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Dublin at Night
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Here are some of my first night photographs
These were taken on Wednesday in Dublin.I’m looking for feedback and criticism
1
2
3
4
5
I want to use number 3 in an exhibition in college
to be quite honest none of them seem sharp and i think they are all a little over saturated
Jodal1975;
Well they’re not sharp because I didn’t have tripod with me.
And thats the colours that are in Dublin. I used 15 second shutter speeds to get in as much details and colour etc.hi sandra , sorry ,i didn’t mean to offend . you asked for feedback so i just said what i saw. now , before i go any further , i admit to being nothing more than a novice ..but i would really suggest you get yourself a tripod and remote shutter release and give these shots a 2nd go..youll be amazed at the difference. also i would use spot metering ( i think ) and expose for the brightest part of the scene (particularly in 3 and 4) that way the detail in the light will be saved…you can always use as a little fill light to bring up any shadows
I would have to agree with jodal1975 these are not sharp and to be brutally honest if it were me I would not use #3 for an exhibition, the highlights are totally blown out. Never present anything other than your best images for public viewing.
As already suggested try this again with a good sturdy tripod and cable release. Are you shooting in RAW? if not then consider doing so as it will allow you more control over the saturation.Jodal1975, you didn’t offend me. I know I have to bring my tripod, I have got one, just it was a valentines present to be brought to Dublin so didn’t exactly think I’d be doing photos you know? Plus I’m a student so I’ve got a fair idea.
Mikka Ok thanks. And no i’m not shooting in RAW, I don’t like it.! Also The saturation I feel is okay as the colour was what I was looking for
Disagreeing or agreeing, but I like these. Yes, not the sharpest but I can totally see what you are going for. I like the third one especially. Oversaturated but works. Blown out areas, but not so noticeable with all the colours and I think these pictures are just different and fun. Well done from me :) Next time just bring a tripod ;)
Eye-catching images SandraMc, what course are you doing? There’s no info on your profile, fill in some details when you get a minute. And lets see some more of your work please!
Alex.Ah lads…give her a chance…we have all been there…with nightime photography it is always nice to see a little light in the sky…study photos from more well known photographers and look at how they take their shots at night…you definately need to be using a tripod…set it up…take a few shots in manual at different exposures and blend together in photoshop…you will also have to shoot in Raw…not liking it doesn’t really matter…its best to shoot in raw as you can recover detail a lot better than with a jpeg…also when out again check your highlights as with No.3…when you go to print this for an exhibition the white on it won’t register on the paper and will appear as white blobs…your composition is not bad at all but I am sure you will be determined to go out again and improve…well done on your1st attempts.
Noel.
Alex,
Thank you very much. Em I’m currently studying photography in Limerick College of Further Education. Yeah more will be shown later :)
Noel,
Thank you, Nightime photography is hard to start off with, I mean I had never done it before this. I know i need a tripod, this trip was a surprise to me and didn’t bring my tripod. :)
They are pretty good Sandra given the fact that you had no tripod
which effects composition and sharpness.If you can borrow a 4-6 stop ND filter you would get a lovely
smoothness to the water without blowing out the highlights.Keep it it up.
Gerry.
Hi Sandra,
My two cents worth. gerenrally agree with the comments above. As for shooting Raw, I realise you may not like, but raw is not a finished output. you’ll still need to process it yourself maybe in bridge, lightroom, or similar. this will give you control adjusting the saturation, white balance etc. you’ll have more control and you’ll also be able to recover (some) blown highlights. Also definitely use the sturdiest tripod you can afford. also a sprit level – helps keeps veriticals vertical. A remote will also be handy, these aren’t too expensive and will ensure sharper pictures. use a very small aperture to keep the DOF good. keep your iso low. set exposure manually. Be patient, you may end up waiting weeks for a nice clear night with no breeze and high tide. and finally if you’re going for the heavily saturated look be sure to turn on the gamut warning in Photoshop, this will help prevent colours ‘bleeding’ when you print.
Hi Sandra,
It can be a bit of a shock to have your images critiqued so honestly.
I can understand the excitement when you produced these photographs especially
when it is your first such outing.And I feel they have a lot going for them.
They are quite vibrant and while I realise that such things can be very subjective there
are some interesting colours here.There are some nice shapes too.
I like the look of #1 with the bridge narrowing into the distance and those semicircular
light shapes in the foreground.Not having a tripod and using long shutter speeds explains why your images are soft.
When I find myself in a situation where I see a shot that needs a tripod and I don’t have one
I alter settings so that I have a shutter speed which gives me a chance of a sharp image.
This might mean bumping up the ISO quite a bit, even to maximum.
It is better to have a little noise than to have an unusable image.You may not like RAW but I feel that to make the best images you can you must use the
best tools at your disposal.I would welcome more serious and in depth critique like that given above.
Personally I learn a lot from such comments.I wish you well with your studies and I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Cheers,
John.
First of, sorry for the slow reply, I haven’t been on because my granddad died last week.
At Gerry, yes I’m looking around for filters and gels, with the photography course we need to use filters and coloured filters/gels, can’t find them anywhere.
At Gorilla, thank you, I understand the aspect of RAW, its just at the moment I don’t have a computer good enough for the RAW images.
At John thank you for your feedback, I understand where you are coming from. It was quiet a cold night that night, so unfortunately I wasn’t in a great mood. Im looking forward to heading back up to Dublin to do the shoot again
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