this picture. I think 8 out of 10 people would more or less make out that the spinning wheel is called the Singapore Flyer (Given that TS already titled his thread as Singapore Flyer Night Shot). Just thinking out loud, no offence intended bro pokiemon

 

[wootsk]

Each his own concept. But it could be better with a ND or a GND. Btw, camera handshake blur doesn't looks like this, the wording lights on the building are actually very bright so much so that it causes the wordings to look blur, something like light ray or fireworks tail in long exposure. (correct me if I am wrong as I am lousy in explaining such stuff)
Good try, But is this the only photo taken as I am interested in some of the other shots which might be better after post processed.

 

[Eworms]

Good. I like it.

 

[auden09]

abit over exposed for me. the flyer abit too high up in the photo for me. i would include more of the surroundings (zoom out more). after all you wanna showcase the SG flyer and the city lights (the surroundings).

 

[pauicardeno]

Good. I like it.

Thank you sir!

abit over exposed for me. the flyer abit too high up in the photo for me. i would include more of the surroundings (zoom out more). after all you wanna showcase the SG flyer and the city lights (the surroundings).

Yes, I think it is true, a bit over exposed and hence the blurring effect of the lights.
Thanks for the comments!

 

[anxilign]

What is that orange light doing at the bottom of the picture? it is a bit significantly distracting.

 

[alexpangestu]

WOW, I'm amazed. But the background is too sharp, it disturbing the wheel as it is the point of interest. I'll look for simpler background if I were you.

 

[qwerty628]

1. F/11 is in no way a candidate for diffraction, it usually sets in around F/16 for crop frame dslrs.

2. small aperture, you mean.

3. the wording is not blur, it is overexposed.

4. there is no shake here, those buildings behind the flyer are tack sharp.

Oh...overexposure... Din know overexposure could cause that blur effect. Need to go out and shoot at night more often ;p. Thx for clarifying my misconception!