Sydney night shot

[xenobium]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition, lighting and colours

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
To improve on night photography

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Taken on a footpath along an expressway - shaky conditions on the rails as cars pass. 6 sec exposure, no tripod. Had to prop camera on railing and adjust the angle with lens cap etc placed below the camera.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Took abit of effort to get up to the shooting location and took about 4 attempts to get the shot but I think it was worth it. Thanks for looking

 

[xsaifuddin]

The colorful lights are nice aren't they? Especially when they reflects on the waters.

But may I ask, where is the sky?

It really looks plain and there is no sense of depth in the photo. Like a cut out buildings and pasted on a black paper. Maybe you can try pumping the iso up since you don't have a tripod at that time to capture some of the sky details.

The buildings are just too cramped up at the top. Landscape photos should try to capture both the essence of sky and what's on land. Good space on top and adequate buildings might give this photo something to breathe on.

cheers!

 

[2.8photography]

agree with what xsaifuddin said about the sky, would be nicer if there was more detail. i think the solution is to go out and shoot earlier (just after sunset, during 'blue hour' when the sky is not completely black).

i think your photo is a little tilted as well so you might want to correct that. but i think the reflections are quite nice and good sharpness considering it was 6 seconds!

 

[Sgdevilzz]

It's too cluttered and the overblown lamps on the right are quite distracting. Nice try however!

 

[xenobium]

thanks guys, great suggestions. only had a 50mm with me, otherwise i would most certainly use a wide angle!

 

[xsaifuddin]

thanks guys, great suggestions. only had a 50mm with me, otherwise i would most certainly use a wide angle!

Maybe you can try moving backwards to get a wider perspective. I just have this obsession of making use of what I have to suit the situation. Lol

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

TS, looks like you got on the freeway somewhere near the Imax Theatre.
To be honest I prefer the view from the footbridge with the monorail overhead.

Anyway I suppose you noted now that there's no substitute for a good stable support system (ie tripod). That gives you much more flexibility with your composition. Using a 50 prime and no tripod seems to have limited your composition quite immensely.

 

[iarshad]

Overall good capture.
As the guys above mentioned, blown lights and boring sky, both problems are related to the time at which shot is taken.
Best to shoot few minutes after sunset, may be about 20 minutes or so.
I would suggest take few photos after sunset and keep the one in which lights and sky seems nicely exposed.