My first potential sale, Downtown bridge

[gmacmt]

Hey there,

A buddy I know wanted me to shoot a picture of a bridge for him to give as a christmas gift. He saw this and wanted to buy it. I hate this picture and wanted to do a better job.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2948064766_63165ce830_b.jpg

It was a nice night tonight, and there was even more water under the bridge, so I figured I should stick with the long exposure. What do you think of the results? Anything I could improve? If I am selling this, I want it to be as good as I can get it.

1.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3089248746_56e83b6cbe_b.jpg

2.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3089262674_61fe31da8e_b.jpg

[gmacmt]

Also, the first shot is HDR, the next two are not at all. It is amazing how nice a well exposed picture can look.

[The_Camera_Poser]

#2 is cool! I really like it- I like them all, but the flow of the river really contrasts nicely with the crisp lines of the bridge. That'd be my choice. Nice work.

[kiwichris]

I like the location perspective of no2, but the highlite on the water is too much, too big. Wondering if perhaps you can reshoot at a different time of day, say twilite just after the lights come on?

[gmacmt]

The problem is that I need to shoot this late at night because the location I am shooting from is kind of trespassing and I dont want any people to notice me. I totally see your point and appreciate your honesty. I might just head down there on a weekday night and try it. Thanks for the input!

[Croasdail]

Neat shot. I agree 30 minutes after dusk would be better to get the royal blues sky... but totally understand why your doing what your doing. First shot does nothing for me, the later two are much improved.

[DAMphyne]

I think the first one is perfect, especially if it's sold.
Never try to convince your buyer that this one isn't good enough.
The true sign of a good photo is having the customer walk away with a smile.

[gmacmt]

Thanks for the advice. That is a good thing to keep in mind. The thing is, I dont want to sell that picture because I dont want to have people see that photo with my name on it. It doesn't show my best work. I am going to show my friend the results tonight and see if he likes the new ones better, but I will still try to get a reshoot in.

[LeuceDeuce]

This thread kinda made me chuckle.

I had a client who purchased a picture of a bridge from me as well. Was it my best work? Probably not. The client was thrilled to make the purchase, and I was thrilled to make the sale.

Sell the print, and tell your client that you hope that they get as much enjoyment from it as you do.

If you only sold your best work, you'd only have a few select prints to make money with. The first image is of saleable quality, so be proud of it.

[heathermarie]

Number two is my all time favorite! I love it because it looks surreal. I don't like the blue light on the right hand side really and the bright light to the left is great... but I don't like that the reflection in the water is just as bright as it. Maybe you could post process the reflection to dim it down a little?

[kiwichris]

This thread kinda made me chuckle.

I had a client who purchased a picture of a bridge from me as well. Was it my best work? Probably not. The client was thrilled to make the purchase, and I was thrilled to make the sale.

Sell the print, and tell your client that you hope that they get as much enjoyment from it as you do.

If you only sold your best work, you'd only have a few select prints to make money with. The first image is of saleable quality, so be proud of it.

I am inclined to agree with this, problem is peoples tastes are different, what we as a photog, or artist think is no good, someone else will believe it is just marvelous. If you have sold it, let it go and be proud :)