Beijing Sunrise

[EMansfield]

I shot this in the early morning out of my hotel in Beijing. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful colors in sky and how well they matched the street lights. However, I'm not sure if the apartment buildings in the middle of the picture are well contrasted with the darker background. What do you think? (Click image to see larger and on gray)



Canon EOS 40D, f/5.6 @ 17 mm, 20s, ISO 200, No Flash

[leviathan]

Looks great. Gorgeous shot!

[navcom]

Looks good to me compositionally but much of the image is a little soft. Any reason you chose f/5.6 for your aperture?

[EMansfield]

Yes, out of necessity (and not since it was optimal, I would have preferred f/8 at least...). The camera was propped up on top of an overturned trashcan and I had to hold it to keep it from falling off. I shot it first at F/2.8, but that was too soft, so I choose f/5.6 so that I could get some sharpness while not having to hold the camera for too long and not having to go up to ISO 1000. Do you think it's better to have more noise at high ISO and sharper or less sharp with less noise?

[navcom]

Well...I think it's best to use a tripod. (ha ha!!)

Back to seriousness...

Since you didn't have a tripod at your disposal, I'm not sure what is better. I think you probably chose best. Film grain is usually not desirable in landscape shots, but it's mostly a personal taste thing. I personally despise grain in landscapes, but on "retro" type shots it's awesome.

[Doctor Atomo]

I actually kind of like the softness, it adds a dream like quality that may not have been present in a sharper photo.
A really beautiful photo, it reminds me of Blade Runner, or the Mayan Pyramids.

[SuperDan]

I love the composition and the lighting is amazing to me!

Nice capture! The cars lights are a plus!

[TuanPhan]

great shoot , i love your composition and lighting

[Hadianto Sumantri]

i agree to Superdan, it's nice composition and th lighting and colour too, thanks for sharing