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01-29-2013, 11:52 PM   #1
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Practicing Sunset Shots
Lens: (Borrowed) 21mm f/3.2 Wide Angle Camera: K-5 ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 5s Aperture: F4.5 

I went shooting with my K-5 for the first time a few days ago, and of the pictures I took, this one was my favorite (well, the least defected for a beginner like me, lol).

I'd love your opinions, tips and criticisms. Everyone's opinion is welcomed and appreciated.

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01-30-2013, 06:22 AM   #2
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I think you had the right idea. You have a bit of the nature in the foreground, the city lights behind that and then the sunset clouds as background. Did you use CTE white balance? The only critique I would give is that maybe the tree on the left side is taking up too much of the frame and kind of throwing the photo a little off balance? Or maybe the horizon isn't in the middle and straight?
ISO and exposure time are quite all right, though. Just keep in mind that when taking photos of a sunset, the light is quickly changing, so the metering of a long exposure will be wrong. The camera assumes the light won't change during the exposure, so you have to make the exposure time a little longer. Good stuff, makes me want to get a 21mm
01-30-2013, 06:24 AM   #3
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It is a nice image. It appears to me that the point of focus might be on the tree at left, and I might prefer a far more distant point of focus. You used a low ISO, relatively large aperture (which has an impact on depth of field) and long exposure.
Best wishes, welcome to Pentaxforums, and I look forward to seeing more of your photos.
01-30-2013, 07:23 AM   #4
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We have taken many images with a tree like the one of the left. None of them have been printed. A huge mono-tone black thing with no detail is hard to justify, in most cases. Better to use a longer lens and cut most of it out. Just from my own work, I'm guessing you can tease a lot more vibrancy out of that sunset.

Burning and saturating carefully can bring up a lot if your PP software includes brushes. (You have to be careful not to change the colours too much, sometimes burning alters colour so much they look unnatural.) As mentioned, that blurry city hurts this shot. Or is it fog or smog? Most of what's wrong with this shot could be avoided by cutting down the tree.

02-04-2013, 06:07 PM   #5
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Thank you, everyone, for your responses and advice.

I've worked quite a bit over the course of 3 days and feel much more at ease when shooting, and the number of "acceptable photos" I've taken each time has gone up quite a bit (though, of course, I will always be setting my standard higher).

@Norm's response: What is PP? One "P" probably stands for "Photo," not sure about the other. More pictures are to come. Thank you to everyone again for taking the time and thought to respond to me.
02-04-2013, 06:12 PM   #6
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Pp is post processing-what you do to the image on the computer

QuoteOriginally posted by BeginnerDave Quote
Thank you, everyone, for your responses and advice.

I've worked quite a bit over the course of 3 days and feel much more at ease when shooting, and the number of "acceptable photos" I've taken each time has gone up quite a bit (though, of course, I will always be setting my standard higher).

@Norm's response: What is PP? One "P" probably stands for "Photo," not sure about the other. More pictures are to come. Thank you to everyone again for taking the time and thought to respond to me.
02-04-2013, 06:18 PM   #7
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Thank you very much.

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