City Lights...

[ayresy01]

This photo was taken in Adelaide SA. Taken just after sunset. Tell me what you think of it. and how i could improve it. Thanks


F/stop - f/22
Exposure time - 20 sec.
ISO - 100
Focal length - 18mm
Max aperture - 3.6

[VeryBeginner]

Sorry I can't see your photo except for a tiny thumb nail, do you have a link to flikr? I would really like to see it as I live in Adelaide

[windrider86]

Do you have anything specific you want help with?

[SwissJon]

Here, this might help you..

Posting Photos from Flickr [July 2010 Update]

[ayresy01]

ok thanks i have now fixed the problem. and no i have nothing specific i just want to hear some ideas on how i could improve this shot. thanks.

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by ayresy01

ok thanks i have now fixed the problem. and no i have nothing specific i just want to hear some ideas on how i could improve this shot. thanks.

Hi, And welcome.

There's two main reasons why we need you to ask specific questions..

1) Asking "Is this any good?" Or "i have nothing specific i just want to hear some ideas on how i could improve this shot" Like you have don requires no input from yourself, it doesn't require you to switch your brain on.. Constructing good photos is not a passive thing, it requires thought and planning and analysis, IN THE FIELD. If you just produce a picture and don't put any thought into what might be wrong with it, you will never learn, and if you don't learn, you won't improve your picture taking skills. DPS stands for Digital Photography SCHOOL. If you want to learn, you've come to the right place. But that requires you to be your own worst critic. You need to analyse your work, decide where you feel improveents could have been made and THEN ask us specific questions about how to improve them. More than likely you'll also get comments on aspects you haven't noticed too, but by being proactive now, after the fact, you'll learn to be pro-active in the field, before you take the photo, analysing the composition, and moving to appropriate places depending on what you see. All of this takes time, and we're a community, we have no problems helping you along that path we're all walking, but you need to be a participant in the process.

2. It's somewhat lazy to ask "what do you think" without thought and expect us to engage our brains on your subject when you apparently can't be bothered.

This isn't a personal criticism of you, it's just the way that this approach appears to those of us that you're asking to analyse your work. And this is why 90% of people who post such a question get little or no response, and those who ask "Do you think this aspect needs changing?" or "What can I do to improve this aspect?" get responses 90% of the time.

Sorry to moan, but you asked what we thought, and that's what I think! Tell us what you think, and I'll join in!

[Krusty79]

Wow, Jon, you said it as well as any moderator can!

ayresy01 - I hope Jon didn't sound too harsh, but a LOT of posters on this site do not read the forum posting rules and we get tired of reminding people at times.

That being said, I think you have a very good shot, taken at a good time of day where you can get the sky and city lights exposed correctly in the shot. The only suggestion for improvement I have is to remove a couple of distractions. I find that white thing extending into the image from the left distracting. That is the main one. Secondarily, I don't think that object in the lower right corner is helping, but that's a minor distraction.

I have also read on this site that if you use an aperture smaller than about f/13, then you may start getting diffraction, which degrades sharpness.

[SwissJon]

Ooops.. Perhaps I ovstepped the mark? Sorry, tough day.

To make up for it I'll add my 2 centimes on top of what Krusty said... That's a nice photo, but I think you're getting a pincushion distortion which is making the tall building lean, and the reflections lean weirdly.. You can correct that fairly easily so they're upright using Photoshop or Lightroom.

I don't much care for the White object on the left, perhaps you could crop that out.

Other than that, it's nice..

I'm sure you'll take note of the rules next time hey?