Antônio Prado's Portico: what's missing?

[Cau Guebo]

This picture was taken with a Sony H50, Exposition: 1.3, Aperture: f/2.8, focal distance: 7.4 mm, ISO: 80, Flash: Off.
There is something that bothers me in this picture that I can't tell what it is. I liked it though and found it a good shot but nothing more than a good shot. What you guys think that is missing to turn it into a great shot? Maybe should I wait for a full moon? Is it too dark? The composition could be different? Please help me on this one.
Thanks,
Cau.

[Japaslavian]

A few things.

To me it doesn't look like it was carefully composed. The arch is there, but it doesn't look placed in the frame. Sure it's in a third area and its pretty balanced, but it doesn't really demonstrate any significance to the building. It's just sort've and arch. I think that's the problem with the whole Rule of Thirds thing. It's not a take-all guarantee for a good shot. Try experimenting with different things and see what happens.
The lights on the bottom of the arch are over-exposing the supports.
Also, be careful when photographing words. When the eye sees them, we instantly try to read it. In your case, the shadows from the lights has made most of the text illegible. Had you not provided it with the title, I'd probably still be sitting here trying to read it, or would have just passed over the image all together because I couldn't figure it out and got bored with it.

[AnnetteJ]

Try filling the frame with the structure. Try shooting it from a low angle to emphasize its height. Try a tilted angle unless you hate that effect. Try the full moon you suggested. Try everything you can think of and see what works.

[SusanH1970]

I'm just beginning myself and have not done any night shots yet, but, some advice I was given from a friend of mine who has been a pro photographer for 30 + years is for night shots, use a tripod, first and foremost, and use a remote or the self timer to avoid camera shake, rather than pushing the shutter by hand.

I saw on the EXIF on your Flickr that you had white balance set to "Tungsten", that could have been a part in the blown out areas. Also, your ISO is very low at 80. A higher ISO, from at least 400 and up will probably improve this. Low ISO is good for bright light, high ISO is good for dim light.

I also noticed it's a bit lopsided, should you choose to reshoot you can make sure the scene is level - otherwise, a clockwise rotation about 2 or 3 degrees can help that out.

All in all, I can see what you tried to capture, and I've never tried one like this myself as of yet, so kudos to you for trying. If you reshoot, please post the result!

If anyone more seasoned than I out there disagree with me, please correct me. I don't want to give out ill-advised advice!

[Japaslavian]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Also, your ISO is very low at 80. A higher ISO, from at least 400 and up will probably improve this. Low ISO is good for bright light, high ISO is good for dim light.

That isn't 100% correct. A higher ISO is more sensitive to light, so it would take a shorter shutterspeed in dim light, but the higher it is, the more noise you're going to get. If they are using a tripod and remote as you said earlier, you would want to keep the ISO as low as possible, because night shots are often times synonymous with noise, and shutterspeed won't matter because you're not hand-holding the camera.
You really only want to raise your ISO in situations where you can't use a tripod, or subjects are moving.

Or you have a strange affinity with noise...

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Japaslavian

That isn't 100% correct. A higher ISO is more sensitive to light, so it would take a shorter shutterspeed in dim light, but the higher it is, the more noise you're going to get. If they are using a tripod and remote as you said earlier, you would want to keep the ISO as low as possible, because night shots are often times synonymous with noise, and shutterspeed won't matter because you're not hand-holding the camera.
You really only want to raise your ISO in situations where you can't use a tripod, or subjects are moving.

Or you have a strange affinity with noise...

Ah....good point! Thanks for correcting me.

[Cau Guebo]

Thaks so much everyone. Such a good help. For certain I'll post the reshot.