First DSLR, Night shots

I posted this over the t2i thread but did not get much c&c.

Here's my midnight shots

A good start . All nice and sharp
1. I find the flood light at the right, and the reflections in the water distracting, esp the one of the entrance way on the left. A polariser would minimize this
2. A bit over exposed
3. Didi you use flash. There are shadows in the foreground that seem out of place.
4. Probably the best of the bunch exposure wise, but the foreground of the pool seems a little overexposed. Too much pool however in composition.

Thanks Paul!

1. I completely forgot my package came with a polarizer.. oh well
2. I knew it.. do you know any links here in POTN that explains more on exposures? Been searching for it but no luck
3. I did not use flash. The light was coming from the flood light from the first picture posted. I was thinking it might help a bit since it was really dark at that time
4. How can I reduce the exposure on the pool if I come across this same situation? I guess I could have back out a little bit to balance the pool and the apartment complex?

Nice enough photos, but you'll get much better lighting way earlier at dusk when there's still some nice blue illumination in the sky. The illumination in the sky will balance nicely with the lighting on the buildings, and the lighting in the pool and look really nice, and you might even be able to get away with it without a tripod.

Got PS? You can level out the exposure using a selection & a Layer mask. See post #9; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky and the Airport runway shoot link in my post.

A tripod & self timer would have been a good choice for #3 so you didn't have your shadow in the shot.

2+3 seem tilted to the right slightly. i found myself tilting my head to view them. this could be easily corrected.

I liked 1+4 best. I didnt mind the shadows too much on 1.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #10365733
Got PS? You can level out the exposure using a selection & a Layer mask. See post #9; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky and the Airport runway shoot link in my post.

A tripod & self timer would have been a good choice for #3 so you didn't have your shadow in the shot.

I still need to buy photoshop

on number 3, I was actually using a tripod and a timer. Although my being amateur didn't catch that shadow.. LOl

S P wrote in post #10364831
Nice enough photos, but you'll get much better lighting way earlier at dusk when there's still some nice blue illumination in the sky. The illumination in the sky will balance nicely with the lighting on the buildings, and the lighting in the pool and look really nice, and you might even be able to get away with it without a tripod.

Thanks

I will try next time taking shots around 0800 pm. I didn't want to take shots of people in the pool that's why I did it around midnight

PS Elements is a reasonable & cheaper alternative, & the GIMP is good, & free.

2 and 4 are my favourites, but like tshw1973 said, 4 is slightly tilted which you might want to rectify. No biggie.

Not sure about the shadows on 3 - great work though.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #10371823
PS Elements is a reasonable & cheaper alternative, & the GIMP is good, & free.

The GIMP is fine (can't complain for free, eh?!) but I find Photoshop a lot more intuitive to navigate. Plus, I can find many more tutorials for Photoshop than The GIMP. Professional tutorials are vital for amateurs like me!