Red Square

This was taken late in the day 6:30, and the sun was starting to set. I shot this picture in RAW, and I've yet to play around with the software. I'm looking for suggestions on how to adjust this picture when I get home. The only things I'm unhappy with is how dark the trees on the right came out and the crane in the backgound. The trees were completely in the shadow of the Kremlin wall, and the crane...oh well.

ISO 160
F/8
1/800 sec

Yakko......
I noticed there were no comments on this, and it's a shame, because it's a nicely done photo and it's worth a comment, and I don't like seeing un-commented on photos. Everyone who posts here is looking for some feedback, and I'm going to give you some. I'm about the last one who should be critiquing someone else's work, if you go by my signature, but here goes:p .

As for the trees, see what happens when you work with this picture in your RAW conversion software. If you still aren't happy with it, then snip off just enough not to encroach into the rest of the frame. The crane......some folks will tell you it's a distraction, so it's entirely possible to clone it out so it isn't so prominant. Love the sky, love the colors, love the composition. JMHO---take it for whatever it's worth:) .
John

Thanks for the feedback. I also noticed a need to crop the bottom a little as well. There's a bald head at the bottom of the shot on the right side. Avoiding the crane wasn't really an option. It couldn't be avoided with the space there to take the picture.

yakkosmurf - This shot has a nice thirds composition, and also some interesting depth. The Kremlin steals the show here. The problems I have with the photo is the throg (spelling?) of people in the photo - they seem to be cut off, and they make it seem too much of a tourist shot. This is still a nice memory shot, but with all those folks there, it just makes it a vacation photo. Btw I spent some time in Europe and realize the problems with trying to avoid this - good luck! - you either have to get up and out by 7 am or wait for a bomb scare to not get tourists in there.

Also - the sky is interesting but I think it could use a little more saturation. Maybe a polarizer would have worked here. Funny that I didnt even notice th cranes till I read your writeup. :)

-GB

Thanks for the input. Yes, the people were annoying, and it is hard to avoid them. What type of polarizer would be good for a shot like this? I want to get a couple of filters to play with (since they can be inexpensive), but I'm not sure what to get.

Well, I've never really understood the dif between circular and linear polarizers. I believe I use linear ones and most of my filters are Cokin with an occasional Tiffen or (shoot... what's that name again) Baum or something.. that's an exp one.

Watch over-doing the polarization btw. Too much can ruin a shot, making it look unreal. But this shot might have been a little better wiith one.

GB

Cool. Thanks for the info. That gives me a little something to start with. I don't plan to shoot images I'm going to want to keep with a filter until I figure them out completely. Sort of why I'm not shooting much manually yet.

I agree with a few comments that it has a touristy feel but shows action and the livily feeling of this city. Having been in Moscow and walked Red Square, it was great to see the photo. Nice colors