Reflecting Night Lights

Hello everyone! I've been looking at this site for months.
Finally my first post! As you can see I really enjoy the night shots.
It was about 25 degrees while shooting this one. The shutter was open for about 5 seconds.
I think it's a little too bright! Let me know what you think.

I like the pattern of lights in this pic, but having sat and looked at it for a little while I think there are a couple of issues. There's quite a lot of competition for attention in this shot, and I'm finding that the sweep of lights on the right keep drawing my eye to the point where they meet the vertical support for the bridge. The problem is that this is rather a dark, uninteresting spot compared to what's around it, so I feel like I'm being led to the wrong place. This seems to be exacerbated by the buidings in the background, which also seem to be fighting for their share of attention!

If you can control the aperture, I wonder whether a shallower depth of field might concentrate your eye on the bridge if it drops the background out of focus a little. Otherwise perhaps there is a different point of view you can use to give a clearer idea of where you want the focus to be.

I look forward to seeing more.

Regards,
matt

Matt,
As a rookie, I do appreciate any feedback.
I do see what you mean about the bright light to the right. I was so focused on getting the green lights in the shot, that I overlooked the spot light on the bridge support.
I could move to the right and lose it and gain more of the bridge over the water I guess.
As for the background lights. I was afraid if I lost the focus in the background, that it would be a large blurred reflection on the water. But I will go back and try several more.
Again, thanks for the feedback!

I'm very much a rookie like yourself, but since lots of us are learning here together, hopefully even rather uninformed views like mine can have some use! Its good that you can try again, are you shooting digital of film? If its digital you can play around to your heart's content with no worries about the cost of mistakes, something which I'm afraid really limits me (and my success rate!)

regards
matt

I do like the colours in this photo. However I can't make my mind up about the bridge - I like it and don't but the problem is I can't see how you would take this photo without it getting in the way. I would hate to see you loose the funnel of colours on the left; I think their fantastic.

Im not that troubled by the bright spot but it would be nice if it could be lost.

Not sure what to say but it would be nice if the bridge support could be moved to the left of the picture so that its not in the centre - don't forget the 1/3 rule

Roger,
Thanks for the comments! I do have another shot from the same night. It is straight across the river, looking at a Hospital.
Just for you, here it is with no bridge! HA

Nice shot Scott! This is nice work. I would like to see more of the bridge but that's just me. Good work and I look forward to seeing more.

Eagle_Eye

I like the picture of the hospital too.

Great shot the second one of the hospital. Simple, clean and visually appealing. The first was too busy as another stated. Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the feedback Gary, and congratulations on your featured photo!

Scott