Night Landscape - Composition, Lighting, Sharpness

[cheehan]

Hi Guys and Ladies,
Appreciate it if you could comment on the following items. The EXIF data is ISO100,18mm length, f/22 and 30s exposure, Canon EOS 1000D

A) Sharpness
I feel that the sharpness of the photo is lacking although I'm using the lowest ISO and Smallest Aperture f/22. Perhaps the shutter speed is too low / my tripod (which is a cheapskate one) are the culprits?

B) Composition
I've used the lines to lead the eyes to the buidling at the background and also the foreground (bricks and ladder) to show depth of field.. I've also used the reflection of the water to create some effects... But I still feel something is lacking... Appreciate it if you could point it out for me...

C) Lighting
Is it too blown out? Do I need a filter/polarizer? Do I need to fire some external flash to it?

FB1 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

P/S: Please also comment on other night landscapes in my Flickr too if you're free!! ^_^
Hope to hear from you Pros... Thank you...

[Gonzo13]

Not a pro here but I will tell you that f22 is not the sweet spot for any lens that I have played with. From what I have heard it's usually like f8-f11. If you wanted to keep the 30 exposure then you might want to invest in some ND filters (neutral density). It's hard to tell what the subject is. The lines in it lead my eye to the buildings but after that it kind of looks for the focal point. I'm not sure what exactly you focused on but the bricks and ladder on the right look the most in focus. The picture is interesting it just seems a little busy.

[gdowden70]

I don't really see anything terribly wrong with the focus. I find it a bit distracting that the image has a left tilt to it. There also, as mentioned above, doesn't seem to be a solid subject in the photo. My eye is drawn down the waterway to the top left 1/3 intersection and there's really nothing there to look at. Next time try and make sure you have a good solid subject that speaks to the viewer. The exposure and focus seem very good to me. Just my 2/5 of a nickel.

[fletch]

Its hard to tell about the sharpness in this shot as its such a small file. However all the things you mention, F/22 and cheap tripod will affect the sharpness.

As for the photo the comments above have hit all of the key points but I would say have a look at the white balance. Night cityscapes are very hard to get right due to all the different light souces such as neon, sodium and tungsten lights. Your shot looks a little warm. The easiest way to fix it is to shoot RAW and play with the slider later but if you shoot JPEG then this short of shot really requires custom WB to be set in camera.