First post, first night shot!

[Renee27]

I am just getting started with photography outside of the AUTO setting!

This is my first night time shot and would love to hear your opinions. I didn't edit much, only a little with the shadows to bring out the fountain details. I know the rule of thirds, but had to center it to keep a lot of extras out of the background. Let me know what you think.

Taken with a Canon EOS XS
exposure 25 sec.
aperture f/29
ISO 1600
focal length 32mm

[Tito87]

I know the rule of thirds, but had to center it to keep a lot of extras out of the background.

To be honest, It doesn't bother me at all that you didn't follow the rule of thirds. It's photography: it helps to know the rules, so that you know when to break them. I would've tried to get the background a little out of focus, but that's just me.

[Izzy]

Welcome to DPS.

On the photo. I do like the image. The only thing I would have changed really is the bright horizon that cuts through the image. You can try darkening it with a burn brush in photoshop or lightroom. And I agree with the aforementioned necessity to blur the background more.

[AdrenoJunkie]

Great job for your first try. If you wanna blur the background but aren't sure how since you're fresh off of auto here's how: Lower your ISO all the way to 100 and open up our aperture a corresponding number of stops, which would be 4. Lowering your ISO like that will also eliminate noise. If that aperture doesn't blur it enough then you'll need something to trigger your shutter so you can put it in bulb mode to incease shutter time and then open your aperture up some more.

[Renee27]

AndrenoJunkie......Thanks for the reminder. I looked back at my notes from a class I took and they said just what you are stating. No idea why I had the ISO so high. Will the water still blur at that setting? There are so many things to remember when you take a picture. Waiting for the day when it comes automatically!

[Doug Sundseth]

If you drop your ISO by four stops and open your aperture by four stops, your shutter speed will stay the same, so the water blur will be the same. You will lose the stars from the lights in the fountain, but you'll also blur the background.

By lowering the ISO, you'll lose most noise-floor-amplification noise, but you'll still have sensor-heating noise from the long exposure. You can reduce this by using long-exposure noise reduction (name may vary with camera make).

[spookie]

I love how you centered this, the time lapse water, the high fstop twinkle, I find my eyes traveling up and down the fountain, feasting on every detail lol. Isn't there a way to blur the background in Adobe using a brush? I have seen it used on water, works nicely, but wasn't sure about solid backgrounds? TFS

[Tito87]

Originally Posted by spookie

I love how you centered this, the time lapse water, the high fstop twinkle, I find my eyes traveling up and down the fountain, feasting on every detail lol. Isn't there a way to blur the background in Adobe using a brush? I have seen it used on water, works nicely, but wasn't sure about solid backgrounds? TFS

You can do it with the Lens blur filter.