POTM [3/08] City's Edge

Hey
So this is my first POTM, exciting!


Canon 400D 30 sec exposure @ f/5.6 18mm with kit lens

Just a bit of a background, it was -20c about -4f and I was on the highway overlooking the city I live in, Corner Brook Newfoundland. Population is about 22,000 maybe 30,000 if you include surrounding small communities. The plume in the center of the shot is the local pulp and paper mill, the town was built as a logging town and today still runs it, Corner Brook Pulp and Paper is the name if you want to google it. And no it's not 100% smoke they are pumping to the air, mostly steam from the machines, colder the night the bigger the plume.

Would like to hear constructive criticism on this picture as it is a part of my first day out with the XTi since I bought it a few weeks ago. I will have others from the day time up soon. Thanks!
-aaron

P.S. I tired to post this on the potm site and it said it was closed or under maintenance. I waited and tried again and nothing, any ideas?

 

I think it's beautiful and the colors are great. Only thing I can put my finger on is perhaps that you should even out the horizon.

Cheers!

 

looks really god. The puff of steam make it look more special.

I agree with OleJ, though. It looks like it could use a bit of rotation to the left.

 

Could you post it adjusted to the left? Not to be lazy but I can't see it myself, I don't have the photographers eye yet. The city is nestled in a valley and the foreground of the crooked snow bank might be playing with my eyes on the horizon. I'll try to get up and take a picture during a clear day to show the difference, thanks for the comments, I was beginning to wonder at 30 views and no comments something was wrong :S
-aaron

 

Something like that

There is a lot of diagonal lines in the picture, so getting the horizon right is a bit difficult.


Oh, and don't be discouraged by the lack of comments. The photo forum isn't the most active here on BT.

 

So are you going by the pinkish line on the horizon to judge if it's framed correctly? And thanks for taking the time to show me.
-aaron

 

Nice shot. Correcting the angle helped, but still a great shot. The colors turned out really nice.

 

I think I prefer the original. The area appears to have a lot of hills an other similar geographic features, and without a distinctive line (i.e. flat ocean meeting the sky) it will be hard to nail the horizon exactly. The rotated version actually looks crooked to my eye.

Otherwise it's a pretty good night shot of your city.

-monkey

 

I like where this one is going, however, I think it would have benefited from a slightly shorter exposure time, say about 25 seconds.
As it is some area's are overexposed, although that's to be expected in this type of shot.
I also think it's a little soft, obviously at 30 seconds you used a tripod but do you have a shutter release cable or mirror lockup to remove all movement?
A remote shutter release is the best investment I've made (£5).

 

@ BigPoppa - Thank you.

@ Supermonkey - The are is very hilly and is in a valley sloping downward to a bay which is the main way to transport the finished mill product (newspaper) Thanks for the comment.

@ Yoda - I took a bunch of different exposure times and upon reviewing the picture in RAW it says 15 seconds, but I can't remember taking one for that, weird, but I also noticed the over exposed parts (right side, left of plume, far left of plume) The right is this car dealership section of town, a Walmart, Canadian tire, etc and their parking lot lights were a bit much. By the plume is the "downtown" region and left side I'm not sure.

And I do have, actually two remote shutter releases. I was standing in the back of my truck for this to get above the snow bank and it was cold and I tired not to shift around, plus I didn't use a remote shutter release at the time so I will try to get another if it's clear this weekend. Thank you.

-aaron