Sunset reflection on a tower (CC welcome)

This tower is across the street from where I work and I always liked the way the sunset reflected on it. I finally took some photos yesterday since I just received my 24-105 f/4L and was excited to try it out.

This is a 3-shot bracketed exposure, merged in Photoshop and tweaked in Lightroom. It's my first foray into bracketing/HDR so any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qEFa​fU

I like the colors and the processing looks pretty good but you gotta straighten that building up.

hmmm I thought I had done that but I might be thinking of another one I was working on. I was up too late haha. I'll check that when I get home and fix it. Thanks for the comments!

okay i think i fixed it. got the horizontals level but the perspective of the building still seems to be at an angle. maybe it was the way i shot it?

Vertical lines are still converging. Don't tilt the camera up on site, if you can help it. If you can't prevent it on site, leave plenty of room on top and correct it in LR. In the develop module go to the "lens corrections" section then click the "manual" tab and adjust the vertical slider until it's straight. You should also check the "constrain crop" box .

I love the colors. The building itself holds interest as well. I think the few lights on inside and the reflection in the lower part of the building add to the interest. I did copy it and do some correction in PS but I'm still on the fence as to whether the corrected perspective looks better than this version. If you like I can post the corrected version.

IMHO, this is a great photo even without the perspective corrected.

In the future you can address the perspective issue two ways:

When shooting, keep the camera parallel level and parallel to the building to avoid falling-down effect. This will require you to use a wider focal length and you will capture unwanted foreground. You can crop the image later to get the composition you envisioned. Obviously this will result in a lower-resolution final image, but provided you don't have to crop too heavily, it still should be good quality.

Alternately, minimize the angle that you tilt the camera and shoot slightly wider to allow for later perspective adjustment in LR or PS.

holy crap thank you both. i didn't even realize how bad the vertical convergence was until i tried your tips and saw the changes. unfortunately i was on top of a parking garage and about as far back as i could go, so i did have to tilt the camera up--i will remember that for future attempts though. this is my first crack at this type of photography. i also now see what you mean about leaving plenty of space up top since a lot of that got lost with the vertical correction.

thanks for the compliments on the colors. i was pretty excited with how they turned out.

how does this look? it's not perfect but it's better i think. this was about as much as i could fix it without cutting off the top of the tower.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qEFa​fU

That looks better. It's still a little off but I think if you adjust it much more you wind up needing to narrow the crop too much, or spend time cloning to fill in the space.

I love the colours on the building, but that concrete section at the bottom rather detracts from the effect for me. I might have gone in closer with a wider lens and just captured the building, or part of it, perhaps with a very slanting angle That would have made for a much more abstract shot, but with those colours I think it would work well. You could always try that as it's opposite where you work? Good shot though.

The convergence is certainly better. Unfortunately what remains just emphasizes that it's there and you are out of room at the top. Traditionally convergence is eliminated. The alternative that is sometimes effective is to celebrate it. Get right to the bottom of the building and point the camera up significantly. It's a kind of "in your face" approach that sometimes works. But first you get the expected on with the parallel lines.

The colors are nice and this is a very good shot to learn from.

rob ashcroft wrote in post #17407200
I love the colours on the building, but that concrete section at the bottom rather detracts from the effect for me. I might have gone in closer with a wider lens and just captured the building, or part of it, perhaps with a very slanting angle That would have made for a much more abstract shot, but with those colours I think it would work well. You could always try that as it's opposite where you work? Good shot though.

i thought i should have the concrete there for context so it wouldn't look like the building was just floating but i see your point too. you are correct, it's across the street from my work so i will certainly be trying again and working with different angles. i'm trying to get some of the technical stuff down before i start getting too abstract

rgs wrote in post #17407261
The convergence is certainly better. Unfortunately what remains just emphasizes that it's there and you are out of room at the top. Traditionally convergence is eliminated. The alternative that is sometimes effective is to celebrate it. Get right to the bottom of the building and point the camera up significantly. It's a kind of "in your face" approach that sometimes works. But first you get the expected on with the parallel lines.

The colors are nice and this is a very good shot to learn from.

thank you! i will try some alternate angles next time and see what else i can come up with. i am pretty satisfied with it for my first. definitely lots to learn from, especially thanks to everyone on this forum.

I'm loving the gradient on the building against the gradient of the sky. Nice catch!

I think the concrete and fence on the bottom are an important part of the composition. It grounds the building and gives a sense of scale.

thank you CameraMan! it really looks awesome when there's a good sunset--I actually didn't even anticipate that much gradient in the sky behind the building.

bumpintheroad, that was my thinking too. i just wish it wasn't such ugly concrete.