Night shots. Please comment for further improovements.

[Saulius]

Hi

I am amateur and love photography though I'm not able to spend much time for this. There I attache some recent night shots. Please comment for further improvements. I am not sure about this immage. it balances on the edge of excitment and banality I think...[attachment=16007:IMGP6939.jpg]
The second picture is a crop of the previous shot. What do you think?[attachment=16008:IMGP6939_2.jpg]
Pictures with tipi and shades of people...[attachment=16009:IMGP7052.jpg] which one you would like more? I can't decide.[attachment=16010:IMGP7052_2.jpg]
The fifth picture had to be a night shot with the full moon light on the misty (foggy) camp. 20 min. of exposure seems to be too long. Dont you think so? It seems like early morning, but it is about midnight. Generally, I doubt about this picture.[attachment=16011:IMGP7053.jpg]
Does BW version of this picture looks better?[attachment=16012:IMGP7053_2.jpg]

Please be open and make critique.

By the way, what improvements to what immage you would suggest? I am biased here because, as amateur, I got slightly better results than I expected, so I'm havig a moment of pleasure  (for a moment :-)).


Thanks
Saulius

[wolfnowl]

Hi There:

The star trails in the first one are a nice touch.  I don't like the vertical crop of the second one.  Of the third and fourth, I prefer the colour balance of the fourth one.  And the B&W version (6?) add a nice historic feel to the image.

Overall, not bad!

Mike.

[byork]

Hi There:

The star trails in the first one are a nice touch.  I don't like the vertical crop of the second one.  Of the third and fourth, I prefer the colour balance of the fourth one.  And the B&W version (6?) add a nice historic feel to the image.

Overall, not bad!

Mike.

My thoughts exactly...although I would add of the first one (my favourite), that the composition works very well. I like the sloping tree line that mirrors the star trails, and the group of Tipi's completes the frame.

Cheers
Brian

[Saulius]

Hi There:

The star trails in the first one are a nice touch.  I don't like the vertical crop of the second one.  Of the third and fourth, I prefer the colour balance of the fourth one.  And the B&W version (6?) add a nice historic feel to the image.

Overall, not bad!

Mike.

Thanks Mike

I have been away for a few days, so wasn't able to respond. I'd like to have your opinion about color picture #5. I can see, that either composition or something else is wrong here. It seems to me, that attention goes to tipis far away in perspective while the composinios key place tackes the tipi in front. I would like your oppinion about this shot. Maybe I have to forget this shot in color and focus more on B/W version of it.

Thanks

[Saulius]

Hello
Thanks for comments... I have been away for awhile so now I draw this post from the recent past  
My eye is not trained enough yet to look at my shots with objectivity. I still have this amateur excitement. Often later I wonder why I thought it is something special. So now I ask for your opinion and comments what shot above you would suggest as worthy of attention. I would like suggestions on post processing of the first or any other picture that you would find as worthy of attention.
Thanks a lott.
Saulius

P.S.
Pleas forgive my lack of modesty. I want to learn from more experienced photographers.

[dalethorn]

Hello
Thanks for comments... I have been away for awhile so now I draw this post from the recent past  
My eye is not trained enough yet to look at my shots with objectivity. I still have this amateur excitement. Often later I wonder why I thought it is something special. So now I ask for your opinion and comments what shot above you would suggest as worthy of attention. I would like suggestions on post processing of the first or any other picture that you would find as worthy of attention.
Thanks a lott.
Saulius
P.S.  Pleas forgive my lack of modesty. I want to learn from more experienced photographers.

An excellent set of images to critique.  Here's what I saw in order by how they appear on my screen:

1. Teepee too bright.  I did not see the usefulness of such brightness, which obscures the remainder of the photo.
2. Much better - now the teepee has interesting subjects projected as shadows on the teepee wall.
3. Did not impress me as well as #2.  Sometimes B&W really stands out, and sometimes it falls flat.
4. Interesting - the collection of teepees suggests a village, or a group meeting for an event.
5. This is one where the B&W actually works better (for me anyway) than the color image. Here the soft light in the lower center suggests a ground fog or something, where in the color version it didn't suggest anything except to obscure some detail.

BTW, the star trails would be good if the photos were larger or more detailed, but at this resolution, they're hardly noticeable.

[Saulius]

An excellent set of images to critique.  Here's what I saw in order by how they appear on my screen:

1. Teepee too bright.  I did not see the usefulness of such brightness, which obscures the remainder of the photo.
2. Much better - now the teepee has interesting subjects projected as shadows on the teepee wall.
3. Did not impress me as well as #2.  Sometimes B&W really stands out, and sometimes it falls flat.
4. Interesting - the collection of teepees suggests a village, or a group meeting for an event.
5. This is one where the B&W actually works better (for me anyway) than the color image. Here the soft light in the lower center suggests a ground fog or something, where in the color version it didn't suggest anything except to obscure some detail.

BTW, the star trails would be good if the photos were larger or more detailed, but at this resolution, they're hardly noticeable.

Thanks for respond.
I also find the front tipi in the first immage a little too bright, though Adobe LightRoom shows no burnout. What do you think, If to correct this, is it worthy to crop it like in #2? For me this image is more informative when has more space.

[Saulius]

By the way,
Speaking about the last B/W picture with teepee village, what do you think, do I have to deepen black tones here? PP is my weakest side. I know... these kind of questions should go to section "Stupid questions", but I could not find one here   .

Thanks for patients

[Dick Roadnight]

Hi

I am amateur and love photography though I'm not able to spend much time for this. There I attache some recent night shots. Please comment for further improvements.

Saulius

Generally with "night" photography it is best to work at dawn or dusk, so you can get detail in areas not lit by artificial light, as is evident in the monochrome pic.

[dalethorn]

Thanks for respond.
I also find the front tipi in the first immage a little too bright, though Adobe LightRoom shows no burnout. What do you think, If to correct this, is it worthy to crop it like in #2? For me this image is more informative when has more space.

You could crop a little on the left, but I think everything on the right makes it better.

[dalethorn]

By the way,
Speaking about the last B/W picture with teepee village, what do you think, do I have to deepen black tones here? PP is my weakest side. I know... these kind of questions should go to section "Stupid questions", but I could not find one here   .
Thanks for patients

You could try to deepen the black tones, but whatever change you make should be *very* little, because the photo is near perfect now.

[Dick Roadnight]

Generally with "night" photography it is best to work at dawn or dusk, so you can get detail in areas not lit by artificial light, as is evident in the monochrome pic.

Have you tried increasing the background detail by desaturating from the green channel? ...or by filtering some other how?

The guy rope/wires or whatever they are to the left of the left tee pee tend to lead the eye out of the picture