Illuminated Bridge at the Tempe Town Lake

[greenhippie]

It is one of my favorite spots in Tempe. This bridge changes colors whenever the trains passes. I just started getting into photography.
Looking for honest feedback.

Nikon D5000
Shutter Speed: 5 sec
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 500
Flash: None
Lens: 18-55mm

[IABoomer]

I like the composition with the lines leading through the image and the horizon line in the back. I like the longer exposure to soften the water and get some light trails.

I feel like the image is a bit bright. There look to be some hot spots on the water surface, and there's some missing texture to the grating on the white lighted part under the bridge. Either taking the ISO down a little, or closing the aperture down to somewhere around f/5.6 or f/8 could tone down some of the brightness and bring back some details. If you stop down the aperture a bit, you might get more pronounced starbursts on the background lights, if that's something that would appeal to you.

[greenhippie]

Thank you for your feedback. Any post processing suggestions?

[IABoomer]

Assuming Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw for adjustments

Working from the RAW, you could pull the exposure back about 1.5-2 stops and push the fill light up to 40-50. That could help return detail to the grate under the bridge, but still keep details in the texture of the concrete.

Maybe a little recovery to tone down some hot spots. You can hold the Alt key on PC (I think it's command on the Mac) while dragging to see the blown highlights in white go to black.

A little clarity will add some mid-tone contrast which might better define the edges of the grating, bolt heads, and concrete texture.

Of course, that's just what I'd probably do with it. You've been there, know what it actually looks like, and can execute your vision accordingly depending on if you're trying to document it as it is, or emphasize things to make it more artistic.

[Krusty79]

I agree with IABoomer about the composition and the lights being too bright. That's what jumped out at me. I'd like to see what it looks like if you went back and shot this at ISO 100 and f/11. Bracketing your shots too, of course.