Sunset over the pier

[teoelisha]

Hi all, this is the 1st time I'm posting any pictures in CS. I've read the guidelines for posting in C&C and will try my best to adhere to them. Do forgive me if I'm not getting it right this 1st time round.

Circumstances:
I took this sunset picture slightly after 7pm from the back of Vivocity overlooking the HarbourFront pier where people take the ferries to Batam Island. I took this picture right after the sun disappeared behind sentosa to give the picture a feel of a peaceful end to a day with the pier now resting, quietly, after a day's work. I framed the shot with the pier in the right and the still illuminated clouds in the centre to balance the lighting and also draw attention to the beautiful skyline, as though the pier was just sitting there watching the sun setting behind sentosa and admiring the sky.


Critique sought:
1) I would like some feedback with regards to the composition of the shot. As I had wanted to portray a peaceful end to a day with the pier kind of like admiring the beautiful sky, how could I have portrayed it better?

2) I shot with the following settings (D40 with kit 18-55mm lens @ ISO200, 28mm, F9, 2.5seconds). As I am rather new to photography, I scouted around and found that alot of people use low ISO to prevent grainy pictures and also many had used smaller apertures to allow a longer shutter speed without overexposing the pictures. However, I noticed that the lights from the pier were still very bright. I would like to seek some suggestions as to how I would be able to get beautiful sky without all the screaming lights from the pier.

3) Being new to photography, I also am new to post processing. I shot the photo in RAW format as I found it easier to work with in Photoshop CS3 after. I changed the whitebalance to make the photo more blue as I like the sky and water to be bluer. Also, despite shooting with ISO200 settings, my sky was a very slightly grainy. So i selected the sky and blurred it a little to kinda smoothen the sky a little. Would like to get some feedback as to what you think of the post processing and what else you would have done.

Personal Notes:
I think this is one of the better pictures I have taken till date and I hope that by getting your C&C, I can learn to take more beautiful photos. I like that the blues in the photo gives me the feeling of peace & relaxation. However, I feel that seeing a little bit more yellow and orange hues in the sky might make the picture nicer. Thanks in advance for viewing and your comments.

 

[nigel84]

To rid off the bright lights, you might want to invest in a Ngrad fliter. You might also want to lengthen ur exposure timing. Let the water smooth out as well.

 

[denniskee]

may i suggest to crop the left until u dont see the flood light as well as the foreground which is not very interesting / not smooth enough.

also, i feel you can still up the saturation.

 

[evo-lution]

Eh u may wanna go ahead and try a 30sec long exposure.

But the problem with that spot which i believe u are from, is that alot of ppl tend to walk ard behind you at abt 7pm or later.

And given's the flooring at vivo(wooden planks i call it), alot of vibrations will be felt... Somemore now school holidays, lagi worst, all the kids/teens will chiong vivo skypark... so i suggest u go in jan, esp during CNY(if possible), provided the starvirgo is there la...

So wait patiently bah, opportunities for good photo elements dun come easily... Haha, most importantly, arm yourself with your camera at all times!

 

[teoelisha]

Eh u may wanna go ahead and try a 30sec long exposure.

But the problem with that spot which i believe u are from, is that alot of ppl tend to walk ard behind you at abt 7pm or later.

And given's the flooring at vivo(wooden planks i call it), alot of vibrations will be felt... Somemore now school holidays, lagi worst, all the kids/teens will chiong vivo skypark... so i suggest u go in jan, esp during CNY(if possible), provided the starvirgo is there la...

So wait patiently bah, opportunities for good photo elements dun come easily... Haha, most importantly, arm yourself with your camera at all times!

ok.. i'll try again with a longer exposure. i guessed that would have to be coupled with an even smaller aperture right? I took the photo from the ground floor. so the flooring was concrete and the people walking around didn't affect me. but thanks for the heads up regarding the wood flooring upstairs.. cheers!

 

[teoelisha]

may i suggest to crop the left until u dont see the flood light as well as the foreground which is not very interesting / not smooth enough.

also, i feel you can still up the saturation.

thanks. will keep that in mind.

 

[teoelisha]

To rid off the bright lights, you might want to invest in a Ngrad fliter. You might also want to lengthen ur exposure timing. Let the water smooth out as well.

hi, care to share further what an Ngrad filter is and what it does?

 

[evo-lution]

ok.. i'll try again with a longer exposure. i guessed that would have to be coupled with an even smaller aperture right? I took the photo from the ground floor. so the flooring was concrete and the people walking around didn't affect me. but thanks for the heads up regarding the wood flooring upstairs.. cheers!

Go for shutter priority mode. It should work out to something like f22 base on prior experience(i was shooting at the oppsite direction as you, sentosa bridge that side).

Anyway, is that a photo of yourself?(ur avarta) That guy sure have a funny face!:bsmilie:

 

[teoelisha]

Go for shutter priority mode. It should work out to something like f22 base on prior experience(i was shooting at the oppsite direction as you, sentosa bridge that side).

Anyway, is that a photo of yourself?(ur avarta) That guy sure have a funny face!:bsmilie:

yup.. photo of myself. i did a series of head shots for my office and pieced them together. quite a hilarious shoot. you can see the set at my flickr.

 

[PyeeL]

My first impression is that this image is too cool for a sunset.

 

[teoelisha]

My first impression is that this image is too cool for a sunset.

think i agree with you. the other pictures shot had more yellow/orange hues. think as this was shot a little later, i lost the colours.. do you think i should have done it more yellow/red then blue?

 

[ngck12]

To rid off the bright lights, you might want to invest in a Ngrad fliter. You might also want to lengthen ur exposure timing. Let the water smooth out as well.

you sure investing in a Ngrad filter will get rid off the bright lights? :dunno: Not sure if you mean a GND filter. However to smoothen the water i suggest a ND2 or ND4 filter, stopping down to f22 cause diffraction, which makes the picture looks soft.

 

[ngck12]

think i agree with you. the other pictures shot had more yellow/orange hues. think as this was shot a little later, i lost the colours.. do you think i should have done it more yellow/red then blue?

at least in this shot, the colours are natural, its more blue because the sun is already leaving the horizon, nothing much is wrong with the blues IMO.

 

[skyguy]

Eh u may wanna go ahead and try a 30sec long exposure.

looking at the pic, the is one part where there is a very bright white light... just wondering, if he increase the shutter speed even higher, doesn't tat make it even more over expose at that area?

 

[ngck12]

longer shutter speed but smaller aperture.

 

[MyNameIsNas]

Wat is the effect? less over-exposed lights?

 

[eng_keow]

I think it is a good shot in general with you following the 1/3rd rule, which you find with time is not all that important. Horizon is solid level.

I initially thot that there is a chimney spewing out smoke but later as I read realised what it is all about.

I think this pic may look better pano style especially since the sky isn't that impressive and the fg is neither as well.

 

[doom102938]

I find this photo rather calming, but the title doesnt work thou, you might want to take the photo slightly earlier(15min). And definately a longer exposure to smooth out the water.

Maybe you can try taking a potrait oriented photo? I'm not too sure if it would work out thou:S Still learning too

 

[teoelisha]

I think it is a good shot in general with you following the 1/3rd rule, which you find with time is not all that important. Horizon is solid level.

I initially thot that there is a chimney spewing out smoke but later as I read realised what it is all about.

I think this pic may look better pano style especially since the sky isn't that impressive and the fg is neither as well.

hahaha.. when i showed the photo to my wife, she thought the same thing too.. she asked "how come sentosa have chimney?"

 

[nigel84]

you sure investing in a Ngrad filter will get rid off the bright lights? :dunno: Not sure if you mean a GND filter. However to smoothen the water i suggest a ND2 or ND4 filter, stopping down to f22 cause diffraction, which makes the picture looks soft.

Oops, i missed out the 'G' my mistake....yups a GND would make a difference here.
To TS, a GND is a piece of Glass that is dark on one edge and transperant on the other. In between its like having a gradient of opacity.

You might want to take a look at this 2 urls that i yahoo-ed: http://singh-ray.com/grndgrads.html and http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/neutral-density-and-graduated-nd.html