Are these effective as cityscape shots?

jdong217 · Jan 17, 2012

one big overall question is how would you say my processing is on these? specifically, do they look too "fake"?

1. Tokyo. I was really limited with the angles I could get because this was taken from an observation tower with windows. The worse part was that the window wasn't circular, but rather it was a bunch of window panes at very obtuse angles so I could really only get a few angles. The idea is that the highway is a leading line to the rest of the city, showing how expansive it is. Wish I had a wider lens in this situation though.

15 by justindong, on Flickr

2. Singapore #1 - The composition is weird, I know. Does it work? I think the soldiers on duty in the foreground add a little to it, but what about the asymmetry?

25 by justindong, on Flickr

3. Singapore at night. I think I might crop a bit of the left side out.

27 by justindong, on Flickr

rateeg · Jan 17, 2012

great shots. but im looking for more wide angles.
a wide angle lens would kill it, and more sky would add more appeal

jdong217 · Jan 17, 2012

^ I have one wide angle shot from the top of that observation tower but from a different day. i didn't post it because the quality is considerably lower. i guess i wasn't able to hold the camera still long enough

also, i think there was a smudge on the window (see right side). more sky, but it isn't particularly interesting imo since the clouds aren't well formed and everything seems kind of flat.

16 by justindong, on Flickr

hydkaran420 · Jan 17, 2012

First of all NO they don't look too fake.
#1 is overexposed I guess coz the sky is too bright and pale and distracting
#2 does seem like just a snapshot of some tall buildings with disturbances on the left (flower like structure) and bottom (barricades I think)
#3 I can't believe it's the same place as in #2 until I saw the yellow barricades at bottom

. It's you best shot and my favourite if you could crop the bottom off.

Sent from my iPad using PhotoForum

jdong217 · Jan 17, 2012

thanks for your input guys. i definitely see the point about the sky being too pale. how should I best deal with that?

after making this topic, I went back through my raw files. thankfully I still had all of them. I actually found one that's much wider and decently sharp without blur. granted, I had to crop down a little but oh well. thoughts on this one over the other 2 of tokyo? i just used a graduated filter and decreased exposure on the sky a bit. still don't like how it is though. the sky is at -1.75 EV right now

Tokyo Skyline (take 2) by justindong, on Flickr

EchoingWhisper · Jan 18, 2012

They are pretty nice, here is my edited version. Your version lacks some sharpness.

gerardo2068 · Jan 18, 2012

EchoingWhisper said:
They are pretty nice, here is my edited version. Your version lacks some sharpness.

Wow can you be my teacher!! I would like a short explanation of your sharpening workflow

EchoingWhisper · Jan 18, 2012

You got really nice pictures.

Here is another edit.

GnipGnop · Jan 18, 2012

I don't think a wide angle is necessary for this type of photo. Sure, you can get more in, but for what reason? The sake of getting more in?

I think your composition is pretty good, and your exposure works well also. When shooting at night, remember that at night time, the sky is black, and shadows tend to be black as well.

Photographs are creations, not replications, so don't worry about having to do things like burning the sky a bit in photoshop to recreate what you see in your minds' eye.

I think you could do a bit of dodging/levels on the buildings in the second shot, as the sky's colours are overpowering the darker buildings.

Sharpening them as the other forum member did definitely gives them some added pop as well. And remember, sharpening should be the last process in your editing work flow (generally).