Swing Seat by Night

[Paul2366]

hello,

firstly im a newbie onsite so id like to introduce myself



ive only got into photography again, in the last few months when i bought a Canon 500D (my first dslr) and ive gone on to buy a cheapish tripod and some long term investments in Lee filters. Just bought a sigma 10-20 which i cant wait to try out when it arrives.

i have entered a pic in the hotshot catagory of a picture i think has merit "Swing Seat by Night". I cropped out the remains of the hotel on the right hand side of the picture and just used ps cs4 to sharpen and lighten some areas of the rapids.

i didnt use any filters other than a polarisor, should i have used anything else? compositionly, could i have done any better? any other comments suggestions most welcome.

Thanks

Paul

[Jediboy]

Hi Paul,
Welcome to the forum.

You're photo doesn't appear.

Maybe try again.

Chris

[Paul2366]

odd appears at bottom of screen here and if i click on it takes me in seperate window to full screen view.

wot needs a changing?

[Edmack]

Hi, to me the picture is overall too dark, this accentuates the seat, which very much catches the eye. Open it in RAW, and click on Auto, and go from there, there is the makings of a good picture. Ed.

[Paul2366]

thx ed. i had the pic lighter but didnt seem to strike the right balance with it being taken in the dark, guess i havnt struck the right balance

[Markyboy1]

I like this but the movent in the water distracts from the the main focus of the picture specially the bright patch behind the swing.

Mark

[John B.]

Originally Posted by Paul2366

hello,
i didnt use any filters other than a polarisor, should i have used anything else? compositionly, could i have done any better? any other comments suggestions most welcome.

Paul, it's a nice landscape photo. I never heard of a polarizing filter being used at night, and I don't think it did anything other than create a need for a slower shutter speed by a stop or two, or a wider aperture. I emphasize that I never heard of this before, so I'm not saying you were wrong to use it. I need to do some research on that. Perhaps if you set up another shot like that, look through the viewfinder as you rotate the filter. If you see no difference then you don't need it, and are just losing two stops of light. Same thing during the day. A polarizer will darken the blue sky but only while pointing in certain directions.

I just did a bit of digging and it's a debatable issue. Personally, I see no need for it at night.

[Paul2366]

i do take ur point with regard the polariser John B, wasnt at all sure if it was a help or hindrance in bringing out the water in the dark but i thought id try it and see. should have really taken the same shot without to see if it did made any difference.

post processing the raw image i could possibly have made the image lighter overall which would have brought more of the detail in the trees etc but felt the need to balance the atmosphere so i am a bit unsure which approach would suit best. trial and error i guess as part of the rapids you can see is also light be spotlights which does draw ur eye away from the main focus of te seat but it does then draw u around the rest of the image. hmmmm.

[John B.]

Yep! Experiment, experiment and experiment again! Even pros throw away a lot of their stuff. I like this quote from a French photographer:

"If I knew how to take a good photograph, I'd do it every time." ~ Robert Doisneau

[Paul2366]

Originally Posted by John B.

"If I knew how to take a good photograph, I'd do it every time." ~ Robert Doisneau

that certainly sums things up, go out some days, having fished about on google earth fer some potential spots, visited them and find when i look afterward they r only average shots at best, but maybe with different light it could be different.

now ive got a sigma 1-20 to play with just need a day off and some decent light to go play with it.