Cityscape for critique

[AndrewMcD]

I took this about 30 minutes prior to sunset while taking a walk along the river front after dinner in Wilmington, Delaware. I liked the juxtaposition of the river and vegetation with the city skyline. The layering seemed to work; river and vegetation, the horizontal lines of buildings beyond the river followed by the tall vertical lines of the buildings creating the skyline. I would appreciate hearing any comments regarding the composition.

The focus appears a bit soft and I suspect that is a consequence of handheld @174mm with a 1.5 crop factor camera (Sony NEX 6).

I tried to be disciplined about the processing and would appreciate any comments; particularly with regard to workflow.

1. I first rotated to correct for a 1.75 degree lean and then cropped a bit off the left side to remove a gap between the frame edge and the left most building. I wanted a solid backdrop of buildings.

2. Having read somewhere that noise tends to be amplified as one makes various adjustments to the image I adjusted the Color Noise----->22, and Luminance Noise---->50. (All processing done in Lightroom 5). Of course the numeric values are just a consequence of what I thought looked better and my recollection is that those values are on a scale of 0 to 100.

3. After noise reduction I adjusted Sharpening------>30 from the default value of 25. In retrospect I'm not sure why I did so at this point but that's what I have in my notes. So much for being disciplined!

4. Thinking the image looked a bit flat I applied the Lightroom Medium Contrast Tone Curve.

5. Increased the color temp from 5550----->6060. The camera was on AWB and the image looked a bit cooler than my vision.

6. The pilings in the river and the vegetation to the right are important elements in the image to my eye so I gave them some local adjustments; Sharpness------>48 and Clarity------>34.

7. I wanted a little more depth in the large buildings so I applied some Local Contrast------>39.

I have tried to be subtle and keep the image close to the reality that I saw; nothing terribly dramatic. As a consequence I think it may still be a bit flat looking?

Any and all comments are appreciated regarding both composition and processing. Please feel free to modify the image as you please to illustrate a point.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Shadowman]

Andrew,

Nice effort, something strange about the effects of sunlight on the building, it's almost like the light has been muted. I would expect to see some reflection on the glass. Were the skies cloudy that day?

[AndrewMcD]

I thought the light on the buildings rather odd too in the way it reflected, or did not reflect! The sky was clear, a bit of haze and the sun was close to the horizon. I suspect the angle of incidence was very shallow and with the light coming from picture left anything reflected was going off to picture right.

[Mike Buckley]

There are probably several compositions available in this scene but I'm not able to determine the subject as currently presented. I would also like to see more mid-tone contrast. Perhaps most important, if you convert to monochrome, the scene becomes a far more compelling presentation of the buildings to my eye.

[AndrewMcD]

Thanks Mike.
----You've hit on the point that seems to constantly come back to bug me, ---narrowing the plethora of information in an image down to an obvious subject. I suspect it's not an unusual problem with the novice photographer so I'll keep plugging along and showing you folks stuff in the hope that I'll develop more skill.
A monochrome presentation didn't occur to me. I'll have a go at it with some of the simple Lightroom preselects to help develop the idea of seeing things that way.
Thanks,
Andrew

[Manfred M]

Andrew - the first thing that strikes me is the lack of contrast in the image; that gives that overall flat issue; just crank up the contrast in post. The foreground is a bit dark so locally lightening that up would help too.

The 60 second edit gives me this:

[AndrewMcD]

Thank you Manfred.----The image is much improved with more contrast. I was too stuck in making a picture of what I saw rather than what the image could be.

Andrew

[Manfred M]

Thank you Manfred.----The image is much improved with more contrast. I was too stuck in making a picture of what I saw rather than what the image could be.

Andrew

Andrew - the human eye / brain views an image completely differently than your camera does, so expecting to capture what you see is difficult, if not impossible. However, presenting the image in a way that is compatible with what you want people to see when they look at it; now that is the role of the photographer.

[ShaneS]

Wise advice from Manfred:

However, presenting the image in a way that is compatible with what you want people to see when they look at it; now that is the role of the photographer.

But don't kick yourself Andrew as I would not consider you a novice as you have put up some really nice work in the past like the shot of Indian Beach that you captured just recently.

I am struggling with what Manfred said too and like you will continue to plug along and count the little wins along the way as progress. I will add that I always come up with a brilliant composition of a scene in the car ride home or the next day and I eagerly await the moment when lightening strikes and they happen at the same time on a regular basis

[AndrewMcD]

Here is another shot from the same location but a bit later in time. ISO has been increased from 800 to 1600 resulting in more noise.

Does the rower address the issue of a subject .....or is he too small for the overall image?

I've pushed the processing more in this....more contrast, exposure, clarity and sharpening.

A much different "feel" than the original image I posted.

Andrew

[Mike Buckley]

you have put up some really nice work in the past

Definitely well worth repeating several times. Anyone else want to have a go at it?

[Mike Buckley]

Does the rower address the issue of a subject .....or is he too small for the overall image?

It's not the kayker himself who addresses the issue. The subject in my mind is the water scenery and the cityscape provides context that makes the subject especially interesting. The kayaker is one very nice element of the water scenery, the subject. Most important, unlike the first image, the subject is both evident and compelling.

If you can revisit this scene, grab it during different seasons and different light. It has lots of potential.

[ShaneS]

Andrew, I took a long hard look at the second image now and think that the big stand of trees in the mid-ground really stops your eye from moving about the image. Feel free to disagree with me but I will continue the train of thought...

So, to follow up on Mike's point I wonder if this would be less the case in fall or winter when the trees are not as lush or possible just branches. Alternately, I'm not sure what your vantage point was but I wonder if you could move yourself into a position where the pilings are more to the right which might create a "v" of sorts that would lead the eye down what looks like in intersecting waterway. That way the greenery might add to the city scape scene...oh, and another strategically placed kayaker would be nice too

[Mike Buckley]

the big stand of trees in the mid-ground really stops your eye from moving about the image.

It's always interesting to me to appreciate how differently people "see" elements of a photograph. For me, the trees help frame the water scene. As an example, you could crop the image at the top just barely above those trees to create a really nice composition.

[Mike Buckley]

It just now occurred to me that I would be tempted to caption this photo, A Tale of Two Cities. That's really two cities within one city -- the pastoral area and the concrete area.

[AndrewMcD]

It's not the kayker himself who addresses the issue. The subject in my mind is the water scenery and the cityscape provides context that makes the subject especially interesting. The kayaker is one very nice element of the water scenery, the subject. Most important, unlike the first image, the subject is both evident and compelling.

------It is such a help to have experienced people provide guidance on recognizing the elements that make or break an image! *After reading your comments regarding the first image and then reviewing other shots I had taken I was able to see how the image with the rower was a significant improvement. The rower, providing a point of interest to the water scenery, gives a context to the rest of the image that, while it existed in my mind since I was at the scene, failed to come through with the original composition.

If you can revisit this scene, grab it during different seasons and different light. It has lots of potential.

I can and will revisit this scene! I'm seeing a snow squall.....ice on the river....ohh the possibilities.

Thanks again Mike for your efforts and guidance.

[AndrewMcD]

.......... Alternately, I'm not sure what your vantage point was but I wonder if you could move yourself into a position where the pilings are more to the right which might create a "v" of sorts that would lead the eye down what looks like in intersecting waterway. That way the greenery might add to the city scape scene...oh, and another strategically placed kayaker would be nice too

Thank you for the encouragement and suggestions you always provide!
While this isn't an intersection but rather a bend in the river I can and will look at this shot from the position you suggest. Maybe I'll get lucky and catch some of the rowing club boats practicing.

Thanks again,
Andrew