Another night outside

Harpper · May 6, 2004

Here's a picture I took last night. Please let me know what you think about it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

original version

edited version 2

this one is for drdan

terri · May 6, 2004

At first I was going to say: crop out some of that sky....but I don't know....the sky is quite staggeringly beautiful in this image. All whirling and wild.... I can't see anything I'd change, really.

Pat yourself on the back and feel happy. It's gorgeous!

Harpper · May 6, 2004

Thanks terri for the comment. The sky is pretty much what I liked about this picture so I was also hesitant to crop any of it out. I was also trying to make people look up by adding a lot of sky. I guess it worked for you. :wink:

Lastly, I didn't want to divide the picture in half at the horizon with too much sky cropping so I wanted to see what people thought of this crop. Anyway, thanks for the comment.

vonnagy · May 7, 2004

nice one harpper, great capture of the sky and smooth look to the water. whats your time exposure on this. One thing i've noticed about your shots is that you really earthtone colours quite beautifully.

Harpper · May 8, 2004

Thanks Mark. I appreciate the comment. The time exposure on this one was about 20 seconds. I was worried about getting hot pixels but lucky I didn't get any.

drdan · May 10, 2004

I really like this and the longer I look at it the better I like it.

My first impression though is that it lacks the intensity to immediately draw you in. You might want to experiment with levels, brightness, contrast and/or color saturation some to see if you come up with anything you like any better. You probably don't want to change those great colors, just jazz it up slightly.

cypilk · May 10, 2004

wow..

enough said

Harpper · May 10, 2004

Thanks for your comments drdan & cypilk.

drdan said:
My first impression though is that it lacks the intensity to immediately draw you in. You might want to experiment with levels, brightness, contrast and/or color saturation some to see if you come up with anything you like any better. You probably don't want to change those great colors, just jazz it up slightly.

I was also thinking that the more I looked at it. It's funny how a picture can change when you study it longer. Anyway, I posted my edited version. Let me know what you guys think...

Jeff Canes · May 10, 2004

Nice, I love the glassy look of the water, cant see any differs in the two versions :scratch:

Harpper · May 10, 2004

Jeff Canes said:
...cant see any differs in the two versions :scratch:

It might be a Mac & PC thing because on my Mac the edited version is a lot brighter and I also added more definition in the clouds. I seriously need to check more of my pictures on a PC. So how many PC users actually see a difference?

terri · May 11, 2004

Oh, absolutely, there's a huge difference. I agree the colors are more intense. There's more drama in the sky. Nice edits.

drdan · May 11, 2004

I'm on a PC and I can see a big difference also. It is definitely more intense and colorful. You have blown out some of the lights, especially the moon and I'm not sure that's good. I did like being able to see the shape of the moon through the clouds. I assume that why you didn't make it lighter in the original. I'm not a PS expert so I'm not sure what to tell you. Personally I think I'd like to see brightness more like the first with color balance slightly changed maybe and saturation a little more intense. I really like the moonlit sky in the first one.

Maybe it's like really being in the moonlight and you just have to let your eyes "adjust". :lol:

It really is a great picture.

Walt · May 11, 2004

The first one is the best. The composition needs something as a focal point. The colors are great and there are a lot of good elements in it.

drdan · May 11, 2004

I like the third one. It's maybe slightly too saturated now and the other guy may be right about the focal point.

You might try doing just a little less increase in saturation. This also comes down to what different monitors are showing also. [/u]

Harpper · May 11, 2004

drdan said:
You have blown out some of the lights, especially the moon and I'm not sure that's good.

I fixed and replaced that with an updated version of number 2.

drdan said:
Personally I think I'd like to see brightness more like the first with color balance slightly changed maybe and saturation a little more intense. I really like the moonlit sky in the first one.

The last one I adjusted to your preference. I tried to keep the lighting the same but I might have gone over board just a tad. I agree with you about the lighting. I think the dark eerie lighting works better for this picture, but I'm not too sure about the results I got.

Walt said:
The first one is the best. The composition needs something as a focal point. The colors are great and there are a lot of good elements in it.

Thanks Walt for the comment. I was also thinking about the lack of a focal point but that's one of the things I like about this picture. My eye wonders all around the picture which makes me look at all the whirling clouds and the effects on the water. You do have a valid point and I'll keep that in mind the next time. Although I think that's what I maybe doing on purpose unconciously. Now that you mention it, I've noticed some of my landscape pictures lack a focal point which forces the viewer to taken in the whole picture rather than only part of it. Thanks for pointing that out though. I didn't fully realize it until now.