Slivery Moon Sunset

[pmccurdy]

Hello All,

This will be my first whipping, but have at it - I'm thick-skinned.

I shot this last night after dinner at a local eatery. This is highly cropped but, other than a slight color balance adjustment (-10 red->cyan), otherwise untouched. 70mm, ISO 400, F7.1 at 1/4 second.

Obviously the focus is very soft. I think a sharp focus would ruin it (the signs in the LR would be legible and distracting), but does it still work with the soft focus?

Any other advice also welcome.

Cheers,

Patrick

http://pmccurdy.smugmug.com/photos/34949777-M.jpg

[erich6]

I think the soft focus is fine in this shot...there really isn't much to miss from a sharper version of it. I would have bumped up the exposure just a tad...maybe a 1/3 of a stop.

I think the composition is unbalanced. There's just not enough going on in the sky even with the moon there to counter the busy street. I don't think the center location of the moon works here. I would've repositioned myself to get the moon more to the right side. This might have allowed you to ge more of the palm trees on the left. I'm not sure but this might have given more weight to the vertical shot with the added frame.

Since you cropped this from a larger version you might also try to play around with a horizontal cut....

Erich

[pmccurdy]

I think the composition is unbalanced. There's just not enough going on in the sky even with the moon there to counter the busy street. I don't think the center location of the moon works here. I would've repositioned myself to get the moon more to the right side. This might have allowed you to ge more of the palm trees on the left. I'm not sure but this might have given more weight to the vertical shot with the added frame.

Since you cropped this from a larger version you might also try to play around with a horizontal cut....

Erich

Thanks for your feedback, Erich. It was a drive-by (not a shot I had planned) and I had little lattitude to move around. Also, on the cropping, there were so many other distracting elements in the original that I doubt I could have cropped much better.

Regarding compostion, I think you're right. I need to get over my obsession with centering things like the moon.

Thanks again for the critique. Your comments are appreciated.

Patrick

[Cantfeelmyfingers]

I really love this picture... The gradation of the sky.. the moon.. silhouette of the trees.. city life.. I really like it. The ONLY thing that seems off.. is that it seems a wee bit blurry? Maybe it's just this computer screen or the size of the picture. All in all though I really do love this picture. Looks like one you'd blow up and hang behind a couch or something lol. (meant as a compliment!) Jamie.