Nighttime - Savanna River

[marjnap]

I took this nighttime picture at the Savanna River. How is my composition? What would you change and why? Thank you in advance.

IMG_2858_1.JPG

[Flo]

Seems very soft to me....the colors I like.

[joedlh]

I agree with Gail about the softness. It looks like the water in the foreground and the rail in the lower left corner are sharper. Might your camera not have gotten its focus on the bridge?

I would think about cropping part of the sky and part of the foreground and turn it into a panoramic-like shot. I don't think all that empty space is helpful.

[marjnap]

Originally Posted by Flo

Seems very soft to me....the colors I like.

Gail - Thank you I looked at the auto focus points in the Canon software and it was actually had one focus point on the right top part of the bridge. I thought I had it on manual focus, but I guess not. What would be the best thing to do with the focus on this type of exposure?

[marjnap]

Originally Posted by joedlh

I agree with Gail about the softness. It looks like the water in the foreground and the rail in the lower left corner are sharper. Might your camera not have gotten its focus on the bridge?

I would think about cropping part of the sky and part of the foreground and turn it into a panoramic-like shot. I don't think all that empty space is helpful.

Joe - thank you again you are very helpful. Here are the crops you suggested. The one is the original picture cropped and the other one was a longer exposure I took, but I think the lights are too blown?

IMG_2857_1_1.jpg

IMG_2858_2_1.jpg

[joedlh]

I like these crops very much. I don't think the lights are that blown out in the first one. In the second, the upper parts of the bridge cables have vanished on my monitor.

[joedlh]

The top of the bridge tower seems like a good place to focus. The exif data said your exposure was 3.2 sec at f/8.0 and ISO 200. I assume you were using a tripod. The blurring could have been from vibration in the tripod if it was windy. Also, although suspension bridges seem like solid structures, they do move in the wind. Judging from the state of the water, it doesn't look like it was too windy. Traffic also causes vibration. Since the bridge is effectively at infinity, you could open up your aperture without sacrificing too much depth of field. Pushing the ISO higher would let you increase your shutter speed. You could also use mirror lock up.

[marjnap]

Originally Posted by joedlh

The top of the bridge tower seems like a good place to focus. The exif data said your exposure was 3.2 sec at f/8.0 and ISO 200. I assume you were using a tripod. The blurring could have been from vibration in the tripod if it was windy. Also, although suspension bridges seem like solid structures, they do move in the wind. Judging from the state of the water, it doesn't look like it was too windy. Traffic also causes vibration. Since the bridge is effectively at infinity, you could open up your aperture without sacrificing too much depth of field. Pushing the ISO higher would let you increase your shutter speed. You could also use mirror lock up.

Joe - thank you for your help. I was using a tripod. I never used mirror lock up, but your the second person to suggest it. It looks like I need to understand how to do that.