Camera Labs

Zoom Zoom!

... as always, please critique like hell!

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

No 3 must be a long exposure time?
I like no 2 &3 the colours and sharpness just makes it pop.

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Thanks! They're all long exposures, really. The first two are HDR's and the last is just a layer masked blend.

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Seeing as I'm not getting much love on the critiquing front myself, I thought I'd pull my finger out and give someone else my thoughts! (nudge nudge, wink wink)

Firstly, I just plain don't like HDR - it's not a criticism of your work, it's the technique itself. You take enough landscape images Trevor to invest in some Lee grad ND filters - these images suit the harsh grads where you have an abrupt change in brightness. I like to think everyone on here is a photographer, not a software jockey!

So, the images themselves;
- all three are exposed well save for the shadows in no.3.
- your horizon mark is at the halfway point, not a third.
- no.2 could do with a crop on the left edge to remove the green road sign. It's a stand-out feature and doesn't rest well in the frame.
- 1 and 2 have relatively weak light trails, when compared to 3
- longer exposure would result in more continuous trails instead of the broken ones. Try some ND filters.

I'd like to see the same scenes but in landscape orientation and with longer leading lines of light running through the image.

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Well thanks for the comments, I can appreciate and agree with the lack of critiquing response. I understand that this is a communal forum and nobody gets paid here, but hey, we're all in this together, right?

I understand how there is a certan astigma attached to HDR. I think because those who start out with it are overzealous with it and thus overdo. It's a tool to use, not abuse. Anyway, that topic has been beaten to death in the past...

I agree with your comments, most of which I already sort of knew, but was too busy/lass/incompetent to fix. Thanks again!

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Hmmm, I'd have to disagree with some of that critique Mitch.

Regarding the horizon mark. There is no hard and fast rule for this being at the 1/3 rather than the 1/2. In fact I think in these shots having the horizon at the half way point works perfectly fine. Number 2 especially looks great at a half and half composition.

I wouldn't crop the second photo. I think the road sign adds to the overall details within the frame.

I think the light trails in the second photo are pretty nice myself.

Agree that a ND filter would enable a longer exposure and longer light trails, but overall I think these photos are great.

I guess critique is all about personal opinion at the end of the day.

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My 500px
My Photography Blog

Really nice mate, I love that second shot!
Fantastic colour transition in the sky. I really like that they're verticals too.

The last two shots look like smoothly flowing magma. So awesome!!

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