Lights are bright on Broadway

[Markel253]

This was taken during an evening in Times Square. This is almost exactly as it was in the camera, with a minimum of adjustment to the RAW file, and just a little unsharp mask added in Photoshop. There was no cropping done to the image. Would you have cropped it, and if so, how? As always, any comments and/or critique on any aspect is welcome.



Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter: 1/60 sec - handheld
ISO: 3200
Focal length: 18 mm
Nikon D3100
© Mark L. Fendrick

[Jason Hines]

Markel253,

In general, I think this is a pretty good image with a nice prospective. I don't think I'd crop the image, but I would consider increasing the contrast a touch.

My suggestion for such a shot would be to decrease the shutter speed slightly to around 1/10 and to shoot while the traffic is moving. This would provide an interesting sensation of movement in the foreground while the background remained still. It might require a tripod however.

Again, good work and thanks for sharing!

[4ndrew]

I like Jason's idea of getting some motion in the frame, but think that it is a good shot the way it is also. Not much I would change. Cool shot.

[Hill Country Hack]

Nice shot and I like it. I would not crop it either. The above suggestions are valid and worth a try to see if it fits your taste. My only nit pick would be to remove the police/traffic tower as it continues to grab my attention. But if those devices are part of the "New York experience" then by all means keep it in there.

[Markel253]

Thanks all. The motion blur suggestion is valid, but as you'll learn about me - I hate carrying a tripod usually. I don't mind using one, just hate carrying one. If I am going to a location and will be in one spot and then can get back in my car, I will use one ... maybe. Part of my style and idiosyncrasies I guess. Has been that way since I got my first SLR in the early 1970's. I do have 2 sitting right here though.

I did give the police security tower some thought, and while it really isn't part of the NY experience, it certainly is part of the Times Square (or any place in NY where people gather) experience since 9/11. Unfortunately.

[Krusty79]

I would consider cropping a little off the left side so that the front of that car is not visible. Too bad you didn't have a tripod, as I would have liked to have seen this shot from a lower perspective, looking upwards towards all of those signs.

[Markel253]

Originally Posted by Jason Hines

Markel253,

In general, I think this is a pretty good image with a nice prospective. I don't think I'd crop the image, but I would consider increasing the contrast a touch.

My suggestion for such a shot would be to decrease the shutter speed slightly to around 1/10 and to shoot while the traffic is moving. This would provide an interesting sensation of movement in the foreground while the background remained still. It might require a tripod however.

Again, good work and thanks for sharing!

What do you think of this then?

[andrewdt]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

I would consider cropping a little off the left side so that the front of that car is not visible. Too bad you didn't have a tripod, as I would have liked to have seen this shot from a lower perspective, looking upwards towards all of those signs.

Agreed I would crop the left so that its all yellow cabs that dominate the shot.

[andrewdt]

Originally Posted by Markel253

What do you think of this then?

How about a quick tutorial on what you did to get this effect? I like it.

[Markel253]

Originally Posted by andrewdt

How about a quick tutorial on what you did to get this effect? I like it.

Sure. In a nutshell, here is how it was done (in Photoshop CS 5.5)

1-Duplicate original (background) image onto a second layer
2- Add motion blur (in Filters drop down. Play with it until the cars look the way you want. Ignore the rest of the image.)
3-Add a mask to your duplicate layer (which is on top of the background)
4-Fill the mask with white so that the background layer shows through
5-Select the mask and brush black over the cars/taxis, preventing the background from showing. This will allow the final image to only show motion blur where you brush the black on the mask.

Hope that helps, but if you have any questions, please ask.