B&W misty cobbles

Nice capture. Would have liked to see a slightly wider view. I can't help but think it feels a little claustrophobic. I would also try to bring down the highlights just a tad. But a great image nonetheless.
 
Feels claustrophobic?

My work here is done :D

Yeah, I had to be very careful in post to manage the streetlights - they're blown, obviously, but the challenge was to make sure they blended in.
 
Yea, I just meant I'd like to see a bit more of the scene. But it's just a personal opinion. I wouldn't be able to get a shot like that. I'd screw it up when it came down to it. :D
 
The most interesting part of the shot is the cobbles, because of the way the light hits them, so id probably try to make more out of that to honest. The rest of the scene is dominated by the street lamps, which are just way too bright,. I think I would have tried to get lower down and included more of the cobbles and less of the lights.

Just my opinion of course.

Cheers
 
I love the image with the exception of the streetlights - IMO far too bright. I've just done a google image search for "misty street lights" so you can see what I mean. I think if the lights were more hazy, you'd have an awesome image.
 
pwhysall said:
All advice on how to manage the brightness of the streetlights when shooting with one's phone gratefully received :D
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If youd made that information available when you posted, perhaps you wouldn't have wasted everyones time eh? Remember, you have posted in a critique section, so will receive suggestions regarding exposure. Maybe you should be a little more forthcoming next time.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
If youd made that information available when you posted, perhaps you wouldn't have wasted everyones time eh? Remember, you have posted in a critique section, so will receive suggestions regarding exposure. Maybe you should be a little more forthcoming next time.
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And yet, with just one little click, you land on the Flickr page, where all the EXIF information is there to see. It's not exactly one of Snowden's Secrets.

No need to be a berk about things, eh?
 
Why should we have to go chasing the info? People are already bothering to offer constructive crit, even though you are obviously non appreciative of that. What exactly were you after when you posted it?
 
I was just sharing a picture I took that I quite liked. There were some good comments, including yours, before you spat your dummy out. And if clicking once is "chasing" to you, then oh my. #firstworldproblems

I wasn't particularly looking for crit - although I'm amenable to it - and I indicated this by the cunning ruse of not putting a Critique tag on the thread.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
If youd made that information available when you posted, perhaps you wouldn't have wasted everyones time eh? Remember, you have posted in a critique section, so will receive suggestions regarding exposure. Maybe you should be a little more forthcoming next time.
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What a rude and unnecessary response.
 
If that was taken on a phone I think you've done a good job. I dont think the lights are too be tbh. My suggestion would be however, to try and clone out the sign and maybe the car on the left. If you cant take the car out then just clone the reflection of its lights. Otherwise I think its very atmospheric and for some reason makes me think of a Dr Who scene :wacky:
 
pwhysall said:
I was just sharing a picture I took that I quite liked. There were some good comments, including yours, before you spat your dummy out. And if clicking once is "chasing" to you, then oh my. #firstworldproblems

I wasn't particularly looking for crit - although I'm amenable to it - and I indicated this by the cunning ruse of not putting a Critique tag on the thread.
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Yet you posted in a critique section...

If you think I spat my dummy out, you obviously dont know the meaning of the phrase. If you thought some of the comments were good, why not acknowledge that instead of appearing to dismiss them out of hand.

Oh and by the way, this isnt Twitter. The hashtag makes you look like a plumb.
 
I've shot this particular location a couple of times and I'm always torn about the sign (agree about the car; I'm toying with the idea of revisiting tomorrow morning if the weather's right, and will compose with more care). On the one hand, you're quite right; it's obtrusive. On the other, this is a street scene, and that sign is very much part of it.

I'll just have to ring the council to get them to take it out. Boom! Instant authenticity!
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Yet you posted in a critique section...

If you think I spat my dummy out, you obviously dont know the meaning of the phrase. If you thought some of the comments were good, why not acknowledge that instead of appearing to dismiss them out of hand.

Oh and by the way, this isnt Twitter. The hashtag makes you look like a plumb.
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Let me ask you a question. What do you hope to achieve with this line of discussion? You're not going to teach me anything, and your disapprobrium really means nothing to me. You're not a mod, so you can't actually force me do anything. You might think you're making me look bad, but I'm not really bothered about that either.

So, I'm forced to wonder: what is it that you're doing?
 
I know what you mean about cloning. I can be difficult to decide as it could be part of the scene. The reason I mentioned it is because of the light hitting it it draws my eye to it. I wouldnt mind phoning the electric company sometimes and get them to take their damn pillons and wires down, not to mention zoos with their cages lol
 
pwhysall said:
Let me ask you a question. What do you hope to achieve with this line of discussion? You're not going to teach me anything, and your disapprobrium really means nothing to me. You're not a mod, so you can't actually force me do anything. You might think you're making me look bad, but I'm not really bothered about that either.

So, I'm forced to wonder: what is it that you're doing?
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Peter, im not trying to achieve anything. When you post a picture in a critique section of the forum, certain assumptions are made. We would assume you wanted critique for a start, and once someone had offered critique, I dont think it would have been too much to ask of you to answer those people with answers that showed at least some appreciation that they had taken the time to comment. Thats just common courtesy, surely. Instead you just respond showing real arrogance ( backed up by the 'you are not going to teach me anything') response above. And no, im not a Mod, well spotted, but why do I need to be a mod to point this stuff out to you?
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Peter, im not trying to achieve anything. When you post a picture in a critique section of the forum, certain assumptions are made. We would assume you wanted critique for a start, and once someone had offered critique, I dont think it would have been too much to ask of you to answer those people with answers that showed at least some appreciation that they had taken the time to comment. Thats just common courtesy, surely. Instead you just respond showing real arrogance ( backed up by the 'you are not going to teach me anything') response above. And no, im not a Mod, well spotted, but why do I need to be a mod to point this stuff out to you?
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Welcome to CaresAboutThisStuffInThisThreadsville, population: you.
 
pwhysall said:
. You're not a mod, so you can't actually force me do anything.
So, I'm forced to wonder: what is it that you're doing?
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Nikon_Nick said:
And no, im not a Mod, well spotted, but why do I need to be a mod to point this stuff out to you?
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OK one mod checking in.
I'm not gonna force anyone to do anything either.

But I will ask that the thread gets back on track.
If you have a problem with each other,
You have an advantage over us mods and that is you have an ignore button ;)
 
It's not perfect but...
pwhysallstreetscene_zps5cf6a0af.jpg
 
2nd mod checking in to add to what Chris has already said - we often find ourselves repeating this, but will do so again - ALL image sharing sections are for comment & critique [apart from photos for pleasure], the critique tag is for when someone wants very specific indepth critique. Just for clarity, adding a little context to an image, by way of some explanatory text to accompany it can prevent various rattles and dummies creating a mess on the floor.
So with all that in mind, back to comments of advice on the image please.
 
pwhysall said:
If you're repeating it often, it should probably be a sticky at the top of all the forums to which it applies.
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Yes, because stickies are always read by everyone... well, in forum running dreams might be, the reality is somewhat different. TP has always had the ethos that photos posted in the image sharing sections, unless in PfP, are open to comment and critique unless specifically requested in the OP that none is wanted or they are where they should be in PfP. The aim of this forum has always been to try and help people improve by sharing advice and help and is why the 'nice shot' comments can be so frustrating, though we know we are probably never going to stop that completely given we live in the flickr/facebook generation. This is why it is also a good idea to post some information about the photo in the OP too - it means any comments you do receive are directed at any help you might want, so for instance in this case, how to control highlights on a camera phone.

However, I will concede that thread in which Marcel clarified all this yet again last year has dropped down the page in forum help, so will do something about writing something to go in the resources section together with all the other stuff and rules pages that are in there. You never know, someone might read it...

Anyway, as to the picture, the only way I have ever found of doing it with the phone is to pop the little focus square onto the highlight, but then of course, the rest is under-exposed - less of a problem if you are putting it through an editing program later, but of course we often don't do that, or the app based programs simply don't have the functionality to deal with lifting shadow areas or tweak exposure in some bits but not others. I have an app on mine [android] called ProHDR camera, which actually does a great job at balancing extreme scenes like this without looking too much like HDR, which might be worth looking at too. It just takes 3 exposures and blends them, can be a bit violet with the greens in landscapes sometimes, but then I have found this summer that even my DSLR photos can look like the green saturation of the grass/shrubs can be a bit in your face, simply because everything has been so ridiculously lush this year.
Having said all that, I actually quite like the original image, the blown lights really don't worry me at all, they are atmospheric. As someone else as said though, I might have tried a lower angle too, to concentrate on the cobbles and hopefully lose all but the most distant lights.
 
The cobbles did come out nicely, didn't they? I was actually looking to use the triangle of cobbles and the double-yellow line on the road to lead the viewer's eye into the misty distance, and to that end, I actually like the overbright lights because they represent reasonably accurately the scene as I saw it - albeit with a little more contrast - by crushing the distant details into the mist, thus providing a bit of Victorian-esque murderin'-time atmosphere. (I wasn't really looking for serious advice on how to manage a difficultly-lit scene with a phone; if I were, I would have asked outright in the first post, and a response of "you need a GND for your phone" would have been fun, forex.)

Another objective of the shot was to make a photograph with some depth, and I think that it's partially successful in that regard; it would have been better with a bit more mist.

I also shot specifically with the intent of processing into B&W. The streetlights around here are an awful sickly pale yellow colour. You can kindasorta fix the WB (and the fact that the 1020 shoots RAW is a massive help in that regard) in post, but the result generally looks pretty dreadful, so shooting for B&W is the pragmatic option.
 
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