Please critique my shot.
- Thread starter dom1610
- Start date
the composition is a bit shaky,no offense.The photo has a good calm feel to it .I might be wrong but it seems to me that you didn't use a tripod .I am not sure about the halo over the roofs either.Sorry for being frank
I'm not that into hdr, but this is nice work of a lovely street. Some may have better skills at critiquing than do I - so weight my comments appropriately. As tempestivo mentioned, there is a bit of halo around the back skyline, but it is not offensive. In a still life of any architecture, try to make sure your building lines are all perfectly parallel, which is no easy task.
I checked the rest of your flickr offerings, and I like your work.
photos for work-
http://www.deanhoffmeyer.com
photos for fun-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21631924@N06/
I checked the rest of your flickr offerings, and I like your work.
photos for work-
http://www.deanhoffmeyer.com
photos for fun-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21631924@N06/
I'm not an expert but I like how the image makes me feel. Puts me in a good mood. I want to be there.
wow. not a photographer, but to me it looks amazing. i coudn't do something like that.
Not only calm, but peaceful, and has a lovely cool texture. Easy to feel a crisp evening around myself while looking at it. I like it.
Nice shot. Generally speaking, I like the composure and the mood. I agree, it's a nice quiet scene. I can picture myself walking down that street. I like the angle of the street moving across the frame. I wonder if you could get it to cross the frame even more.
Some stuff I'd fix depening how much post processing power you have.
If you feel like reshooting, I'd try for two things...
Some stuff I'd fix depening how much post processing power you have.
- I'd dodge the streetlights a little or at least tone down the highlights. They're a little too bright for the shot.
- I'd straighten the shot a bit. Looks like you have some lens distortion. Take a look at the tops of the buildings. They look like they're slanting out ever so slightly on either side of the frame.
- Try to blurr those halos in the sky or if they're the result of some post processing you already did, I'd reverse it and try again. Not sure what caused them, but they are distracting.
If you feel like reshooting, I'd try for two things...
- Try varying your angle a bit so the road angles across the frame more. Perhaps take out that building on the left right before the one with the sign that says 'The Strait'.
- Use a tripod, mirror lock-up and a remote shutter release. If you've done all that, you might need a sturdier tripod. This shot is a bit blury.
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- Thread starter
- #8
Thanks for all the comments. They are honestly very helpful. I was using a tripod but I have no remote shutter release but should be getting one soon. I'm not a huge fan of those "halo's" either. I have already blurred them i just need to make sure they're not there to begin with.
- Thread starter
- #10
Clean the back of your lens
That might just be a worthwhile suggestion. Hadn't even crossed my mind.
In the absence of a remote shutter release, try using the timed shutter release built into the camera. You know, the one that lets you run into a group shot. The camera will typically settle down by the time the shot takes.
- Thread starter
- #12
I normally would have but i was using auto bracketing and my camera doesn't do both at the same time. Shouldn't (hopefully) be a problem in the future as I have a remote release on order. I don't know...razors, brushes, pens, watches and now this. I'll save some money up one of these days 
You can always manually bracket. 
All you're doing is taking three shots.
Also agree on the lens cleaning. Check the back and front of your lens. If you have a filter on the front, take it off, clean the lens and the filter.
All you're doing is taking three shots.- Exposure as metered.
- Exposure as metered plus one stop (or however big you want your bracket).
- Exposure as metered minus one stop (or however big you made your bracket above).
Also agree on the lens cleaning. Check the back and front of your lens. If you have a filter on the front, take it off, clean the lens and the filter.
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- Thread starter
- #14
Even though I already know this, I'd have still been stupid enough to do it. Thanks for the tips. I'll just have to not be lazy and stop making the camera do the work.
Those halos are pretty typical of HDR images and can be tough to control. In this scene, they're not too objectionable because they could be attributed to some lighting source behind the buildings. If I were to do any post work on them, I'd use a soft dodging brush or a masked adjustment layer to even out the transition from light to dark a bit. IMO, using a blur brush would sacrifice too much detail.
I like the depth in the scene but composition-wise, I think it suffers from the lack of a strong foreground element. My gaze seems to wander aimlessly in the image with no real point of interest to anchor it. As others have mentioned, the softness/bluriness of the image is a problem.
I'm not particularly bothered by blown highlights of the lamps down the street. At night, one expects lights to be quite bright when looked at directly. However, the window mouldings of the Mono Boutique are a bit overexposed, blowing out some detail there.
To end on a more positive note, one thing the purple halos do for me (along with the bluish lighting at the end of the street) is provide a nice balance to the warmth of the incandescent lighting in the rest of the scene. Without that cool-warm contrast, I think the image would be much too warm (yellow) overall. One of the storefronts looks to be more-or-less neutrally lit and the red storefront provides another true-color cue so, as it is, I think the palette is very rich and pleasing.
I like the depth in the scene but composition-wise, I think it suffers from the lack of a strong foreground element. My gaze seems to wander aimlessly in the image with no real point of interest to anchor it. As others have mentioned, the softness/bluriness of the image is a problem.
I'm not particularly bothered by blown highlights of the lamps down the street. At night, one expects lights to be quite bright when looked at directly. However, the window mouldings of the Mono Boutique are a bit overexposed, blowing out some detail there.
To end on a more positive note, one thing the purple halos do for me (along with the bluish lighting at the end of the street) is provide a nice balance to the warmth of the incandescent lighting in the rest of the scene. Without that cool-warm contrast, I think the image would be much too warm (yellow) overall. One of the storefronts looks to be more-or-less neutrally lit and the red storefront provides another true-color cue so, as it is, I think the palette is very rich and pleasing.
Very nice setting. Personally I think the halo's add a nice touch of subtle color variation to the background
I've not tried this digitally. On film I'd try just a bit longer exposure.
I used to use Kodak ektachrome . . . I wonder if they still make it.
I used to use Kodak ektachrome . . . I wonder if they still make it.
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- Thread starter
- #18
Was going to try re-taking this shot tonight but the street was too busy and I wanted to keep the calmness of the original. C'est la vie. Maybe later this week then.
I find the image a bit overly processed.
Completely off topic, but I really miss Lincoln - I lived there with my family a few years back. Your photo really warmed my heart - thank you!
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