NYC Trip C&C

Took a trip to NYC the other day to see all the holiday stuff and took a few shots...These are my preferred photos, but I know I still have a long way to go. Criticize away please

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#1 looks flat. I like the rest.

agree with ^

#1 looks bland.. christmas lights at night are always tough
#2- would have been a bit cooler if you used a tripod and got motion blur of the people down below
#3- love the colors, was there any PP for this?
#4- just a tad bit tilted to the right, makes me want to cock my head to the right a bit.

... and I agree with both of the above comments.

The problem I have with the first one is the reflections on the man/sculpture. I am not sure if those were reflections from natural lighting, but my first thought was on-camera flash. If the latter was the case, I definitely think it could have been improved with the use of a tripod and a longer exposure to capture more of the Christmas lights.

Thanks for the comments guys...Definitely going to work on everything mentioned.

The tree was tough to get a good photo of, so I only took a few. I wish I would have brought my tripod with me to catch the motion blur in the second picture and used it with the first.

MrSoohoo, there was a tiny bit of PP done, but that was my favorite site to shoot for the day...Everything just worked so well together.

I'm thinking about actually just going in to the city one day to find spots to shoot and bring my tripod and other lenses instead of just using my kit lens. Hopefully on a less cold day too lol

#1 on camera flash causing distracting reflections. with your 50mm and an open f/stop, you can use a thinner dof and get more creative, the most obvious is focusing on the statue and blurring out the tree and rockefeller center.

I agree, getting good pictures of the tree is hard especially if you are not trying to get people in your picture.

#2-4. I find that in the city you have to really pay attention to your verticals and "horizon" either when composing or when editing. I usually use the focus points to help. At night, I light up all 9 for a few seconds by pushing the AF point select button and going to autoselect, and then take my picture.

Given the pictures you posted, I think you would enjoy a wider lens in the city. Renting a 10-22 should be under 20 bucks for the day. Adorama comes to mind, but there are cheaper alternatives.