Newport Bay at Night

[twood]

I took this photo handheld (steadied camera on post). Any tips on taking these types of night shots, or how this photo might be improved would be welcome. Used 50mm prime with manual focus.

[IzzieK]

How perfect do you want it? It was an excellent shot.lots of potentials.. It just needs a little bit of colour boost. Maybe change the brightness to 21 and contrast to 43; exposure to -0.4 and offset to -0.0796???

[Shadowman]

You would try to tie in the reflections if possible. The tug boat appears to be your center of interest, yet the reflections serves as a bit of a distraction.

[dje]

Hi Tim

The main issue with this image for me is noise, which is quite visible in the darker areas of the image. This is almost certainly due to your use of ISO3200 (according to the embedded EXIF info). You could avoid this problem using base ISO but this will increase the exposure time and require a tripod. If there is any movement of the boats, blurring could occur. The other option open to you is to apply some noise reduction to the image. I can't make a recommendation there without knowing what editing software you have.

Dave

[noeta]

I see lot's of potential here but next time take a tripod with you and take a lot of shots from different angles, settings, etc. There is quite a bit of noise in this shot as already commented on so shoot with a lower ISO and a tripod to remedy this. Good start though and worth exploring more.

[IzzieK]

My brief PP above as I suggested removed the noise and darkened the dark areas...I used Photoshop.

[Colin Southern]

I took this photo handheld (steadied camera on post). Any tips on taking these types of night shots, or how this photo might be improved would be welcome. Used 50mm prime with manual focus.

Hi Tim,

You can kill the noise simply by raising the black clipping point; the "black stuff" is supposed to be black, so raising the clipping point forces it to be what it should be, and kills the noise in the process.

It also needs a bit of sharpening, but other than that, it's looking good. If you can though, use a lower ISO and tripod if the boats aren't moving due to wind.

Here's a quick retouch of yours to show what I mean ...



And here's a couple of mine, that might give you come ideas ... (click for much better view)

[dje]

Hi Tim,

You can kill the noise simply by raising the black clipping point; the "black stuff" is supposed to be black, so raising the clipping point forces it to be what it should be, and kills the noise in the process.

It also needs a bit of sharpening, but other than that, it's looking good. If you can though, use a lower ISO and tripod if the boats aren't moving due to wind.

Here's a quick retouch of yours to show what I mean ...

Great tip Colin. Not only does it get rid of the noise, it gives extra vitality to the brighter parts of the image.

Dave

[Colin Southern]

Great tip Colin. Not only does it get rid of the noise, it gives extra vitality to the brighter parts of the image.

Dave

Well it increases the contrast anyway, which is a good thing because it's a high-contrast scene to start with.

[Colin Southern]

Well it increases the contrast anyway, which is a good thing because it's a high-contrast scene to start with.

PS: If you want to kill the noise in visible regions with an image like this, don't bother mucking around with noise reduction filters - just whack a small surface blur onto it (probably around 2 pixels) (you can duplicate the layer first then change the opacity for finer control it you want too).

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you for posting this photo, which is very good to me as a newbie here on the site. I have similar photos, and the responses are very helpful from you all. So a big Thank You again to all you pro.s!
And can I add....Damn Colin, that #4 is amazing!! (Marina on left, almost panorama photo,how was that shot?)
Nancy

[NorthernFocus]

With Colin's processing that's a pretty nice shot.

[ShaneS]

That is a nicely composed shot Tim but I'm not sure that I could have seen what Colin saw and showed us in terms of processing. This really emphasizes the point that half the battle of creating a great image is the processing and that can take a while to learn.

I will look forward to seeing more of your work.

[Wavelength]

The original was an excellent image, except of some observable noise....and alas, Colin the great Eraser had removed all that'''what remained then was sheer magic

[Colin Southern]

Thank you for posting this photo, which is very good to me as a newbie here on the site. I have similar photos, and the responses are very helpful from you all. So a big Thank You again to all you pro.s!
And can I add....Damn Colin, that #4 is amazing!! (Marina on left, almost panorama photo,how was that shot?)
Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Just shot on a still night with a wide-angle lens with camera on a tripod, then cropped to make it look panoramic.

[Colin Southern]

That is a nicely composed shot Tim but I'm not sure that I could have seen what Colin saw and showed us in terms of processing. This really emphasizes the point that half the battle of creating a great image is the processing and that can take a while to learn.

I will look forward to seeing more of your work.

That was just a quick and dirty retouch. Sounds like I'd better do "the full Monty" on it now to show how it could look ...

[Wavelength]

Colin, any more free service???

[Colin Southern]

Colin, any more free service???

I do them all the time - they usually only take a few minutes. With a bit of luck we might even see Tim back to see the result!

[twood]

My thanks to all of you for your comments on composition and editing. And thanks for editing the shot - it was very helpful and demonstrates what it could be. This was a "quick shot". My tripod was in my car but I didn't think I had the time for the setup. But, as someone suggested, using a lower ISO would have dramatically improved the shot. Had I done so, I would have needed the tripod - and the result would have been significantly better. Moral of the story is - take your time. After all - I am now retired. What do I have if not time? I have learned a lot. I look forward to sharing the fruits of my new-found knowledge soon and enjoying the work of other members.

[twood]

Very nice. Thanks for your suggestions.