Night Landscape, Could use some help.

[Scoots]

Took this photo the other night, shooting with a tokina 11-16mm dxii on a t3i. The settings were at f2.8, iso1600, 30sec. Light painted the foreground and the bridge. I manually focused to what I thought was infinity, which is as far to the right as I can turn my ring, any thing to the left is very blurry. Does anything here to seem to be in focus? Thanks.

 

[CdTSnap]

Usually you will need to go to infinity then a tiny bit back to get focus. Also you could focus stack it as you are so close to the ground

 

[agp]

I think starry nights are more interesting than railroad tracks. So I wouldn't highlight the tracks as much.

Also, I would use a smaller aperture. f2.8 isn't the first thing that comes to find when I want to shoot nightscape/landscape.

 

[D-B-J]

I think starry nights are more interesting than railroad tracks. So I wouldn't highlight the tracks as much.

Also, I would use a smaller aperture. f2.8 isn't the first thing that comes to find when I want to shoot nightscape/landscape.

On a night like this where I see no moon in sight, you need a low aperture like that. I would have upped the ISO a bit and focused on the bridge.. but for me, the composition isn't that interesting. There's a lot of mundane things in the foreground and not a lot of star-scape.

Cheers!
Jake

 

[Scoots]

I think starry nights are more interesting than railroad tracks. So I wouldn't highlight the tracks as much.

Also, I would use a smaller aperture. f2.8 isn't the first thing that comes to find when I want to shoot nightscape/landscape.

On a night like this where I see no moon in sight, you need a low aperture like that. I would have upped the ISO a bit and focused on the bridge.. but for me, the composition isn't that interesting. There's a lot of mundane things in the foreground and not a lot of star-scape.

Cheers!
Jake

Appreciate the advice! Is your tokina sharpest all the way at the end of infinity, as far as sharpness goes I feel as if mine should keep going but it just stops at the end and is not that sharp...

 

[MikeFlorendo]

I have a lot of trouble focusing at night as well. I found that playing with the focus during the day and finding infinity works. It gives be a better idea at night where infinity is and then you can make slight adjustments at night to get it where you think it's correct. I have only been shooting night scrapes just recently but spending hours in the cold dark only to get back with 90% of my photos out of focus sucked!

 

[IzzieK]

It is not lost yet...I think you can at least cut off a bit of the foreground to show more of the upper portion of the image so that the railroad tracks do not dominate the whole shot. I like that image of a man on the top left hand side. He looks like a cute monster. The stars looks good...if you can extend the top more, do so. It is a bit tight up there...more of the stars, less of the railroad tracks will be more pleasant to look at...just a thought.

 

[agp]

I think starry nights are more interesting than railroad tracks. So I wouldn't highlight the tracks as much.

Also, I would use a smaller aperture. f2.8 isn't the first thing that comes to find when I want to shoot nightscape/landscape.

On a night like this where I see no moon in sight, you need a low aperture like that. I would have upped the ISO a bit and focused on the bridge.. but for me, the composition isn't that interesting. There's a lot of mundane things in the foreground and not a lot of star-scape.

Cheers!
Jake

By low aperture... you mean like f2.8? or f16?

 

[D-B-J]

2.8!


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[D-B-J]

I think starry nights are more interesting than railroad tracks. So I wouldn't highlight the tracks as much.

Also, I would use a smaller aperture. f2.8 isn't the first thing that comes to find when I want to shoot nightscape/landscape.

On a night like this where I see no moon in sight, you need a low aperture like that. I would have upped the ISO a bit and focused on the bridge.. but for me, the composition isn't that interesting. There's a lot of mundane things in the foreground and not a lot of star-scape.

Cheers!
Jake

Appreciate the advice! Is your tokina sharpest all the way at the end of infinity, as far as sharpness goes I feel as if mine should keep going but it just stops at the end and is not that sharp...

No. At infinity I get a bit of back focus. I usually guess and check a few times before I start actually shooting.


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[jsecordphoto]

I've found some lenses differ on "true" infinity based on different copies. My 11-16 I could hard stop for infinity but my buddies copy he has to go closer to the middle of the infinity symbol.

 

[ruggedshutter]

The grass in the foreground, lower right is in focus....if that matters I can't comment on night sky photos. I've only tried it a few times without much luck.

 

[afoto]

definitely keep trying! Once you get your focus right you'll be one your way to something really cool.
Wherever you are it looks like you'll be able to see the milky way pretty clearly.

 

[Playboy_Mommy]

I actually really like the composition, railroad tracks and all. It's very surreal looking, almost abstract. I dig it.

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