Parliament Hill - Christmas Lights

[Manfred M]

Here are two more shots I took on Parliament Hill showing the lights. This time, rather than working to eliminate the people in the shot, I tried to include them.


1.




2.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[chauncey]

goals accomplished.

[madcrow]

Nicely done and you got the people.

[TheBigE]

Manfred - I like the photos, and sometimes I become so caught up in trying to remove the people that adding them as part of the composition can help make a diffierence. I was not able to look at the EXIF data (on ipad) but I am impressed that none of the people show any movement blur and did not see any significant noise in the sky. Did you use PS or another plugin to reduce noise (assuming you are at a higher ISO).

I really like how you have the Canadian Flag in both images really "popping" out of the image. It is not overdone, but clear and easy to recognize.

My only other comment is on #2 - I would remove the cranes. I think the night sky is a great backdrop and the cranes really detract from the image.

[Manfred M]

Manfred - I like the photos, and sometimes I become so caught up in trying to remove the people that adding them as part of the composition can help make a diffierence. I was not able to look at the EXIF data (on ipad) but I am impressed that none of the people show any movement blur and did not see any significant noise in the sky. Did you use PS or another plugin to reduce noise (assuming you are at a higher ISO).

I really like how you have the Canadian Flag in both images really "popping" out of the image. It is not overdone, but clear and easy to recognize.

My only other comment is on #2 - I would remove the cranes. I think the night sky is a great backdrop and the cranes really detract from the image.

1. All shots were taken on a FF camera (Nikon D800) using the Nikkor f/2.8 14-24mm focal length at f/4 at 1/5th sec at ISO 3200. This meant anything farther away than 1.5 m was in focus and slow moving subjects were sharp. I did not post the images where there was an unacceptable amount of motion blur. The noise was not too bad, but I ran the image through Nik Dfine noise reduction to knock things down a bit.

It was a very dark night and the flag is lit up, so it pops without any help on my part. I could not get the crowd look I wanted with my Nikkor f/3.5 PC-E lens, so I used the 14mm and tilted the camera up. I used DxO Viewpoint 3 for perspective correction (I had to generate more sky using Content Aware Fill) to get the flag in.

2. I thought about removing the cranes, but the site, especially the West Block building which is in the background in Image 2, is being renovated and restored right now. In fact the whole Parliament Buildings have been undergoing a rehabilitation process for quite some time. I sometimes remove the construction equipment and sometimes I leave it in place. I just happen to have decided to leave things in place in this shot.

[Dave A]

Wonderfully captured Manfred. Your night images are always well done.

Dave

[mugge]

Manfred, love your images. I would leave the cranes in. I would not be able, in a few words anyway, be able to explain the reason why. I guess it has something to do with proportion or maybe not. It is how we see things I guess.
Cheers Ole