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jeff.. the scribbles on the photo to the right are distracting? the colours  not convincing?poor lighting as well... the lights in the distance are messy and too busy... overall an average shot,, take care samme

hi Jeff!  i too would like to see your colors completely photoshopped into oblivion?  i'm a fan of the over fake too!  i don't like it when an image portrays the actual scene.  and how dare you actually take a long exposure image at night,,  what were you thinking?  that is just wretched,,  next time can you tell the harbor to cease operations so you can take a photograph?  i don't like how you have motion blur?  and the city lights are too bright, can you have them turned down too?  and really?  a watermark?  what's up with that,,  this is obviously a crap photo that at least one person would not want to steal? 

oh, and omg you should totally go delete your entire portfolio now?  it would be for the best,,

Samme and Lacey, thank you for taking the time to stop by.  I definitely agree that this photograph is not my best work.  It presented many challenges from the mixed lighting (Moon (cool), mercury (green) and sodium (warm) vapor lamps) as well as motion blur from the wake of passing vessels.  I had no control over the lighting other than how I exposed them and although I would have liked to, calling the harbormaster at that hour to request he dim the lights probably would not have gone over too well.  As you said, Samme, the lights on the far side of the harbor are quite bright but in order to expose for the foreground I was forced to sacrifice them for my subject... the boats and Moon.  On top of that, just as I opened the shutter for this 30 second exposure (f/16, ISO 800), a large commercial fishing boat turned on all of their deck lights (on the right of the frame).

Again, thank you both for your time and impressive use of question marks and lower case letters.  I have attached a version that I hope will at least resolve the color issues.

hi jeff.. thanks for the B AND W VERSION. IT LOOKS GREAT B.T.W. YOUR EXPLANATION MAKES SENSE AS WELL, HEY JEFF ANYTIME FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON MY PHOTOS I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR CRITIQUE... TAKE CARE SAMME P.S.  NO SUGAR COATING OK?

Ok, time for all seriousness now.  :)

You know how I feel about this photograph.  I love it!  Yes you have some blown highlights and ISO grain, but I feel even so it has been well controlled to where it's not bothersome to me.  I know you chose f/16 to create the rays around the moon, unfortunately making it so that you required a longer exposure time.  With the shutter open so long it leaves you vulnerable to motion blur.  Again though, it's not so overly blurred that it's distracting.  I do prefer the color over the b/w.  It's more inviting into the scene.  About the only way I can really think to create that uniformly sharp image with all aspects perfectly exposed would be to do a layered image, using elements from different shots of the same scene and stack them together.  I really like the lighting you've captured here.  I know that it was actually really dark when you shot this image, but you've made it seem as though it was barely after dusk.  The color tones work well together.  You have the cool tones of the sky that compliment the warm tones of the surrounding lights.  Well done.   

I like it, it reminds me of the harbor in my home town of Blaine.  The B&W looks great, though I have to admit I prefer the colors.  Wouldn't all of your lighting issues be solved if you just set it to "Full Auto"?

The color version is my favorite.  I like the purple cast, which gives a somewhat sleepy feel to the scene like a great party winding down.  Color-corrected, the photo would wake up to much for my taste.