View Full Version : Now THAT is a sunset


Xia_Ke
05-07-2007, 07:32 PM
Had an AWESOME sunset tonight at work, so I took some pics for both/either our website or for prints maybe for our gift shop. Can't decide which shot of the building I like the most. What do you guys think?

EOSThree
05-07-2007, 08:45 PM
I think #3 is the best, I wish the building were a little brighter though. I am not a big silhouette fan.

Xia_Ke
05-07-2007, 08:50 PM
Thanks for your input EOSThree :) How's this? Adjusted exposure and fill light a tad in Lightroom to bring out the building more...

Frog
05-07-2007, 09:27 PM
I liked the third one best, too.
The last one with the lighter building seems to have lost some of the sky color but I'm not sure if that's because the foreground and building are brighter or because the sky was adjusted too.

Tyson L. Sparks
05-07-2007, 10:27 PM
#3 Great shot.

Louis1
05-08-2007, 03:47 AM
Put me in the third shot favorite, too. Nice work, Xai

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 03:52 AM
I like the last one but they all seem to be leaning to the right. I think that I would straighten the horizon. Maybe it's just a perspective lean to the building. Do you see it?

readingr
05-08-2007, 04:53 AM
Nicely taken sunsets. I disagree with Greg about the rotation as the house is vertical its just the horizon tilts down which is okay where architecture is involved in my book. Add me to the #3 list

Roger

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 12:59 PM
Thanks everyone :D

Greg I do see what you mean. I think it is from the barrel distortion of the w/a combined with the fact that you really can't make out the shoreline for perspective. I'll see if I can't correct the distortion on it. Not very good at doing it though so I hope it comes out okay :o

swmdrayfan
05-08-2007, 02:52 PM
Xia.....it beats the devil out of anything I could do.:p I can't even get daylight right...lol.
Count me in on #3
John

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 03:08 PM
Thanks John :) I'm going to chalk this one up to luck though :o

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 03:13 PM
I have a edit where I rotated it ever so slightly if you want to see it?

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 03:16 PM
Most definitely Greg :) Please feel free to edit any shots I post in the Critique forum. I am here to learn :D

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 03:23 PM
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k35/cosmonaut1959/DSC_6460-2corect.jpg

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 03:28 PM
Thanks Greg :) Now did you just rotate that or did you take out some of the barrel distortion? Looks a little more level than a simple rotating :confused: Just for comparison, here's the original, unprocessed shot (other than converting RAW to jpeg and resizing)

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 03:39 PM
I rotated the whole picture but then has to lasso the flag pole and rotate it to straighten it back level. I use a crop line to draw through the tower to get it straight, before I crop.

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 03:45 PM
Sorry Greg, I'm not sure I follow you on exactly what you did :confused: Could you elaborate? :o

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 03:59 PM
I used the crop tool to straighten the horizon, when using the crop tool I use the lines and move them around to make sure everything lines up just before I crop. This rotation left the flagpole leaning left. I then lasso the flag pole and use Edit>Transform>rotate. I rotate the flag pole until it's level and then use the clone stamp to clone the areas left bear by the rotatoin. I am not real good at explaining this but I hope you understand? Try not to use your lens at it's widest mm and the distortion will be less.

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 04:05 PM
Thanks Greg. Never really used the lasso tool before so wasn't quite sure what you meant. Makes perfect sense now. Guess I have something new now to learn and experiment with :D

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 04:08 PM
I think your distortion might have been in the pole and the horizon was just unlevel? When I leveled the horizon the distortion showed up in the pole? I am not sure though???

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 04:13 PM
The pole was the center point so the image should be more distorted the further towards the edges you get. Any attempt to level either side of the pole is just going to throw the whole pole off. The problem is that it is the only straight line object clearly visible in the pic so it shows up as being the most distorted. Or at least that's the only reason I can think of :o

Greg McCary
05-08-2007, 04:26 PM
You may be right, but still a wonderful picture. I like it.

Xia_Ke
05-08-2007, 04:35 PM
Thanks for all your help Greg :) Like I said above, feel free in the future to edit any photos I post in this forum. I'm always looking to learn and you've been a huge help ;)