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On Christmas evening my girls and I went for a picnic down on Sydney Harbour.

We first parked under the bridge and went for a walk in Bradfield park under the bridge itself and along the boardwalks next to Luna Park. It was a little windy here for a picnic so we drove a little further around to Lavender Bay for our picnic dinner. It was a very quiet evening with very few people around so it was just a relaxing time with the kids.

Never one to miss an opportunity I'd also packed photographic essentials

A picnic at Lavender Bay

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 1/200 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

This last was taken with my ten stop ND filter for some nice cloud movement and then processed to monochrome for some really moody skies - feedback on this second one welcomed...

Monochromatic Lavender

NIKON D7000 + 12.0-24.0 mm f/4.0 @ 12 mm, 42 sec at f/9, ISO 100

I do like the mono version, however two things distract me: firstly, the movement in the clouds and boats is overwhelming and, secondly, there appears to be a lean to the right.

I love the 'Goethic' feel of the city that you have created. It's a beautiful image.

Reschsmooth wrote:I do like the mono version, however two things distract me: firstly, the movement in the clouds and boats is overwhelming and, secondly, there appears to be a lean to the right.

I guess that was the result I was going for. I think the lean may be an optical illusion tho - I think it may just be because "close" stuff is on the left and "far" stuff in the middle and right and we're not perpendicular to the bridge and buildings and maybe the UWA also distorts stuff. I'm not sure how to fix all this however

I prefer your second photograph and that "'Goethic' feel of the city that you have created"
as well put by Matt. K. The first photo though it comes across as a montage of two
different pictures. In similar circumstances, I normaly try use the fill in setting of the
flash to avoid that effect. The other problem is that the background (landscape)
has a better and more even lighting than the subjects (foreground), and both are also
sharp to the eye. Theese effects create a distraction.

Obviously, the subjects are the important element in this picture and they should be bigger,
sharp and have good lighting; while the background is there just to provide a context and should
be slightly blurred to make the viewer focus in the main element of the picture - your subject.