I'd love some tips and advice on this one

[imagesliveon]

Hi,

I didn't fancy getting intoxicated on New Years Eve so I went down the beach at about 2230 and decided to attempt to take some night time shots to see how they would come out.

Unfortunately I didn't take a torch so I struggled with getting the photos in Focus...

I did some long exposures with this one being 111sec... I don't have a remote switch so I just held onto the camera shutter button (Bulb Setting) and tried to guess 1 Min, don't think that helped either...

Anyway here's one of the better photos converted in Silver EFEX...

The only light in the photo was a few small, and I must say annoying street lights about fifty meters behind me...

How do you guys think I did??

I am pleased with my first go at this... Would like to get sharper focus next time..

Opinions would be fantastic.. and any tips?



Littlehampton Beach by imagesliveon, on Flickr

Regards
Simon

 

[cgipson1]

please post the color version.. I would like to see it. The B&W is kind of muddy..

 

[imagesliveon]

Sure,


0ll16 by imagesliveon, on Flickr

 

[thetrue]

WB seems off, but this is a really simple and nice photo.

 

[Demers18]

WB seems off, but this is a really simple and nice photo.

Agreed on both points.

It looks a little too yellow but an overall nice image.

As for the long exposure, you can program a time with certain remotes.

Edit: I got mixed up and provided false info. Sorry guys.

 

[cgipson1]

As True and Demers18 said.. WB is off... and contrast is minimal

the B&W you posted seem heavily cyan.. did you tint it on purpose? What was your conversion process? You don't have any true whites and blacks... although blacks are better than the whites....

One thing I didn't like was that the horizon is pretty much centered. I did an edit trying to bring out the contrast and details... and to hopefully improve the framing a bit. Working from the small images... I got some banding in the sky, so tried to fix that also.

Let me know what you think...


Comparison

 

[thetrue]

As for the long exposure, you can actually set a time in bulb mode. I would check your manual.

WHAT????????????????????????? Where is my F manual?!?! That would be effing awesome!!!

 

[imagesliveon]

As True and Demers18 said.. WB is off... and contrast is minimal

the B&W you posted seem heavily cyan.. did you tint it on purpose? What was your conversion process? You don't have any true whites and blacks... although blacks are better than the whites....

One thing I didn't like was that the horizon is pretty much centered. I did an edit trying to bring out the contrast and details... and to hopefully improve the framing a bit. Working from the small images... I got some banding in the sky, so tried to fix that also.

Let me know what you think...
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30732"/>

Comparison
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30733"/>

Thanks! Love your edit!

The Process from beginning was

Taken in RAW then imported to CS6 using the RAW converter, then minor adjustments with sharpening, then opened the image and made the final conversion in SILVER EFEX. You are correct I added a cyan filter. I guess it didn't work.

The colour version is totally unedited just converted to JPG hence the WB being off.

KIND REGARDS
Simon

 

[cgipson1]

As True and Demers18 said.. WB is off... and contrast is minimal

the B&W you posted seem heavily cyan.. did you tint it on purpose? What was your conversion process? You don't have any true whites and blacks... although blacks are better than the whites....

One thing I didn't like was that the horizon is pretty much centered. I did an edit trying to bring out the contrast and details... and to hopefully improve the framing a bit. Working from the small images... I got some banding in the sky, so tried to fix that also.

Let me know what you think...
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachments/landscape-cityscape/30732-id-love-some-tips-advice-one-dddd.jpg"/>

Comparison
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachments/landscape-cityscape/30733-id-love-some-tips-advice-one-untitled-1-web.jpg"/>

Thanks! Love your edit!

The Process from beginning was

Taken in RAW then imported to CS6 using the RAW converter, then minor adjustments with sharpening, then opened the image and made the final conversion in SILVER EFEX. You are correct I added a cyan filter. I guess it didn't work.

The colour version is totally unedited just converted to JPG hence the WB being off.

KIND REGARDS
Simon

Cool! Nik Silver Efex here also... just used a High Contrast preset.. and then did some dodging and burning, with a light Gaussian blur on the sky to kill the banding...

 

[imagesliveon]

I've found myself calming down a little bit with Silver Efex as I tend to look back at pictures and delete them because I over done it.

I converted the RAW in 16bit so I was fortunate enough to avoid the banding.

 

[invisible]

The Process from beginning was

Taken in RAW then imported to CS6 using the RAW converter, then minor adjustments with sharpening, then opened the image and made the final conversion in SILVER EFEX. You are correct I added a cyan filter. I guess it didn't work.

It looks like you also ran the image though a noise-reduction software. That, plus the fact that you chose to shoot this at f5.6 instead of using a smaller aperture (plus the focusing problems you mentioned), robbed this image of all detail unfortunately.

I agree with Charlie in that the B&W conversion feels muddy and I like his suggested conversion. In terms of composition, your original image doesn't feel balanced to me. I took the liberty of trying a quick recrop, somewhat bolder than the original:

 

[Demers18]

As for the long exposure, you can actually set a time in bulb mode. I would check your manual.

WHAT????????????????????????? Where is my F manual?!?! That would be effing awesome!!!

I just realized that it isn't the camera... sorry Jeff. You can set it up with some of the programable remotes.

I will remove that portion of my post. I apologize for the false information. My bad.

 

[imagesliveon]

It was pitch black.

There is very little noise in the image as it was only at ISO 400, would I seriously have got away with a smaller aperture?

Ill have a look at the other photos from the set and there settings.

Regards

 

[Mully]

My try

 

[The_Traveler]

Quite beautiful

I think it should be cropped into a pano so that the shape mimics and reinforces the water line.
Also, increase contrast in teh sky to mimic the water look

quite lovely,,