First attempt at a night shot..

I Went down to Alnwick Castle tonight - about a mile away - and took this. It's my first go at a night shot and I tried to leave some light in the sky. I took it with mt Vivitar 75-205 manual focus at 200mm for about 15 seconds at f18.

Anyhoo, here it is.

I would welcome your comments please.

Dave

Not a bad first result. The castle itself isn't too bad, though I might give it a little more exposure. There isn't much detail in the bricks (see bottom paragraph). The top of it has a nice shape, if only there were more contrast between it and the sky. Speaking of the sky, it didn't cooperate for you this evening as it looks sort of drab (no detail). This may call for a photo manipulation by cutting and pasting the castle into another shot.

One thing: try not to compress your JPG as much as this, for you can really see the compression artifacts, which also decreases your detail. 48k is an unnecessarily small file size, too. The site allows much bigger files. Keep shooting!

G

Thanks. Well, it was my firrst go. A shot in the dark you might say (groan).

I think its pretty darn good. I'm not sure what GB1 means about lack of detail in the sky as there isn't anything in the sky for detail. I've seen lots of advice for night photography to not wait for total darkness.
I'd clone out the antenna or what ever it is and maybe the fence looking thing on right as they sort of detract from the mood of looking at an old castle.
Strange that the lights don't bother me that way, though. Go figure.

I agree with GB1, a bit more exposure would be good, and a bit cropped off the top, maybe about halfway to the antenna? (I rather like the antenna and other modern bits)

A slightly different angle to give the castle a bit more depth, I like the composition but I'd like to see it at about a 45 degree angle difference if possible.

Something else that might look cool is a slightly cloudy night with the clouds blurred by a long exposure as they move, the lights from the castle and any other light pollution should sufficiently light them.

hi dave,

good first attempt. i like how the lights that are illuminating the building are nicely hid. over blown light sources is one of the headaches of night photography, i like the time of night you shot this , the blue/ orange contrast is good, i like how the green is nicely illuminated also.

the only draw back for me is that it needs an angle. as it stands right now , it's flat front view. had you caught a 3/4 angle where some lines are moving in to the frame and leading the viewers eyes around, i think it woulda been better. but nicely done!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frog

I think its pretty darn good. I'm not sure what GB1 means about lack of detail in the sky as there isn't anything in the sky for detail. I've seen lots of advice for night photography to not wait for total darkness.
I'd clone out the antenna or what ever it is and maybe the fence looking thing on right as they sort of detract from the mood of looking at an old castle.
Strange that the lights don't bother me that way, though. Go figure.

---

I cloned out the stuff and had a bit of a play. I wonder if this might be a little better?

Dave

Well, it could, but what i liked about the first shot were the details in the fence in the forground. there's a little detail lost also on the top of the castle. i can see the diference in shade where the antenna was, might have been a quick clone out, but just mentioning.

i would like to see a picture of this castle on a diferent angle, like mentionned before, and at a slightly later time at night.

Matt

I like the second exposure better than the first.

What time of day did you shoot this? the lack of detail in the sky does weaken the overall shot. If you could have taken it just after sunset, you might have gotten a graduated blue that would bring more interest into the shot.

I'd love to have a subject like that to find different shots in.

Nice first effort.

len

Number 2 gets my vote. Very nice. Personally, I like the sky as it is. The rich cerelean (spelling?) blue makes for a rich background color IMHO.