How could I have improved this shot?

[samdiesel]

It was a clear night. Nothing remarkable flew across the sky during the exposure. It was the exact lighting that I wanted. Being a newbie, is there anything technical that I'm missing that would make the shot better?

Thanks.

http://www.pbase.com/samdiesel/galleries

[elipio]

hi, samdiesel. Well done for spotting the scene and using tripod to capture it.
I would shift the whole scene to the left to include more of the bridge ( the far right side of the pic is a bit dull) and make the building with green and red lights more prominent.
I also learned that placing the horizon line in the middle isn't very good (heard about the rule of the thirds?).
Anyway a nice shot.
Good start.
Pete

[leandre]

Between day/night could be different.
Deryk Baumgartner's tutorial:
http://www.photosig.com/articles/671/page1
You can also see nightshot photos in his Sig portfolio
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=5279

[samdiesel]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Immediately to my left was a highway, the FDR drive, and a running track. I felt that including that would have taken away from the shot, with all the very bright lights, moving cars, and runners.

I've heard of the rule of thirds and completely ignored it. There was a rail directly in from of me, and I wanted to capture the reflections in the east river.

The three most prominant things in the shot are the Empire state building - the green and red one, the Chrysler building - the shining pointed one in between the two other buildings in the middle, and the Citicorp building - the sloped green roof on the right. I was trying to capture all three in one shot, but I think shifting to the left might be nice.

One question then, I was using a long exposure for this, how would I be able to include the rushing NYC traffic without it being overwhelming with light?

[nikgr]

I also learned that placing the horizon line in the middle isn't very good (heard about the rule of the thirds?).

The rule of the 3rds, is a rule, and it can be broken (like every rule this one has exceptions too), given certain circuimstances.

It was a clear night. Nothing remarkable flew across the sky during the exposure. It was the exact lighting that I wanted. Being a newbie, is there anything technical that I'm missing that would make the shot better?

Regarding you photo know,

First of all it is a nice composed photo and I like that middle thing.

If you can not re-shoot this, then Photoshop it.

I can see too much noise near the city lights, you have to make the sky more blue (dark blue), increase the contrast, and +2...+5 the brightness.
You could have used f/5.6 to avoid the starlights that appear on the street lights (unless it was intentional, I like this effect). Furthermore the subject is the city so use USM to increase the sharpness of the city, and apply a color filter to make it a bit warmer.

If you go there again try to include more sea as the reflections of the city lights are very nice (this applies if the sky is dark as it is here).

As I was told, it is better to take such shots during the so called "blue hours" (not entirely dark) to bring up the detail.

Finally if you can approach that HighWay it would be nice to see a photo with the highway, the sea, and the city.

Thats all about it, you got a nice photo!!!!

[samdiesel]

Thanks nikgr,

This is the kind of response that makes me want to extend my trial membership. You are an asset.

[containsmildperil]

Having the horizon near the middle can sometimes work, especially in reflection shots. However, in this case, I'd be inclined to crop off a little sky from the top, since there's not much happening there, and I think the crop would improve the composition. The exposure is very good, with all the lights nicely recorded. It would be nice to have just a little touch of blue in the sky.

[dlast1]

the horizon doesn't look like it's straight... It's a little higher on the right
(that can be fixed in photoshop)

I think this shot would work a little better following the rule of thirds

[gillettecraig]

I'm not sure the horizon is off or that the angle of the shot, the river isn't perpendicular to the axis of the shot. The buildings look vertical. One thing you can do to experiment with the suggested crops is use the scroll bar on the right to move it up or down in the frame.

[chakalaka_rider]

Use the Search function on PBase for night shots. Check out photos that you like, and that you don't like. Try to see and understand why you like them, and not like them.

My suggestion is to think about the image that you want, and see if you can deliver that image into a real photograph. I like to say composition is everything, well... maybe not everything, but I do consider it the the most crucial component of a good photograph. The technical skills come afterwards, you can figure that out by experimenting with your camera.


Eric