Denver night shot :)

nntruong · Aug 25, 2011

I know it's a bit out of focus I didn't have a tripod at the time ... But CC please

cgipson1 · Aug 25, 2011

nice shot for non-tripod work, especially for ISO 100 at 4 seconds. I assume you used a railing or something to steady the camera on? Obviously stepping down the aperture would have increased DOF. I am assuming you were shooting mostly for the buildings? Or were you after the foreground? It is difficult to say looking at the picture.. no clearly defined subject. The bright foreground (which is mostly empty) draws the eye away from the more interesting background. A little bit confusing. I would have also tried to find a vantage point where I could crop the street out entirely, again assuming you were going for the background.

I would have cropped it tighter, and made either the foreground or the background the subject. Probably something like this.. assuming you were going for the downtown buildings....

nntruong · Aug 25, 2011

Hey thanks for the tip! yes, I was using the railing to help hold the camera steady lol it would be impossible for me to do so free standing with 4s. YES, I was trying to capture the background but I couldn't figure out how to do it with better DoF/focus because the background is too dark to focus sometimes(any tips on this?). That's my first time shooting night in manual so I got a lot to learn. thanks for the crop I couldn't frame my image right because the lack of support(keeping it steady) of the camera for the shot. Btw did you edit the color of the image as well it looks a bit darker.

here's another shot I took. Now this one I believe it's focused on the bridge.

cgipson1 · Aug 25, 2011

I darkened the foreground a bit, to make the background stand out better. At those distances, you should be able to focus to infinity... and that should do it. You may have to play around with your lens to figure out exactly where that is though. That or pick something bright in the area you want to be sharpest, and do the best you can.

On the second shot.. is that the bridge at I25 and 20th?

nntruong · Aug 25, 2011

Awesome I'll play around with the focus to infinity. About focusing on something that's bright, I've tried that on one of the shots i took and it seems to darken the image making it under exposed. But thanks for the tips i'll definitely try it again.

Yeah the 2nd shot is at i25 and 20th lol. Too bad that building is in the way of denver skyline.

Neiby · Aug 25, 2011

nntruong said:
Hey thanks for the tip! yes, I was using the railing to help hold the camera steady lol it would be impossible for me to do so free standing with 4s. YES, I was trying to capture the background but I couldn't figure out how to do it with better DoF/focus because the background is too dark to focus sometimes(any tips on this?). That's my first time shooting night in manual so I got a lot to learn. thanks for the crop I couldn't frame my image right because the lack of support(keeping it steady) of the camera for the shot. Btw did you edit the color of the image as well it looks a bit darker.

here's another shot I took. Now this one I believe it's focused on the bridge.

I was on that bridge just a couple of days ago! Nice shot.

christian.rudman · Aug 25, 2011

Check out the scenic overlook by the Riverside Church with that crazy tall cross erection. I took a lot of cool night shots with Elitch Gardens in the foreground all lit up with the Downtown Skyline in the background. I'm at work and cannot post anything at this time, but if I remember later I'll post up and show some results. Also looks like you could use a wider angle on these shots for more of a landscape feel. Good attempts though!

nntruong · Aug 25, 2011

Awesome. Didn't know there are a few denver people on here lol yeah I just got my 35mm so I decided to take it downtown for fun. you should post some of those pics up . I know these are bad views of the cities cuz I was on foot otherwise I would have done it from auraria campus area

Neiby · Aug 25, 2011

nntruong said:
Awesome. Didn't know there are a few denver people on here lol yeah I just got my 35mm so I decided to take it downtown for fun. you should post some of those pics up . I know these are bad views of the cities cuz I was on foot otherwise I would have done it from auraria campus area

I posted this one a few days ago. Here is my first night shot of Denver:

Denver at night by jneiberger2002, on Flickr

Robin Usagani · Aug 25, 2011

What up 303!

SabrinaO · Aug 25, 2011

cgipson1 said:
nice shot for non-tripod work, especially for ISO 100 at 4 seconds. I assume you used a railing or something to steady the camera on? Obviously stepping down the aperture would have increased DOF. I am assuming you were shooting mostly for the buildings? Or were you after the foreground? It is difficult to say looking at the picture.. no clearly defined subject. The bright foreground (which is mostly empty) draws the eye away from the more interesting background. A little bit confusing. I would have also tried to find a vantage point where I could crop the street out entirely, again assuming you were going for the background.

I would have cropped it tighter, and made either the foreground or the background the subject. Probably something like this.. assuming you were going for the downtown buildings....

I don't like your crop. You cropped out the interest in the foreground. ??? I think the OP wanted the light streams and the buildings as the subject because the subject of this photo is purely the city of Denver. Lights, fast cars, people, buildings etc. If the subject were just the buildings it would have been a far skyline shot, or a more up-close and personal shot of a specific building.

cgipson1 · Aug 25, 2011

Had no idea what he was after.... and the foreground was mostly empty, so I killed it. I assumed he was after a cityscape look. Only the OP can answer that question!

nntruong · Aug 26, 2011

Neiby: Actually I think i saw that pic you posted in your thread lol.

Sabrina & cgipson1: I didn't even know what I was after really. I was standing on top of the stairs and saw a nice view so I attempted to capture it but it turns out to be out of focus after i got it on the computer.