Night Landscape (beach) pic for C&C

raaskohx10 · Feb 21, 2013

I took this shot with kit lens by using a tripod. I know the pic is not very sharp and there is some noise as well (may be due to ISO 400). I'm submitting this pic for your c&c. Here is exif data:

Focal length: 18 mm
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 30 sec
Aperture: f/4

eswebster · Feb 21, 2013

Whats the focal point, what is my eye supposed to be drawn to? I just see a bunch of background. I like the softness in the waves from the long exposure but it needs color and something else to draw the eye to.

raaskohx10 · Feb 21, 2013

Thanks for your c&c. I'd really love to improve my landscape shots by inviting suggestions from others. Coming back to the shot. Hm... how would you take this shot if you were there? What are other elements you find there which you would like to add to the frame. Would you keep the horizon further low or bring it little up? And what would you place in foreground as I found nothing (no piece of wood or stone or rock there)? There are only horizontal lines in the frame and a diagonal line formed by waves and no s-curves etc, how would you re-arrange these lines to draw eye more into the frame? Given the available elements in the scene it would be great for me if you could please let me know about your "intent" about the shot and the method/plan of executing it. Please feel free to suggest ways to improve this shot. After all, the purpose of positng this pic is to learn from other people over here. Thanks.

spacefuzz · Feb 21, 2013

raaskohx10 said:
Thanks for your c&c. I'd really love to improve my landscape shots by inviting suggestions from others. Coming back to the shot. Hm... how would you take this shot if you were there? What are other elements you find there which you would like to add to the frame. Would you keep the horizon further low or bring it little up? And what would you place in foreground as I found nothing (no piece of wood or stone or rock there)? There are only horizontal lines in the frame and a diagonal line formed by waves and no s-curves etc, how would you re-arrange these lines to draw eye more into the frame? Given the available elements in the scene it would be great for me if you could please let me know about your "intent" about the shot and the method/plan of executing it. Please feel free to suggest ways to improve this shot. After all, the purpose of positng this pic is to learn from other people over here. Thanks.

I tend not to shoot at beaches with no FG elements because it makes things difficult. However, you are able to dig holes in the sand and create you own FG patterns as the waves was over them.

It looks soft either due to camera movement or messing up the focus, bring a flashlight and use it to focus prior to taking the photo. Do some test shots at high ISO to verify. If your in the sand, make sure your tripod is pushed down as deep as it will go so it doesnt shift.

Your stars are starting to trail, so shorten your exposure a bit if you want them to be points. Otherwise extend your exposure to 20+ minutes and really let them streak. Middle ground is just, meh.

In your case, I most likely would have gotten closer to the wall in the distance and tried to incorporate that into my image, or turned 90 deg and just shot into the ocean. Soft water in the lower 1/3 frame and stars in the rest.

raaskohx10 · Feb 21, 2013

Thanks for c&c. I think if no object is available for making foreground then one may walk away barefoot from the camera and get footsteps in the sand which may be used as foreground and set focus on them with a tighter aperture like f/11 so that background hill also comes in focus (not sure about stars, may be they won't appear as sharp as they are now). Any suggestion where to set focus in such situation?

bc_steve · Feb 21, 2013

spacefuzz said:
Your stars are starting to trail, so shorten your exposure a bit if you want them to be points. Otherwise extend your exposure to 20+ minutes and really let them streak. Middle ground is just, meh.

yep, at 30 seconds the stars will no longer appear as points. I don't really like to go above 15s because I hate it when the streak (unless they really streak over 20+ minutes like you mention)