San Fran Street

[pikers]

Hi all,

Fairly new to the site...only posted a few things but I have been reading articles for months now. I've had my camera for a few years now but I've only recently become serious about photography.

I just came back from a trip to San Fran and I got a few good shots...this is one of them. I REALLY wanted to lay down in the street to get closer to the yellow line but my fiance was already freaking out that I was kneeling in the road...women ;-)

I need all the help I can get so comment away!

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 34 mm
Exposure: +0.33
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire




Here's an updated version...thoughts?

From DPS Folder

[sbunting108]

1.The sky is distracting as the bottom of the sky is a white yet the top is blue. This may be due to you using a polariser and uneven polarisation has occured. This can be fixed in PP.
2.The photo looks a bit flat and could do with some extra contrast this can be done using curves or levels in PP.
3. I love the symmetry in the street but I think it might look better if you cropped it so that it conforms to the rule of thirds with the focus point being on the tram.
4. The DOF is good but I feel it could have increased so that the background was pin sharp.

Overall a great photo. Give yourself a pat on the back . Thanks for sharing!

[pikers]

Thanks for the feedback!

I didn't use a polarizing filter...it actually looked like that. In the morning, there is a heavy fog/haze over the water which makes everything look blown out. I'm going to try to fiddle around in PS to correct that area. Question though...doesn't that light area kind of pull your focus to the center of the photo? I also feel like it ads to the DOF. Thoughts on that?

I tried kicking up the contrast and it looks much better. I'm always afraid to go overboard with the contrast...I don't like it when photos look overdone.

Any other feedback!? Come on people...fire away!

[Big Nick]

I almost think the blown out sky towards the bottom works because of the contrast with the Bay Bridge. I almost think if you made to much of adjustment it would take away from that. However I do think it could benefit for the sky being a little darker there. Just be careful.

[MSidPhoto]

Nice shot.Composition is good enough. Overall its a pretty nice shot but the sky coulld use a bit of work, try darkening that and try lightening the road a bit.
An the DOF could be increased a bit more so more is in focus
Keep it up .

[denja]

I really like this shot, but took the liberty of incorporating a couple of suggestions from other contributors plus a couple of mine. The first thing I did was straighten the horizon, as the image was leaning to the right of the frame. I then slightly burned in the lower sky and bridge. Boosted the shadow detail a little, bumped the saturation slightly and finally, used an unsharp mask. Let me know what you think, or if you want me to take this down, let me know.

Jim

[pikers]

YES, FEEDBACK...I LOVE IT!!

First off, thanks to everyone for commenting...I really like to get everyone's thoughts

Big Nick, I totally agree with you about the contrast of the bridge and the sky...I like how it pops. I also thing it draws one's eye to the center of the photo. I know it's not following the rules of 3rds, but I don't always abide by that rule.

denja (Jim), thank you for taking the time to work on this yourself...sometimes visual feedback is the most helpful. I was actually messing around in Lightroom last night and based on everyone's feedback, I came up with something very similar to yours. The ONLY thing I would change is the blue on the lower half of the photo (car windshields down). The blues here look TOO overdone but I think everything else looks great!

Any thoughts on cropping? I tried a few different things like making the trolley hit the sweet spot (rule of 3rds) but I wasn't in love with it. I really like the how long the road looks. I also like the lines in the road and the trolley tracks...provides good DOF.