Cityscape Night-time shots

Night-time shots · 12:51 AM

**rbefly** · 08-17-2013, 04:20 AM - **1 Like**

Hello Faceless,
Nice job on the 1st photo, good composition, colors, reflections. A couple of suggestions; The tall buildings on the left/center have some lens distortion, they're tilted slightly to the right or inwards. I see this quite a bit with my 24mm prime and 16-45mm zoom. If you have Lightroom, there's a 'lens correction' function near the bottom of the Develop menu, it's vertical distortion.
The horizon, other verticals and pillers of the stadium are straight, and overall it's a fine photo.
Also, this is more a matter of personal taste than critique; I know the sky comes out purple at night (with timed exposures), you know the sky looks purple, and it's accurate. But, I've found that if you tweak the temperature slider towards blue, and get that 'midnight blue/black' color, it really looks like a jaw-dropping, dark night shot. Even though you've 'modified' reality. Just try it on your file, you can always change it back! I'd be interested to hear how you like it.
Photo number 2. Panos are not my favorite layout, but aside from that, this one doesn't work for me. The entire left side (Mercury building) is uninteresting compared to the city skyline, the city is distant and hazy and the two spotlights are too bright and distracting. I would rather see a telephoto shot of the bridge and right-side skyline, in other words, just the right side of the photo, enlarged.
So, you've got good ideas and night photo techniques, keep it up!
Ron

faceless_el · 08-17-2013, 11:09 AM - **1 Like**

thanks Ron for the suggestion, I don't use lightroom (I use gimp since I am not that good with post processing and don't want to spend money on PP software at this time) but I will try to adjust the temperature on the photo. BTW I have another picture of the first using a different camera/lens here it is with not much pp done.

as for the second photo i knew it was a disaster from the beginning as I couldn't position myself to get a proper shot and am having a hard time with focusing the lens. I'm still struggling with manual focus lenses.
anyway again thanks for your suggestions.

Hippone · 08-17-2013, 12:26 PM

Hi Faceless, the first pic is great, well done , colors & lights i like the reflections on the water .
good job man

Cheers

Hippone

Colbyt · 08-17-2013, 01:25 PM

Very nice.

faceless_el
	View full profile
	Contact via private message
	Find other posts by faceless_el
	Find threads started by faceless_el
	Find threads in which faceless_el has posted

08-17-2013, 04:20 AM - 1 Like	#2
rbefly Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Denver, Colorado Photos: Albums Posts: 2,030	Good Job! Hello Faceless, Nice job on the 1st photo, good composition, colors, reflections. A couple of suggestions; The tall buildings on the left/center have some lens distortion, they're tilted slightly to the right or inwards. I see this quite a bit with my 24mm prime and 16-45mm zoom. If you have Lightroom, there's a 'lens correction' function near the bottom of the Develop menu, it's vertical distortion. The horizon, other verticals and pillers of the stadium are straight, and overall it's a fine photo. Also, this is more a matter of personal taste than critique; I know the sky comes out purple at night (with timed exposures), you know the sky looks purple, and it's accurate. But, I've found that if you tweak the temperature slider towards blue, and get that 'midnight blue/black' color, it really looks like a jaw-dropping, dark night shot. Even though you've 'modified' reality. Just try it on your file, you can always change it back! I'd be interested to hear how you like it. Photo number 2. Panos are not my favorite layout, but aside from that, this one doesn't work for me. The entire left side (Mercury building) is uninteresting compared to the city skyline, the city is distant and hazy and the two spotlights are too bright and distracting. I would rather see a telephoto shot of the bridge and right-side skyline, in other words, just the right side of the photo, enlarged. So, you've got good ideas and night photo techniques, keep it up! Ron

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Thematic Night Time is the Right Time! Post night shots here.	bbluesman	Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories	1637	4 Days Ago 11:39 AM
Night time photography	TER-OR	Pentax K-5 & K-5 II	5	09-02-2011 08:44 AM
It's night time and I'd like to take my little girl out for some night photography	Student	Pentax DSLR Discussion	9	02-17-2011 12:20 AM
Architecture Night Time Urban Shots	bigjonnee	Post Your Photos!	4	03-02-2010 04:41 PM
2 night time garden shots	robbiec	Post Your Photos!	3	06-08-2009 02:48 PM

08-17-2013, 11:09 AM - 1 Like	#3
faceless_el Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: BC Photos: Albums Posts: 138 Original Poster	thanks Ron for the suggestion, I don't use lightroom (I use gimp since I am not that good with post processing and don't want to spend money on PP software at this time) but I will try to adjust the temperature on the photo. BTW I have another picture of the first using a different camera/lens here it is with not much pp done. as for the second photo i knew it was a disaster from the beginning as I couldn't position myself to get a proper shot and am having a hard time with focusing the lens. I'm still struggling with manual focus lenses. anyway again thanks for your suggestions.

08-17-2013, 12:26 PM	#4
Hippone Pentaxian Join Date: May 2013 Location: Some where in time !! Posts: 693	Hi Faceless, the first pic is great, well done , colors & lights i like the reflections on the water . good job man Cheers Hippone

08-17-2013, 01:25 PM	#5
Colbyt Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Central Kentucky Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,417	Very nice.