sunrise

[KRIS]

hello, please critique on improving this picture on pp and composition. the early morning light was dramatic. but i feel the picture is not complete. thanks.

[windrider86]

Can you share your exif information with us?

[KRIS]

that was a lightning fast reply. thanks. camera nikon d700, lens 24-70 f 2.8, Tv 1/200 sec, Av f 9.0, ISO 400, captured in RAW, increased warmth, fill light exported to pse7, adjusted levels and sharpness, saved for web. kris

[navcom]

Hi!

I think your exposure looks pretty good. It's very captivating. I might back off the warmth just a bit though. It's a bit reddish.

On the composition, the only thing that is bothering me is the pedestal of the stair pillar is directly over some of the skyline. It is making the skyline seem disconnected a bit. It might have worked better if you could boost yourself up about a foot or two so the pedestal doesn't obscure the skyline and then work out a composition from that perspective....maybe put the skyline a bit higher as well to make it work.

...or maybe it wouldn't work. Almost need to be there.

Nice capture.

[KRIS]

Originally Posted by navcom

Hi!

It's a bit reddish.

On the composition, the only thing that is bothering me is the pedestal of the stair pillar is directly over some of the skyline.
maybe put the skyline a bit higher as well to make it work.

Nice capture.

Thank you so much. Good critique. Sky color will have to be toned down. Perspective and the cut off sky line can be managed, did not think about this when i shot the picture. Is the lighting normal, i felt the foreground was kind of a little darker, do i have to increase the light levels there. My first DSLR was the iSTDL which I still have. Then i bought a K10D, unfortunately the local dealer does not have stock of lens and accessories for Pentax, hence sold the K10D and moved on to Nikon. But i have some wonderful pictures and memories with Pentax. Great Camera.

[navcom]

Your foreground looks good to me. You don't want to go too light or it will look unnatural. At sunrise and sunset, there is naturally a lot of contrast from shadows. If you eliminate them, it will not look real.

If you even out the dynamic range of an image too much, it will actually start to look like a cartoon or an animation. These days, with HDR technology, this is easy to do. Of course, to some, this is a new form of art, which is great. But if you are going for the natural look, you want to keep it light on the fill...just a touch to increase the DR but not so much that it looks like a computer-generate image.

I love Pentax. Of course now-days there really isn't a whole lot of difference between cameras as far as image quality goes. The only real differences are options and ergonomics. The one thing I like with Pentax is the ability to use every lens they've ever manufactured on any of my Pentax camera bodies. I have a collection of 1960's vintage manual lenses that quite honestly work as good or better than my "created-for-digital" newer lenses. For landscape work, they are fantastic.

[KRIS]

Thanks navcom. The word is 'natural' i get it. You are right about the camera, I had a Pentax z1, in 1996, my first SLR. Good camera. Those days people used to rate the Pentax lenes as the Best in the market. Here the local dealer killed the product. My 540 FGZ flash with them for the past 9 months, and they claim they are not able to get the spares to repair it. Thanks again.

[Gary Webb]

I like the way the wooden platform is present in the foreground. It gives the picture focus. I think it all works well together.