First City Night Outing - help!

[eric_r]

Alright I had no idea what I was doing here really, I just tried to keep my ISO low (~200) and DOF huge. Which I dont think I achieved anyway. My tripod is extremely light and so Im blaming the wind for the lack of sharpness. Any and all C&C welcome, i also couldnt decide on any cropping etc so feel free to edit and give me examples etc. Anything!

Im not really happy with any of them, but also dont know what im doing wrong / could be doing different. Framing and compositions could all be better is the only obvious thing to me. And some obvious cropping with ugly handrails etc.

[spesh]

You are spot on in your own critique... you are getting there with the shots, but your location and camera positioning, along with your composition is what is letting you down.

I've done many shots like this, you'll find spots which give you the best lines, best reflections and traffic with time, but you have to travel around to find them, which I believe is half the fun!

When you do find a gem spot, then play with shutter speeds, camera height / angle and you'll get some real gems

[surenj]

You are spot on in your own critique

with spesh and you.

When this happens to me, I go back to the basics.
1. What is my subject? Which feel.emotion I am trying to evoke?
2. How do I get it big in the frame?
3. Have I cut out distractions?

HTH

[biggerry]

You are spot on in your own critique...

as mentioned look for a main subject, pick something, even if it is not interesting and think carefully about where it is placed within the frame, remember the basics of composition, the rule of thirds and the power points (the intesections of the thirds). Place your main focus or subject on the power points and go from there.

Night photography adds another dimension to photography imo, especially this style, leading lines are created not necessarily there by default, you have to think about this and where they are gonna end up, you have done this with teh car lights. But now, remember to use these lines to take your viewer somewhere.

This will mean changing your position, getting more height or getting on teh ground, don't be afraid to get down and dirty even just to check out the potential composition - you will look pro in any case even if it is crap compo

Take the first image for example, the lines are good here, however a view from 12 ft up would have been perfect, the car lights would have lead the viewer from the foreground into teh picture and the nicely illuminated building!

for example this brings to mind a shot from vivid sydney this year. Click for larger.

[Big V]

Eric, you are out there having a go and being critical of your own work - you are well on your way. You are willing to seek out suggestions and act on them - you will make it. Keep practicing, learning and trying new angles. Soon you will find that which you are looking for in your images and will haved gained lots of experience along the way which you will be able to share with otheres. Enjoy the ride!

[eric_r]

Thanks guys appreciate all the feedback.

With something like the first shot - instead of framing the pink building in the light trails, the light trails should lead to the building and stop just before it to draw your eye to it? or something along those lines.

[aim54x]

Good to see you are back Eric!! I think it is great to see some images. All the important points have already been mentioned. BUT I have one more tip....get out there and PLAY!!

[wendellt]

Hi

I think the only issue with the first is that the light trails from the cars are jaggy if they were smooth arcs which they usally are i think the image would be more pleasing to you
Im not sure what would make the light trails jaggy unless the drivers were stopping and speedign up or drunk at the wheel

nothing wrong with it though

as for composition on the first just crop out the extraneous lights creepin in on the left

the 2nd comp is fine but if you want it more interesting wait for a subject to pass the walkway depending on your length of exposure you may get a ghost trail or not, or you can rear sync your flash to capture the subject

the 3rd the composition is a little odd because there is wide angle distorion which exentuates the odd horizontal level of the pipe at the bottom, crop it out and it will look better even if the building in the background are on slant, it's kind of quirky

artistically i would shoot during blue hour just when the sky is a vibrant dark blue before twilight kind of like around 7:30 to 8:30pm that way you get a nice blue sky even in a night shot and usually it looks cooler than a drab dirty yellowish sky from the light polution from the city hitting the clouds unless of course your going for that post apocalyptic aesthetic

keep on raving if your not up all night photo-ing

[eric_r]

Haha cheers Cameron its good to be back!

Really appreciate the detail you went into Wendell, thanks again.

Cant wait to get back out there, thanks again to everyone