Forum Competition #121 Turn your lights down low!

[Paul Jones]

I was out in Oban Harbour one night and spotted this ship turning its lights on.
I never carry a tripod, so the shot was taken hand-held, braced against a wall for steadiness.

[collier15]

M6 at Gathurst bridge tonight around 6pm.

Michael

[Ian Yarwood]

My entry, taken of Imperial War Museum at Salford Quays last November

[lisacroft]

I am a new member, so my first try,
Lisa

[lisacroft]

Sorry I made it too big, will try again next time.

[Janice Freeman]

Sirmione Sept 13 (117) b.jpg (172.16 KiB) Viewed 8993 times

Evening at the Harbour - Sirmione

[Phil Ingham]

Thanks to everyone that joined in this week. There are some great shots for this theme which makes my task harder. I will give my open and honest views on each shot. I won't say anything negative, I will personally give honest balanced feedback on the shots for this theme.

I will give the final results at the end.

Adam - I personally love this shot. It has me looking into every corner of the shot. I had to look twice to see if the light in the shot was a sunset. It looks like a lamp post directly below the light. I see there is another similar post to the left with no light at the top, so I'm unsure if the light is the sun bursting through or a lamp post. It has a great warm feel and the post editing (HDR??) is well balanced. I would personally remove the lamp posts as mentioned.

Tracey - Another beautiful shot. I love the colours in your shot especially the sky. The foreground is good with lots to see, people, boats, shops and even a camp fire on the far right. The cranes on the skyline really draw my attention, I would consider removing them, but overall a very beautiful shot.

Yachtsman1 - I really like the cold feel to the shot. You said in your intro that It was a freezing night when you took this pic and before I read your comments on your shot I was shivering!! It has been composed really well. I was thinking that you should have left the legs of the table in the fore ground in the shot but the more I look at your pic, the more I like what you have done by cutting them off. Your shot has a great feel and balanced light throughout the shot.

Tony - I have yet to take event or gig shots. I understand that taking shots in these is very hard due to the lighting conditions. Your pic has amazing depth to it. I love the colours in the your shot and I expected the audience to be darker than what they actually are in the shot. I can't believe you have taken this handheld!! Credit to you!! I might be wrong, but your shot does not look edited in any way, again, if the shot is untouched...full credit to you!! I personally could only improve the shot by cropping the bottom 1/4 and a little from the top. Otherwise, a great all round picture!

Mike - Great shot of Media City. Love the general feel and HDR tones. Personally I would consider lowering the saturation level of the shot ever so slightly just to lower the yellow in the lights. It has been composed really well and is very sharp.

Donna - Lovely tranquil shot, very very peaceful and natural. The sky is great and you have caught a stunning shot. Without knowing the surroundings where you took the shot, but I would have loved to have seen this in landscape. I think losing some of the sky would have given the eye more foreground attention in the pic. Overall, a beautiful capture!

Mel - Yes I agree with you, a fantastic reflection! I would suggest cropping this shot to loose the candy stick from the bottom of the shot, and a very slight crop to the left to loose the light on the far left of the shot.

John - (must be careful here!!) Brilliantly composed and is sharp throughout the shot. There is detail everywhere in the pic. Love that you have managed to capture pedestrians to give a slight feel of the hustle and bustle of a city. I would have loved to have seen this as a 20 sec exposure to capture the lights of the cars moving.

Paul - I love everything about his shot. Composed brilliantly. Love that there is a second smaller boat in the foreground. Love the depth of the shot and the mountains in the distance really give an depth of space and surrounding to the shot. Sky is perfect, and can't believe you took this hand held! This deserves to be in a travel brochure.

Michael - I don't know if it is just my laptop, but when the shots are large, I have to click on the shot to expand it. When I expanded it, my eye was drawn to the central reservation bottom centre of the shot. I would just have the shot "as is" shown on the forum. A perfectly good LE. Lights are great, well composed (regardless of the central reservation) and clear and sharp throughout the shot.

Ian - I remember that sky!!! Good overall shot of the Imperial war museum. I personally would have composed the shot more to the left to get the full silhouette of the war museum with that amazing sky in the back drop.

Lisa - A beautiful shot. Shooting directly into the sun is very difficult without getting any flare in the shot, but you have managed to have achieved it! Your shot is composed really well and I would have loved to have seen the silhouette of the tug boat in the reflection of the sun. I'm not too sure if you have edited your shot slightly by increasing your saturation, if you haven't...well done!! Is this a HDR shot?? I would really love to know, because the sky and clouds look as if they have had a touch of HDR in them, but the tug boat doesn't.

Janice - Again, a beautiful shot. Really love the warmth and feel to your pic. If I was to be really picky, I would remove the white rail in the bottom right of the shot and crop the right side slightly so the edge of the frame meets the edge of the boat on the right, buts that Is really being picky. I do like this shot.

Results

3rd Place - Janice Freeman.

2nd Place - Paul Jones.

Winner! 1st Place - Yachtsman1. Congratulations!! Please pick the next theme!!

Thanks you all again for submitting your shots, I really enjoyed looking through them and I hope I gave balanced feedback!

Kind Regards

Phil.

[yachtsman1]

Thanks Phil
We really suffered for our art taking that shot & all the others my wife & I took that evening. After seeing some of the other shots entered I didn't think I would win. A new subject??? I will give it some thought overnight & post it Tuesday. Thanks again.
Eric
PS The picture attached is one I took of my wife on the same evening using the camera that is now for sale on here.

Margaret & her D40 on a night shoot in Hawes Wensleydale. by E & MS, on Flickr

[Janice Freeman]

Congratulations to Yachtsman (Eric) on winning this comp. Some fantastic images and very difficult to have to pick a winner. Well done Phil. For me this was a 'first' in low light photography and I am very pleased to have been placed. As always, look forward to the next subject.

Jan

[John]

Well done Phil, you've done a great job at setting and judging the competition. Well done all you winners!

Over to Eric.....

[Paul Jones]

Good judging Phil.