I've been working on a series of night shots of Central Park in New York...It's a view not often photographed, and I love the colors and flexibility of night photography. (Plus, I finally have a tripod I'm happy with!)
I posted a couple of these before, but I have more now. PLEASE comment and criticize...I'm getting a handle on the technical details, but still learning how to effectively present my subjects...
They are all good pictures, but #2 and #3 really grab my attention. The lighting that color of #2 bring about a surreal feeling. #3 is just plain beautiful!
I really them all, espically the last four. Love nigh colors & lighting.
On the first, I would like to see more of the foreground, maybe even at the expense of the clouds@ the top. More lead in, and it looks interesting; The browns and the /woodpile & concrete wall, again leading up into the view.
The light ray pattern on #5 is very cool, feels somehow warm and otherworldly.
I think that I might try to clone out the two light reflections on the steps on #4.
A bit cleaner.
Thanks for posting them. I've done many similar over the years, seeing yours' makes me want to go do more.
Nice job. I really like the last one however if it were mine I would increase the contrast and maybe a slight noise reduction. I LOVE night photography!
#2 is actually the one that inspired the series...I was trying to get another shot, and that lake caught my eye as I was walking down Central Park South, so I took a shot of it...it was so cool that I ended up doing more. The colors were beautiful, but I felt the composition was too cluttered, so I ended up taking #1...but your comments make sense as to why #2 works better.
#3, I want to redo when it's less cloudy...would a blue sky improve the coloring?
The two light reflections on #4 are lens flares It's hard to clone them out without smearing the steps...I'm getting really tempted to rent a 24L or a 35L to try these again...my Tamron 28-75 isn't terribly flare-resistant.
I think the noise problem on #5 is due to underexposure...I was shooting at f/14 to get that starburst pattern in the lights and I'm not sure I nailed it.
Excellent shots- the whole series. I REALLY like #3. If I had to nitpick anything, I would say that on shots 1-4, it looks like it's not quite night dark, and yet not daylight either. I guess what I'm thinking is that they may look richer with darker skies (in my opinion). In #2, I would just crop out enough to lose the light on the right side. Nice work, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck in doing more like this!
Matt Philbin wrote:
Excellent shots- the whole series. I REALLY like #3. If I had to nitpick anything, I would say that on shots 1-4, it looks like it's not quite night dark, and yet not daylight either. I guess what I'm thinking is that they may look richer with darker skies (in my opinion). In #2, I would just crop out enough to lose the light on the right side. Nice work, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck in doing more like this!
Yeah, I agree...I need to redo a couple of these shots when it's less cloudy outside. That's why the sky looks so light...if it's cloudless, the sky still isn't dark, but at least it looks like a night sky. It was one of those situations where I took the idea and ran with it under less-than-ideal conditions since I can do it again if it works but needs improvement
Again, thanks for the comments, everyone...it's all pretty hepful.
nice work adam
as mentionned before, some need more contrast...especially 5 and 7
just a little detail here: the photo #3 is tilted
and the foreground in 4 is also tilted
these are little details, but once printed, it shows up a lot.
do you mind telling us at what time of the day these were taken?
15min, 30 min? before sunset?
thanks
jean-yves
One of the great places to be on this planet! Good for you -- really enjoyable series, although I must say what I most enjoy about Central Prk is what's not in your photos: people! Particularly on Poet's Walk. (Obviously I understand that's not what you were going for, and I truly appreciate what you've shown us) Thx!
Thanks for the compliments...#4 wasn't necessarily my favorite shot of the set, but it's one of my favorite spots in the Park, so I had to figure out how to capture it...
The "no people" thing was kind of intentional...first of all, I was trying to give a different view of Central Park than one normally sees. Second, when you take a 100 sec exposure at night, someone can walk straight across your field of view and not even show up in the shot...so there actually were people in some of the pics.
All of the shots were taken at least an hour after sunset...it appears earlier because the sky never really gets that dark in Manhattan.
More details:
#1 ISO 100 f/8 60 sec
#2 ISO 100 f/8 100 sec
#3 ISO 100 f/5.6 204 sec
#4 ISO 100 f/5.6 HDR - 3.2, 10, 40, and 110 sec
#5 ISO 100 f/11 HDR - 8, 15, 30, 60, and 120 sec
#6 ISO 100 f/5.6 HDR - 6, 25, and 100 sec
#7 ISO 100 f/5.6 25 sec
#8 ISO 100 f/5.6 HDR - 8, 30, and 124 sec
#9 ISO 100 f/5.6 HDR - 2.5, 10, and 40 sec
It's hard to clone them out without smearing the steps...I'm getting really tempted to rent a 24L or a 35L to try these again...my Tamron 28-75 isn't terribly flare-resistant.