Office hours

[Alpha_7]

Well while I was waiting for all the office staff to leave tonight, I thougth I'd brave the wind and have another go at the view over to the City.

I'm not particularlly happy with this but this, and I don't think the camera was either it ran out of battery before I could get another shot off.

Let me know what you think.

[stubbsy]

Craig

It looks a little dull. What PP has been done (I assume it's been stitched)

[wendellt]

hi craig

excellent view form your office, can i come over and take a pic?

i can guide you on how to obtain correct exposure for a shot like this

you got the location and the means to revisit time and time again, so next time make sure your camera is all charged up and rarign to go whack it on a tripod and set camera to manual use an exposure of 8 secs f8 iso 200 see what that does, if it tuens out too bright set the shutter to 4 secs see what that does and so on, just keep on experimenting, or you can use the inbuilt meter to obtain optimal exposure.

[Glen]

Craig, I like the shot but it appears a little dull here too. As suggested maybe PP

[Geoff]

Hi Craig!
Beautiful
On first glances looks fine on my lappie monitor.

[sirhc55]

Seeing as there are no blown highlights I would say the exposure is spot on

[Alpha_7]

It was tripod mounted but a bit too windy for my little baby tripod.

No PP work has been done, just stiched, this one was all 2 sec exposures ad f8, I also did a set of 8 sec at f8 but they were too bright for me.

I really need to get my LCDs calibrated as It seems a lot of shots that look ok to me are always to dull and dark for most the forum

Thanks for the feedback,

and your right Wendell I'll just keep revisiting it till I get it right

[stubbsy]

Seeing as there are no blown highlights I would say the exposure is spot on

Chris

I agree, but would like bit more punch - contrast or levels adjustment - it's a touch grey where I'd like to see blacks. Craig - it's your image and we are all different. Feel free to ignore my comments.

[xerubus]

a little bit more brightness and contrast... but i love it!

cheers

[HappyFotographer]

Actually I really like this image. The darkness, the moodiness it expresses....very good.

Not that the bright lights of the city shots aren't as great, but the different mood this one portrays is really rather good.

[Greg B]

I like it a lot, nice work. The subdued nature of the shot works well I think - maybe a poofteenth more contrast would be good.

[Alpha_7]

A few people thought the earlier post was too dark and dull, so here is the longer exposure 8sec at f8. It isn't as wide and is only three shots stitched together. I apologise for the slanting horizon, I swear the wharf has a lean too it



I don't have CS2 on my work PC so as yet haven't PP the original but it's on my todo list.

[wendellt]

Now that's a sexy image!

[mrbillf]

Craig, A great location from where you took this shot. Along with the coments of the others about brightness etc etc.

Now this might be just me but, I would like to see more sky so it at least goes over the craine near centrepoint and maybe just a little more water to capture the light shining.

Regards,
Bill

[rokkstar]

What a difference 6 seconds makes.
The second one is cool Craig. THe slanting horizon is a little noticeable but overall it's a cool shot.

[marcotrov]

Nice image Craig. I like the mood you were trying to get in the first shot but as everybody mentioned it needed a little PP work to get that 'pop' factor. IMO somewhere between the two will be ideal but definetly on the right track. well done!
cheers
marco

[BBJ]

Craig, mate i love that second image bloody beautiful i think it is great and who cares if it not straight but yeh love it well done mate.

[stubbsy]

Craig

#2 is waaaay better than #1.

[nito]

wow the second shot is great!!!!!!

[Catcha]

Very nice shot

[Willy wombat]

Hey the first one is sleak - the second one is bright and glitzy (bit showy). I quite like the feel of #1 - reminds me of knightrider. Whilst the image is dark i think it looks fine on my laptop monitor.

[sirhc55]

I’m still with #1 - the reality of sight determines the view and this is how I see the city at night. If you take the distance/sight ratio into account the brightness of #2 is not reality IMO

[Alpha_7]

Thanks for feedback, sticking with my theme of playing with Pano's here is one from a very cold Boston Morning.



Unfortunately it has to be really tiny to fit on Pixspot, but it gives the general idea... lovely sunrise colours.



Here is another, this one I brighten up a little but, seems like too much.

[johnd]

Craig, I like the first one (of the Boston Morning pair) rather than the 2nd. I think in brighting it up you've sacrificed contrast, so the overall result is a bit flat in the 2nd.

I don't know if you have CS2, but one of my favourite adjustments in CS2 is the mid tone contrast slider in shadow/highlight. I think it was new to CS2 but I can't remember and haven't got CS loaded any more. Anyway, by adjusting mid tone contrast slider up by say +20 to +40 (it's neutral by default) and then compensating with shadows and highlight sliders enables you to punch up the overall contrast of the image without making it look too over done. In my opinion, the result is better than just bumping brightness. Watch for halos between very contrasty bits of the image when playing with the sliders and if you get them, back off a bit.

If you have CS2, give it a go.

[Alpha_7]

Thanks for the feedback John. Yes I do have CS2, but at present I really don't use it.. but I plan on sitting down and learning it bit by bit, doing some tutorials etc. the second shot actually looked like this (see below) but I didn't think it was bright enough so asked Panofactory to adjust it but thought it went overboard, I think somewhere inbetween the two would be better.

[Katie G]

i also prefer the second photo of the Sydney city skyline except for the bright light at the international terminal - it gives a nice reflection but takes over the shot a little.

i like the first of the Boston harbour photos.

[NetMagi]

great pano. . . just feels soo well balanced

love it love it love it

-Rich