Liverpool Waterfront

[Ben1989]

Hi guys, after some constructive criticism of my images of Liverpool's waterfront. My first time doing night shots! Please be as brutally honest as you want

Thanks

 

[Ben1989]

Any idea how to make the photos 'pop' more as I feel that they can

 

[JonA_CT]

It looks like the focus is soft on these...I'm not sure whether it's movement on the tripod or just missed focus, but I think that the sharpness could be improved.

 

[Didereaux]

Hi guys, after some constructive criticism of my images of Liverpool's waterfront. My first time doing night shots! Please be as brutally honest as you want

Thanks

I see that the first one is a 30sec exposure. Were you anywhere near a road with traffic? If so that is were your blurred focus is probably coming from. You can alleviate this somewhat by increasing shutter speed and opening up the aperture a bit. but it all depends upon the ground beneath you and the road.

 

[SquarePeg]

They do seem a bit soft. Did you sharpen them at all in post?

 

[Gary A.]

These lack a sense of style and flavor ... these seem sterile to me. You need to toss yourself into the image capturing process. Photography can be as much about you, who you are, as it is the subjects.

 

[Ben1989]

It looks like the focus is soft on these...I'm not sure whether it's movement on the tripod or just missed focus, but I think that the sharpness could be improved.

I think I had the f-stop quite high to be honest, f20 maybe. I will clarify when I'm home. Will the f-stop causing that much softening? I'm new to night shots.

 

[Ben1989]

I see that the first one is a 30sec exposure. Were you anywhere near a road with traffic? If so that is were your blurred focus is probably coming from. You can alleviate this somewhat by increasing shutter speed and opening up the aperture a bit. but it all depends upon the ground beneath you and the road.

Not directly near one. A main road was maybe a good 200m away. My aperture was really tight, as mentioned, about f-20. What would be the ideal aperture for sharpness - around the f-12 mark?

 

[Ben1989]

These lack a sense of style and flavor ... these seem sterile to me. You need to toss yourself into the image capturing process. Photography can be as much about you, who you are, as it is the subjects.

I agree with you. Seem very 'standard'. I'm interested to hear how you would make them more interesting, in terms of positioning, angle or post processing.

Cheers everyone

 

[SquarePeg]

IMO, part of the compositional issue is the wide angle lens. It really puts the buildings at center of that 2nd photo too far away and there's nothing to really grab you in the foreground with the reflections being too blurry form the water movement of the long exposure. Shot #1, too much white light from the ferris wheel detracts from anything else in the shot. Surprised to see all white - usually you can get some pretty color effects from ferris wheels.

 

[Ben1989]

IMO, part of the compositional issue is the wide angle lens. It really puts the buildings at center of that 2nd photo too far away and there's nothing to really grab you in the foreground with the reflections being too blurry form the water movement of the long exposure. Shot #1, too much white light from the ferris wheel detracts from anything else in the shot. Surprised to see all white - usually you can get some pretty color effects from ferris wheels.

1. I see where you're coming from. At the moment I struggle to step back and see the images from a fresh perspective when you work on them post. But I see where you're coming from. Is there anything to recover this type of image if I was to retake? Maybe sharpen up the details and go during the blue hour? Or is it flogging a dead horse?

2. Yes how would I combat the intense light without losing detail in the foreground? Would a HDR maybe be better with this?

Appreciate your feedback

 

[Derrel]

It looks like the focus is soft on these...I'm not sure whether it's movement on the tripod or just missed focus, but I think that the sharpness could be improved.

I think I had the f-stop quite high to be honest, f20 maybe. I will clarify when I'm home. Will the f-stop causing that much softening? I'm new to night shots.

IMO, part of the compositional issue is the wide angle lens. It really puts the buildings at center of that 2nd photo too far away and there's nothing to really grab you in the foreground with the reflections being too blurry form the water movement of the long exposure. Shot #1, too much white light from the ferris wheel detracts from anything else in the shot. Surprised to see all white - usually you can get some pretty color effects from ferris wheels.

These two pretty much nailed the issues...the 14mm focal length used in the shot named 6 1 of 1.jpg...14mm on APS-C or 21mm in FX terms: while it gets "more of the scene in", it also makes anything beyond 15 or 20 feet look very SMALL in the frame. Using too-wide of a lens is a common pitfall that many landscape shooters fall victim to. In their quest to show us the most of a scene, they end up making everything they SEE while there look small on-film or on-sensor. And yes, small f/stops like f/16 to f/32, do cause some softening due to diffraction on a small-format camera like a d-slr. At close-distances, the increased depth of field from small apertutres can override the diffraction-caused softness by literally getting more stuff into good focus, but at this type of distance range, there is no pressing need for much DOF, so you'd be better off with a wider aperture, like f/8. Also...depending on tripod/wind/traffic, the longer exposure times necessitated by a small apertute like f/20 can lead you into an exposure time where a gust of wind, or even sustained, gentle puffs of wind, can make the scene look "soft".

The biggest issue with very-wide angle lenses is this: the photographer at the scene experiences the scene in real-life, as it is, but the viewers of the photos are given a very,very different spatial relationship; the grandeur of the scene the photographer sees is basically, squashed by a wide-angle lens used at this type of distance.

 

[Ben1989]

Thanks Derrel, taken all of your comments on board and I see where you're coming from on every point!

 

[r0r5ch4ch]

Hey, the locations are quite interesting and I can only. Repeat what most said. The f20, if it was one definetely could soften your images heavily.

Normally 30 seconds should be no. Problem for any tripod. The traffic would cause this if you would stand on a bridge.

Sometimes if it is a but windy, some. People forget to attach the belt of the camera to the tripod as well. So this thing keeps. On moving the whole exposures and puts some heavy vibrations on the tripod.

Also don't forget to turn off image stabilization on a tripod, especially on long exposures.

Try to read a bit about composition, as mentioned before you tried to out too much on one picture. Try to pick one out and put it in a nice perspective...

Also. There is too much white in the ferry wheel. Picture. Try to balance the colors a bit. If you want to keep the water in the picture, then try not to cut the reflections. Symmetry is always a very powerful composition tool.

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