Divine Brushstrokes

[chjang]

EXIF data
Camera: Canon EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi)
Focal length: 18.0mm
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter speed: 1/8s
ISO: 800
Flash: off


This is my very first post here as an amateur photographer. I only really started to get into photography about a year ago, so I have less than 5000 total pictures since last year that I shot, and very few I can show off to others. I know I've still got a lot to learn (and more lenses to buy -- I still only have the kit lens to shoot with!).

This is one of the pictures that I'm a bit proud of. I took it this summer during my trip to China. I like pretty much everything about the photo, except for one thing -- the overexposed portions (wherever it's white, such as the lights) are keeping me from calling it great. What do you guys think? Does this aspect detract from the image?

Any other comments/suggestions are fully appreciated. Thanks!

[JFSanders]

Are the railings really purple? And getting the lights just right is a feat. Usually what I do is a bracket scheme. I start with the proper exposure for the rest of the picture and then keep speeding up the shutter speed until the lights look right. Right before the lights look right is the exposure that will fit the bill for both.

[chjang]

Yup, the railings really were that color.

Do you think the overexposure for this picture in particular is distracting?

[JFSanders]

Not really as most people would see it just like you took the picture. Odd color for the railings though. Makes you think the pictures colors are off a bit.

[chjang]

I've done minimal post-processing, which didn't include color tweaking. I mainly just adjusted for brightness in shadows.

[Ishyid]

I really like the angle you used, and the building is AWSOME. My only suggestion is to use a tripod and slow the shutter speed down so you can lower the ISO, cause you can see a lot of noise in this picture. I think that would bring the clarity up. Also, if possible try it with noone in the scene. That is my opinion, and I am no expert at this.

[stevoarnold]

hey there!

heres my opinion for what its worth

I think that the people being in the centre of the image kind-of hog the focus a bit and that the pic would be improved if they either weren't there, or if they were positioned to the side of the frame.

I also think that by shifting the frame left a bit so that you got those zig-zaggy lines leading the eye up through the image and to the building you would have improved the composition. the corners of some of the zigs have been chopped off so the flow gets a little lost.

it is possible that you might want to play around with the white balance of the shot as it looks to me that there is a slight blue color cast over the image. depending on your software there would be a few ways to do this. in lightroom you can just adjust a slider, and in photoshop you could use the curves tool to reduce the blues and tweak the colour balance that way.

having said all that, i think you have done a good job with the exposure and I wouldnt worry about the lights blowing out - its probably almost impossible to expose them correctly in keeping with the rest of the image without bracketing a few shots. Plus i dont think the blown out lights detract from the image in any way and I quite like the effect.

The image also appears to be pretty well in focus and sharp considering your relatively slow shutter speed, so well done there

I hope that helps