Night in Vancouver (please give critics)

[rogerc1992]

I took these photos in Vancouver and posted on a Chinese photography forum. But the manager of that forum pissed me off and deleted my post. I asked the reason and they just replied "those are bad photos". This really frustrated me because I'm still a newbie and learning photography. I regard everyone that teaches me as my teacher. So, just give you comments and figure out how can I improve these photos.

I use Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 VR G FX. All the photos here were taken with tripod.

image 1: I used 106 photos to create this star trail photo.
24mm
f/4,
25s,
iso500
manual focus,
center weighted metering,

image 2: used 96 photos to create this image
24mm
f/4
25s
iso200
manual focus
center weighted light metering

image 3:
24mm
f/4
25s
iso1000
manual focus
center weighted light metering

 

[Rob5589]

I am not good enough to give an educated critique but, I like the 2nd pic. The 3 shooting stars were a nice bonus and look very cool.

And welcome to TPF.

 

[tirediron]

The concept is excellent, the execution could be a little more refined. Because of the exposure times required for star trails, the exposure on your shoreline is wayyyy over-exposed. The best way to do this would be to create a series of images of North/West Van, say 1/2 stop apart, and then create the star trails as a separate image and blend in post. That way you will get the same picture, just with better overall exposure.

 

[rogerc1992]

The concept is excellent, the execution could be a little more refined. Because of the exposure times required for star trails, the exposure on your shoreline is wayyyy over-exposed. The best way to do this would be to create a series of images of North/West Van, say 1/2 stop apart, and then create the star trails as a separate image and blend in post. That way you will get the same picture, just with better overall exposure.

Thanks for the suggestion. "create a series of images of North/West Van, say 1/2 stop apart", do you mean I should take photos of different exposure value?
When I took these pictures, I use the interval timer mode of my camera which allows me to take pictures of the same speed, aperture, etc. When I processed these photos, I used photoshop and select "lighten" for all the layers. Finally I got an image with overexposed shoreline.

 

[tirediron]

Thanks for the suggestion. "create a series of images of North/West Van, say 1/2 stop apart", do you mean I should take photos of different exposure value?

Precisely. There are two separate images in this photo. West Van, and the Sky. For optimal results they need different treatment.

Starting with the earthly images, experiment to see what aperture/ISO/SS give you ideal exposure for the brightest lights. Once you've determined that, then create as many images (I'm suggesting 1/2 stop; that's just a WAG, so experiment there too), until the dimmest lights are correctly exposed; hopefully that's no more than about 5-6. Now, without moving the camera (It's critical that the camera stay in exactly the same spot throughout the process) create the start trail image(s).

Blend the first series of image using appropriate software (I like Photomatix, but Photoshop does a good job too), and set aside. Take the star trail shot(s) and blend/process as appropriate. NOW, combine the two resultant images into one finished file.