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Foggy Night


tylerwind

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Landscape

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Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated. This image is 100%

unmanipulated...exactly how it came out of the camera. As always,

you leave a comment for me and I'll gladly return the favor for you!

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So it was time for sunset and I was cursing the fog and dreary day here in Charleston because there were no pretty colors to shoot. After dinner I started thinking and stopped cursing the fog and went out to shoot it! This is a shot taken about 1 hour after sunset. It is 100% unmanipulated and fresh out of the camera. I plan to upload more...as the night got darker I got some really unique shots with the various fog patterns moving through. Any comments are appreciated!
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The lighting is very good and the composition is even better. I love the contrast between the natural and man-made elements and how they peacefully co-exist in this photo. Well done.
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What stands out are the blueish colours in the sky and the water and the yellow-redishish tones in the grass, which match well together. For my taste the foreground is too large, loosing interest mainly towards the left side. The bridge is horizontal but not the horizon (which should be). The wood pillar at the left side should not finish at the level of the bridge. It could be longer or smaller. Hope you do not mind but critical views are good for learning and improving. Karl
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Shawn and Karl--Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate each and every one of them! Karl, I do not mind critical at all--you raise several valid points. I had not even noticed the horizon...I guess since the bridge looked good I never looked past it. I was trying to balance the foreground by including the piling to the left side. I hadn't thought much about the height but that is another good point. The blue color is from in camera white balancing--I thought it turned out well. To be honest about the lighting, I think 95% of the lighting in this shot is artificial, although I agree shots from this point always have the appearance of natural lighting. The "sunset" appearance on the horizon is actually lights from a factory and other buildings up the river. I guess they may be a bit of sunset glow but it's probably most artificial. The redish tones on the grass are hard for me to deal with sometimes--to my right is a huge parking light that is well lit and that is what gives the grass that glow. I have a lot of really nice shots from here but the grass looks like it's on fire--I need to get going with photoshop so I can do some selective dodging and burning and also selective white balancing (I'm assuming there is a way I can do that). I agree that after applying the white balance here that the blue and redish tones match nicely--at least in my opinion. As with any night shot, exposure is tough but I enjoy the challenge. Thanks for the comments--I'll keep them in mind in the future.
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Tyler,

 

You are truly a purest and I respect your dedication to this art form and continue to learn from your postings and questions derived from your hunger for knowledge. I will not pretend to be qualified to offer you professional criticism, however, will provide my subjective criticism. This photo on a small scale does indeed project excellent exposure detail, and I am drawn between the contrast of the subliminal foreground and the impact of the highlights from the bridge towers. However, on closer inspection, and if you were to print and frame for the wall, the highlights from the bridge towers would be a bit too bright (for me).

 

The horizon has already been mentioned and acknowledged.

 

Having said this, I have a huge regard for your efforts and given talent, one of your key points I recognized is your ability to think outside the box and project the beauty of the natural elements that exited in this environment which was outside your original goal.

 

Great work Tyler, Thank you.

 

Steve

 

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For comparison, here is the exact same shot just white balanced differently. I may end up posting it but see what I mean about the grass? The white balancing on my post calms down the grass a bit too. I think if I could tone the grass in this shot down a bit and leave the bridge and sky how it is I would have another good shot...need to get going on that in photoshop. I did very wide bracketing will all these night shots and the bridge and sky still look good on shorter exposures that don't make the grass look too red but the problem is that the grass doesn't show up as well and thus doesn't provide the same level of foreground interest. You can see what I mean about the sunset appearance in this shot better as well...it really does look like a pretty sunset but I think there is very little natural light. Thoughts and comparisons are greatly appreciated!

4539757.jpg
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Tyler, nice to see how this final image/idea has evolved for you. Your hard work and thought certainly paid off and you have a beautiful image to be proud of, great work!
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Tyler,

 

Just enough knowledge to be dangerous, hence I will leave further explanation for the pros here in this forum.

 

Concerning your comments about the white balance and light projection onto the grass in the foreground, I believe a good approach would be with the application using adjustment layers of curves and levels with some fine tuning utilizing the history brush?

 

Steve

 

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Tom and Steve--Thanks for your comments. I ordered my new DVD burner so I can save all the files from my computer onto DVDs and then I'm going to blank it and reload photoshop (my computer has been very sick and the only prescription from this doctor is MORE COWBELL...wups, I mean to blank it and start over!) After I get things running I'm going to try to really put some effort into learning photoshop. I think I have some outstanding RAW images to work with. Thanks for all the help and comments--I appreciate them!
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Steve, Tom, Shawn, Karl, and others--There are more shots going into the same folder in a second...I would really appreciate any comparisons and comments.

 

Steve (or anyone else)--I agree about the top of the bridge being a little bright. I thought the fog would help me but in reality it hurt me because it trapped in the light into a ball of light at the top of the tower. How do I avoid this? I went at twighlight a few nights ago thinking that if the lights on the bridge were on but there was still some natural light I could get some foreground detail without burning out the bridge towers. But, it wasn't what I had in mind because the sky looks like it's daytime. And, later if I expose for some foreground detail it burns out the towers and if I expose for the bridge the foreground is too dark...seems like I can't win! But, I know people take good night shots so I'll keep trying until I figure out how! Like I said, if I could expose the foreground and bridge differently from a RAW file I'd have some winners. I guess there are some dodge and burn/photoshop tricks I need to learn. What about a ND graduated filter--would that work for a night shot since the bridge lights are kind of similar to the sun in that they are brighter? Just trying to figure out a way to make things perfect. Thanks so much for the input!

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Here ya go Steve (and others)...here is essentially the same shot just bracketed down a bit...the bridge isn't burnt out but the foreground is darker. Any thoughts?

4539990.jpg
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Just for comparison, here is the shot same shot I just posted without the tungsten white balancing...it has more of a sunset feel to the colors instead of the blue sky. Input appreciated...

4540005.jpg
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Hello Tyler,

 

Just a quick note from work to let you know I will get back with you to provide you a follow-up per your request, just don't want to sale you short with my critique.

 

(Preparing for a business trip to China)

 

I will get back sometime tonight or over the weekend.

All my best,

 

Steve

 

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Thanks Steve...I appreciate your help and your excellent critique! FYI, another very similar version of this shot is posted in the same folder now...I think I also put it as a link above this comment but if you just look in my "Night/Low Light" folder there is a similar version of this shot that is a bit more underexposed so the towers aren't blown out. Thanks again for the help...take your time getting back to me--I appreciate help whenever I can get it!
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Tyler, IMO this is certainly the best of the series. I see it as the best exposure and colors as well as the overall composure. Frame it, it is excellent.
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just a perfect shot tyler...........it is lit excactly were it should be....what a good feeling it is when it loads up on ur computer...................and it looks like this........................:--))

 

~trish~

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Alex--I appreciate the kind words and encouragement. I just got a remote shutter release a couple weeks ago so literally have only been shooting night shots for about a week. Hopefully, with the help of many people on this site and analysis of my own work, I'll be able to improve on my current efforts. They are enjoyable to shoot in my opinion and I really like the appearance of night pictures in general. Thanks for stopping by--I'll be over to check out your portfolio and hope you'll be back to visit mine!
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This one is much better than your last one. The last one had a much to dark foreground. This one have good colours, lightning, and reflections. I like to see the waters surroundings. Best regards, Torfinn.
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