Opinion on my picture please

[Central]

Just recently got a new camera and was in London. Been trying a bit but photos never seem to come out any good.

While in London I snapped this one and I think its my best one yet

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...g?t=1201647291

I was hoping to get some opinions and possibly what to do to improve my photography.

The photo was taken from Alexandra Palace looking towards Canary wharf on a 10x optical zoom.

So opinions please

from Ally Pally to Canary Wharf is quite along way, so the picture 'suffers' from the foreground compression imposed by the zoom, which is presumably why it seems to be in two halves, but is very impressive, none the less

[Central]

I think its about 10 miles in distance

And thanks

[Uncle Peter]

Looking at your exif data you appear to have taken that shot when the light will have been particularly harsh and overall the pic is suffering from a fair bit of haze and washing out. Try earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon depdending on where the sun is, of course try to get it behind your shoulder although that's often easier said than done at this time of year because the sun is relatively low on the horizon all day.

Having used 10x optical zoom you've also shot at f4 which is at the wide open end and also probably another reason why the picture is a tad wooly, using something like f8 and a lower shutter speed (and a steady hand or support) might give you results which are a tad sharper.

Finally, don't forget to adjust your levels and make any other necessary adjustments in photoshop to improve results.

Just my 2p, hth.

[Vlad_Dracul]

Originally Posted by Be*

Just recently got a new camera and was in London. Been trying a bit but photos never seem to come out any good.

While in London I snapped this one and I think its my best one yet

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...g?t=1201647291

I was hoping to get some opinions and possibly what to do to improve my photography.

The photo was taken from Alexandra Palace looking towards Canary wharf on a 10x optical zoom.

So opinions please

I think there is a lot of old tosh talked about photography. If you read the mags, people submit cracking photos and "experts" pick them apart,looking at largely insignificant detail.

In the end its personal and people take pictures for different reasons and sometimes spend fortunes doing it.

For all that my opinion is worth, i think the most interesting bit about this pic is the sweeping rows of terraces at varying distances,angles and heights. I think the upper,lighter part actually detracts from the image as the harsh horizontal slash is too aggresive.

One tip i try to stick by when trying to take "posh" pics rather than snapshots is to use the light. Always in the morning and evening,never during the day.

Pics taken outside in full daylight can often look washed out. The subtle light of morning and evening adds so much more. Contrast,subtle tones,shadows etc.

[DocDutch]

Be, nice picture mate been there often enough myself on Ally Pally summers laying there in the grass with a beer in me hands

what camera have you got mate?

[Raistlin]

I like it for what it is, a really nice picture.

Well done

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Looking at your exif data...

Oh yeah....didn't know all that info was captured in a simple jpg!

[Tuftus]

I like it.

As Vlad said, try and use the light when it's at it's best - the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.

These are the two golden hours in landscape protography.

Good work!

[ikthius]

i like how it give the impression that london is packed and you aint getting a house here..... I looked at hte image and thought of the opening lines from danger mouse "LONDON!"

I can see where the main critics are coming from, its a bit washed out, but I thought that was just a hill then it dipped down and in the far away background is the busy centre.

ok, it is a bit washed out, but if you got a photo prog, try brighten it up.

I use picasa just now, mainly cause its free, you can warm up the image, brighten it up, sharpen it up lots.

keep your main image, copy it a few times, then play with the copies to find what suits.....

ik

edit here it is with auto fix, sharpen and warmed up

[peanut]

Originally Posted by ikthius

edit here it is with auto fix, sharpen and warmed up

I still much prefer the original. That's a bit too overkill on the editing.

Nice snap by the way.

[ikthius]

Originally Posted by peanutkp

I still much prefer the original. That's a bit too overkill on the editing.

Nice snap by the way.

i find the original bland, but it is all about what people see and what they like....

also just showing that its posible to make images better/worse with editing

ik

[Maggy J]

I like it though the artist in me would crop it down to the middle section.


I also disagree with sharpening it up because it looks really odd with the mist just ending at the foreground roof tops.I like the foggy look.

[Uncle Peter]

I like the shot a lot, it's a good scene.

Be* - just wondering what quality you saved that shot with in your image editing software? I can see a lot of compression artifacts in there especially if you look closely at the trees. I tend to save my jpgs at quality level 10 as a bare minimum.

Agree with incog about the sharpening. I think that the in-camera processing has already quite aggresively sharpened the image in any case.

[cookie_365]

I actually like the way the docklands towers kind of hover ghostlike above the rest of the buildings.

With the bold horizontal line below them, and the other horizontal at the bottom of the hill, it reminds me of that WWII cartoon showing Leningrad (?) under siege, with London sheltering behind, and New York behind that.