Philadelphia Reflections

[Ken Curtis]

I would like to get some feedback on this image. I took it long after the Sun had set. It is a view of Philadelphia and its reflections on the Schuylkill River. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.



This image is © 2013 CKCurtis

[Digital]

Nice photo.


Bruce

[GeorgeM]

Nice photo. My two cents: I used my mouse wheel to "crop" out most of the sky, leaving just enough above the tall building. To me it looked better minus the moon and the extra sky.

[Wavelength]

Beautiful !!!

[John 2]

Not a great fan of trees hanging in the side of a shot but it works here. However, I agree about cropping the moon. Beautiful as it is, it competes for attention with the city.

[Kaye Leggett]

Great photo - I'm with the leave out the moon opinion too.

[Donald]

On the moon in-or-out question, I don't think it's a case or right and wrong. In and out, they are two very different pictures, both with their strengths.

Leave the moon aside for the moment. I like the composition of the cityscape. Like John, I think the trees work and provide a wonderful frame for the hard landscape features of the city. I think there is a nice balance to that portion of the image.

I couldn't extract any EXIF data, so couldn't see the exposure information. It looks to me as if the city is ever-so-slightly out of focus, with the trees being very much in focus And I am questioning whether a greater depth-of-field would have been desirable.

[Ken Curtis]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I am still undecided whether to leave the moon in or out. I know that, because it is so bright, it draws attention to itself and away from the city. Sometimes I like the moon there and sometimes I too think it would be better to remove it.

Truth be told, the moon was actually higher in the sky and somehow or other, when I processed the image in Photoshop, it ended up lower. OK, I moved it. I thought the aspect ratio of the final image looked better if the moon were closer.

I couldn't extract any EXIF data, so couldn't see the exposure information. It looks to me as if the city is ever-so-slightly out of focus, with the trees being very much in focus And I am questioning whether a greater depth-of-field would have been desirable.

Here are the camera settings: ISO 1600, f13, 6 seconds, focal length 48 mm. If I look at the image at 100%, it is clear, but not crystal clear. I believe it lost something when I downsized to post here; I did not resharpen after reducing the size.

I appreciate the feedback.