Lower Manhattan April 2002

I recently ventured back to New York for the first time since

September. I really wanted to get a good shot of Lower Manhattan and

spent a lot of time researching how best to shoot city scapes at

night. Unfortunately, most all of the 100 some shots I took were

either too dark or washed out, I had a handfull which were ok,

including this one. What I wanted and what I got were two vastly

different things. I wanted a much darker sky, my sky is very blue,

the lights of the WTC memorial are very light and the city just

doesn't seem as crisp as I would have liked. Any comments on perhaps

what I did wrong? Don't get me wrong, I like this image, it just

wasn't what I was intending. Thanks

Regarding the softness, assuming that it's not just a poor scan, I would say that either your tripod was not completely stable (wind?) or you have a slight focus error. The true infinity focus might not be at the end of the focus helical, for example.

 

In order for the memorial lights to stand out more against the sky, you'd need more "stuff" (haze, dust, mist) to scatter the light toward you. Since you're so far away, that might degrade the skyline as well. Can't win. Actually, scattered light is generally polarized, so a polarizing filter might accentuate the beams relative to the sky, provided it is correctly oriented.

I think a polarizing filter might have helped darken the sky a little. Maybe you should have waited a little longer before ou took the picture. Otherwise it is a great shot.

Nice shot of the sky line, Perhaps waiting till the sky got a bit darker, would have made the spotlights more prominent. I like the sense of balence in this photo, but the main element, the spotlights are IMHO too weak.