Into the Sun...

[milosh]

OK,

here's a shot that was totally unplanned. I was driving to work and thought I'd give it a try to see if something comes out of it. It's a single exposure, taken in raw, processed by applying screen and multiply blend modes for the road and the sky, respectfully.

I'm not sure what to ask you, I guess I'm just after some general opinions. I know this is personal, but do you find the shot interesting enough? What about composition, is the road leading your eyes towards the Sun? Any post-processing suggestions? Any other comments are welcome as well.

I wish I had a better Sun star but this is all I got. I tried to enhance it a bit but had no significant success.

Exif:

Nikon D60
Nikon 18-105mm @ 18mm
f8
1/50 sec
ISO 100

Thanks

[Nikoner]

Interesting shot with nice colours and mist in the background
Maybe I'd prefer the white line in the middle of the bottom of the photo. And to get a sunstar effect you've to shoot in a small aperture.

[Krusty79]

It's a nice shot, but not one that makes me say, "Wow!" More colors/clouds in the sky would help. My eye is led to the sun, but it's a pretty small subject.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by Nikoner

Interesting shot with nice colours and mist in the background
Maybe I'd prefer the white line in the middle of the bottom of the photo. And to get a sunstar effect you've to shoot in a small aperture.

I deliberately placed the line in the corner in order to make the composition more dynamic. Yeah, I know about the small aperture but I just didn't want to use the tripod in the middle of the road. Even without a tripod I had to get off the road a couple of times.

Originally Posted by Krusty79

It's a nice shot, but not one that makes me say, "Wow!" More colors/clouds in the sky would help. My eye is led to the sun, but it's a pretty small subject.

Yeah, that's exactly what I feel about it. Thanks

[EOBeav]

I l ike this Milos, here are a few thoughts: I like the wide angle, but for this scene it might be a bit too wide. The tree, sun, sky, and mist are all the "compelling" part of your image, but they only take up the top fourth or so of the frame. I might have zoomed in more and tilted the camera up just a bit.

Why the decision to shoot at only f/8? Your background would have been more in focus and you would have seen more of a sun star if you'd gone to f/16 or so (but not any smaller than that). If you didn't have your tripod, you could have still shot at ISO 200 or 400 and been able to handhold it.

Nice blending. I think it's a great concept and hope you're able to do it again some time.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by EOBeav

I l ike this Milos, here are a few thoughts: I like the wide angle, but for this scene it might be a bit too wide. The tree, sun, sky, and mist are all the "compelling" part of your image, but they only take up the top fourth or so of the frame. I might have zoomed in more and tilted the camera up just a bit.

Why the decision to shoot at only f/8? Your background would have been more in focus and you would have seen more of a sun star if you'd gone to f/16 or so (but not any smaller than that). If you didn't have your tripod, you could have still shot at ISO 200 or 400 and been able to handhold it.

Nice blending. I think it's a great concept and hope you're able to do it again some time.

Thanks Rick! The reason I went for the wide angle is because, I wanted to create a shot with a very dynamic composition in the first place, using the line as a leading line. That's why I got down so low and used the wide angle. Recently, I've been trying very hard to get "the wide angle effect" with my not-so-wide 18mm lens. That's why I need to get so close to subjects. If I had zoomed in, I would have lost that dynamic feel.

I shot it at f8 because I thought that using a smaller aperture wouldn't influence the dof. I'm not sure just how long the line is, but I'm pretty sure it's around 2 m, which is the hyperfocal distance. Anyway, I think it is sharp enough in the distance. Also, I thought that even f16 wouldn't make a good sun star, so I stayed at f8. You remember that recent photo of a sunflower that I took? That was taken at f16 and the sun star is almost the same as in this shot. Maybe it has to do with the size of the light source? I need to make some experiments with the sun stars. Thank you for your comments!

[Art]

Hi Milosh, here are my two cents, a little more saturated colors would be nice, it is too early to take advantage of the sunlight, as all already said, the main subject os too small, in general terms I like the pic
Art

[sk66]

Nice shot, good idea and pretty good implementation. Looks like you were close to hyper focal setting, but maybe focused a bit short.... And I'd probably have used f/11

IMO the image mostly suffers from composition:

In the foreground (and there is a lot of it) you've got good focus, draws the eye. You have a lot of "weight" (dark black) which draws the eye, And you have a strong contrasting bright area (the stripe) which also draws the eye.....So there is a lot causing the image to be "front heavy" drawing the eye to an area of little interest.

Thankfully you have the strong leading line (stripe) well placed and dynamic so the eye does follow (with resistance). But the eye has to travel a very long way to get to a rather small area of interest. As noted the "subject" of interest (sun/tree) is relatively small and the colors etc are at the very top.

To "correct this" I would have taken this picture from lower/closer with the camera a little more "up".

The result would look more like this.

[EOBeav]

I still think you could have got better focus in that background at f/16 or so, plus the sunstar. I also think you could have used that center line as a leading line and tilted your camera up and not shot so wide. I just think there's too much road for my tastes. But hey, it's your photo, and you're the only one you need to please. If you feel strongly about a vision you have for your photos, then by all means stick with it.

[vainqueur]

Personally, I would prefer this to be in landscape view which will make the road looks wider, it might attract more attention than in portrait view.