Dusk at the small boat marina

[AlwaysOnAuto]

[Dave Humphries]

Was the camera level Alan?

I'm not just going by the masts (mostly) leaning left, but also by their reflections, which ought to be directly beneath them, but appear further to the right - although tricky to tell with so many!

It is a shame we cannot see the mast tops and I'm not sure the out of focus foreground objects contribute much either.

Sorry to be so negative, but I think (perhaps with a different lens), there's a better shot to be had of such a scene - or it just may not be possible, given the constraints of the marina.

The sky is pleasant enough and I can see why you took the shot, but I'm afraid for me, it doesn't work.

I am guessing a manual lens (via an adaptor) on your NEX-7, as there's no lens info. in the EXIF data (e.g. focal length or aperture).

However, it is sharp in the middle distance and you've avoided washing out the sky, or worse, giving it nasty halos.

Am I being fair?
What are your thoughts on how it turned out? (compared to what you hoped for when you clicked the shutter)
Could it have been improved in post production?

I think this is one of those shots we can all learn from - I certainly am not saying that I would have succeeded any better had I been there.

I hope those thoughts are helpful, Dave

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks for the comments Dave.
Yes, it was a Nikkor 5cm 1.4 shot wide open on my Nex 7.
Was the camera level?
Well, seeing as my kids kid me about getting sea sick while standing on a dock, and I was on the dock, I really couldn't tell you if it was level or not. I was trying to hold it level but....anyways, I was really wishing I'd taken my D7000 with me after I got these downloaded. I would have had a lot more 'better' ones than I got. So I'd say it was a disappointing evening of shooting.
I'm finding the Nex ain't that great at the higher ISO settings so won't be using it at night much more. The focus is problematical at best as I try to use focus peaking as best I can, but again, at night it isn't all that good, especially when the masts are ALWAYS moving!
I did try to use my monopod for most of the shots I took, but again, the second and third legs (MINE!) were not as steady as I'd have liked them to be.
It was all good practice and for me learning what my and the cameras limitations are, 'cause as Dirty Harry says, 'a man's gotta know his limitations.'

[Geoff F]

That is a very difficult scene, Alan.

There are bright lights and heavy shadows. All you can do is to expose for the lights and hope to recover something from the shadows during editing.

That still requires too long an exposure, on a tripod, and with too high an Iso. So don't be concerned if it didn't work out perfectly.

Last year I did manage this scene but it meant shooting with 1/5 F4.5 (wide open) Iso 1600 plus a lot of editing!



And 90% of the many shots I tried were failures.

[Dave Humphries]

Last year I did manage this scene but it meant shooting with 1/5 F4.5 (wide open) Iso 1600 plus a lot of editing!

Hi Geoff,

Now I am really confused, the shot looks level, but the reflections are not below the sources of light and streaming toward the camera, so does that mean the water wasn't level? What gives? (anyone)

It is late and your example just made my brain hurt

.. but at least I did say we'd all learn from this!

PS If we drift too far off-topic, I'll move this to a new thread to save hijacking Alan's.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Dave, I'll bet that's a composite of two different shots.
Mine isn't.

[Rebel]

I think this shot has got great potential, I think I'd adjust the exposure on the boats if possible.

[Geoff F]

It is the angle of view, Dave. I was looking from an angle of about 45 degrees to the boat; but it appears to look as though I was 'square on'.

But I did extend the reflection slightly towards the right to fill up a blank dark area in the bottom right corner.