First night shots - Not sure what im doing.

[James07]

Help and advice wanted here mainly, i think i got the settings right in second shot, could do with finding better positions though i think i struggle to find the correct places.

Im happy with the second shot but im going to give that another shot tomorrow as i do really like that, just need to know what im doing!





What are the best settings for taking pictures like that at night?

Ive got an ideal place to try tomorrow, its further into that horizon visible from the second image.

Lets see

Thanks for looking

James.

 

[Raikiri]

They're ok, but you want to get away from the street lighting behind you if at all possible. It's messing up the white balance and the shadows aren't adding anything.

 

[Nexus]

A couple of quick tips I'd give....

Try playing with your white balance or individual colour settings. Shooting long exposures of out door lighting tends to exaggerate the orange/yellow glow they give off.

Your first shot suffers compositionally with the horizon bang slap in the middle.

The second shot is better in that sense and features something besides the distant lit up backdrop. On this one you could try processing it to desaturate the yellow channel and perhaps burn that area of the image to darken it down a little.

 

[D.P.]

It has great that you are trying all these different styles.
I think the biggest issue is still the framing and composition, e.g. In the first photo the horizon line is straight across the middle. This is nearly always very boring (the exception being reflections n lake and other times when you need to emphasize symmetry).
In the second the photo the ratio is much nicer, it is just let down from the fact that the foreground is messes and without interest.
One Hint to look for leading lines, things like a road/wall/fence/path/contour/edge that your eyes can follow along into the frame. The line doesn't have to be strait, a classic is to use the s-curve formed by a meandering river.

Also the wider the lens the harder composition is and the more care you have to take to get balance, interest, leading lines, foreground + mid ground + background interest. While With telephoto lenses it gets very easy because you are focusing on isolated details.

 

[James07]

Thank you for the advice guys, much appreciated, going to have another go tonight, got a couple of ideas in mind!