Sunday was a good day

[porkypig]

Last sunday,
the weather was extremely good, i.e. there was strong wind and strong sun, but not a single drop of rain. Even the air smell wonderful.

Went to the balcony and saw the contrsting, white clouds against the blue sky,
while the balcony faces a green field, with some low buildings in the foreground.

Immediately, i took out my D90 + CPL and starting shooting this amazing Singapore skyline.

Please assist to criticise. Will want to improve.

I do note the sky is darker on the right,
which might be caused by the CPL when shooting wide, right?

I shot at 18mm, on my 18-105 VR.
handheld.
EV + 0.7
Centre weighted
Auto w/b
ISO 400

 

[nysheng]

i'm not sure if it's my monitor..but ur cloud(the big one) seems overexposed. that aside, the cloud formation does seem interesting.. but problems arise at the bottom of the picture.
ur horizon is tilted. too obviously. i feel that the large green field is upsetting the balance of the picture...i'm not sure what is the focal point now.
other than the clouds, nothing much interesting in the picture.. try not to associate too much feelings with the picture, cause other viewers might not share the same feeling.(i.e we do not wake up from the same bed as u and see the same scenery nor share the same feelings)

 

[chiangkxv]

hmmm y ISO 400 on a bright sunny day? :dunno:

 

[Death-star]

if i am to compose this shot, i might cut away the big chunk of clouds to the top corner. since your lense is 18-105mm. might want to consider framing it from a little bit of grass (instead of what you have (for breathing space at the bottom)) and let the main foreground be composed by the vast buildings instead. Just my thoughts here, and btw, horizon tilted!

 

[Ian]

Last sunday,
Please assist to criticise. Will want to improve.

I do note the sky is darker on the right,
which might be caused by the CPL when shooting wide, right?

I shot at 18mm, on my 18-105 VR.
handheld.
EV + 0.7
Centre weighted
Auto w/b
ISO 400

Firstly your clouds are way over exposed. Rather than use +0.7 exposure compensation, dial in -1.0 to -3 stops UNDER exposure, this will bring the cloud detail to the top of the exposure levels for the sensor, right before it blows out the whites. The exact amount of underexposure can be worked out from the image historgram.

Secondly your horizon is tilted. Always try to keep the horizon square to the bottom of the image.

Composition - Not bad. A more dramatic way to shoot the image would be to tilt the lens skyward and have less foreground and more sky. Do this with your shortest focal length setting and it will give a greatly increased "dramatic feel" to the image.

Overall. Not bad if you are a newbie, not so good if you've shot more than a couple of thousand frames.

 

[zaren]

makes quite a nice panorama

 

[Death-star]

makes quite a nice panorama

just what i was thinking! but the picture(sky) is rather boring...

 

[porkypig]

i'm not sure if it's my monitor..but ur cloud(the big one) seems overexposed. that aside, the cloud formation does seem interesting.. but problems arise at the bottom of the picture.
ur horizon is tilted. too obviously. i feel that the large green field is upsetting the balance of the picture...i'm not sure what is the focal point now.
other than the clouds, nothing much interesting in the picture.. try not to associate too much feelings with the picture, cause other viewers might not share the same feeling.(i.e we do not wake up from the same bed as u and see the same scenery nor share the same feelings)

my focus was to bring out the blue sky vs the green field.
Thanks Nysheng !

makes quite a nice panorama

thanks ! zaren

Firstly your clouds are way over exposed. Rather than use +0.7 exposure compensation, dial in -1.0 to -3 stops UNDER exposure, this will bring the cloud detail to the top of the exposure levels for the sensor, right before it blows out the whites. The exact amount of underexposure can be worked out from the image historgram.

Secondly your horizon is tilted. Always try to keep the horizon square to the bottom of the image.

Composition - Not bad. A more dramatic way to shoot the image would be to tilt the lens skyward and have less foreground and more sky. Do this with your shortest focal length setting and it will give a greatly increased "dramatic feel" to the image.

Overall. Not bad if you are a newbie, not so good if you've shot more than a couple of thousand frames.

Thanks Ian,
i am a newbie, around 1/2 yr old to DSLR.
shoot during holidays and weekends. (more than 1000 shots.... embarressed to admit)
Will remember to work on the Horizon.
Will try the tilt the lens skywards for the dramatic field. (more sky less grass)
Had the CPL on (to prevent more things burned out), it was shot around 2pm.
will try to EV -1.0 without CPL next sunday.

if i am to compose this shot, i might cut away the big chunk of clouds to the top corner. since your lense is 18-105mm. might want to consider framing it from a little bit of grass (instead of what you have (for breathing space at the bottom)) and let the main foreground be composed by the vast buildings instead. Just my thoughts here, and btw, horizon tilted!

Will remember to work on the Horizon.
O... got it... on the part on less sky more grass
thanks Death-star !

hmmm y ISO 400 on a bright sunny day? :dunno:

eh? handheld.
i was using a CPL, everything was very darker....
(if i turn the CPL, the clouds lost details....)
i think i will try again next sunday for ISO 100
thanks chiangkxv!

 

[nuunder]

my focus was to bring out the blue sky vs the green field.
Thanks Nysheng !


thanks ! zaren



Thanks Ian,
i am a newbie, around 1/2 yr old to DSLR.
shoot during holidays and weekends. (more than 1000 shots.... embarressed to admit)
Will remember to work on the Horizon.
Will try the tilt the lens skywards for the dramatic field. (more sky less grass)
Had the CPL on (to prevent more things burned out), it was shot around 2pm.
will try to EV -1.0 without CPL next sunday.


Will remember to work on the Horizon.
O... got it... on the part on less sky more grass
thanks Death-star !



eh? handheld.
i was using a CPL, everything was very darker....
(if i turn the CPL, the clouds lost details....)
i think i will try again next sunday for ISO 100
thanks chiangkxv!

You are using a D90. Use iso200 as the minimum.

 

[nuunder]

my focus was to bring out the blue sky vs the green field.
Thanks Nysheng !


thanks ! zaren



Thanks Ian,
i am a newbie, around 1/2 yr old to DSLR.
shoot during holidays and weekends. (more than 1000 shots.... embarressed to admit)
Will remember to work on the Horizon.
Will try the tilt the lens skywards for the dramatic field. (more sky less grass)
Had the CPL on (to prevent more things burned out), it was shot around 2pm.
will try to EV -1.0 without CPL next sunday.


Will remember to work on the Horizon.
O... got it... on the part on less sky more grass
thanks Death-star !



eh? handheld.
i was using a CPL, everything was very darker....
(if i turn the CPL, the clouds lost details....)
i think i will try again next sunday for ISO 100
thanks chiangkxv!

You are using a D90. Use iso200 as the minimum.

One likely reason that your sky is brigther on the left is that the sun is around that position. Do learn to appreciate the lighting situation of your shot. One good way is to shoot more and analyze your shots

 

[porkypig]

You are using a D90. Use iso200 as the minimum.

One likely reason that your sky is brigther on the left is that the sun is around that position. Do learn to appreciate the lighting situation of your shot. One good way is to shoot more and analyze your shots

thanks nuuder !
noted on the ISO 200.
Ic... i thought it was due to the CPL causing the sky to be in different shades.
Will experiment again next week.

 

[shaoken]

I think a lower ISO would be better.
Add a CPL filter to intensify the blue clouds.

Another thing to note.. Your horizon seems tilted.