Photo Critique #120

Photo Critique #120

on Jan 20th 2012 with 12 comments

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image. It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Details & Inspiration

  • Canon 550D
  • 14mm
  • f/2.8
  • 25 sec.
  • ISO 400

I like night shots. This is a technical challenge but when the picture is successful, the result is sublime. Thank you for your opinions. :)

Photographer: Xavier Bourdon

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

Tags: nighttree
 
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Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • Tom De Smet

    I think this picture is very nice. Personally, I would have moved my composition a bit to the right so the smaller trees in the back would be more evenly devided and there wouldn’t be an empty space on the left.
    Second, I would have added more contrast in post so the branches of the big tree would be more visible. It’s a bit too dark for my taste now.

    But none the less a good pic!

  • http://photo.adesignstudio.net Alyo

    I think the image is too dark. If I were you i would increase the ISO and even increase the exposure time. In this case you would get also nice longer star trails.

  • http://www.transitionsphotostudio.com/ Travis

    Agree with Alyo, the image is so dark at the top you can’t distinguish between the tree and the sky, I love the hint of orange from the sun at the bottom, if the exposure time was just a bit longer the tree would have remained a complete silhouette and ended up with a better shot. Nice job though

  • bryan

    i love it! i can see what people are saying about the darkness but it works for me when its in full rez!

  • http://www.dcpimages.com Dominic

    I love the idea behind this photo. Its as if the tree and the sky are one connected entity. That being said I think the composition could be improved by either having the tree be the exact center of the image or by moving it to the right “third” of the image. It does come across as too “dark” because there is too much of the foreground in the shot, crop some of it out and you will solve that problem. Other than that its a killer photo, Is that glow from a city in the background or was it done in post?

  • Nigel

    Yes it’s nearly a great photo. It’s a bit under exposed for my taste, I tend to spot meter off the background sky to produce a nice balance of lighting and darkening the tree silhouette.
    Very nice though thank you
    Nigel o

  • http://cmfolio.com cmfolio

    I do think the sky could really pop. You could either composite multiple shots together or maybe expose a little longer. But don’t turn your ISO up or you will get noise. The stars are starting to trail a little bit and I think you either want them completely still, or visibly trailing. I saw this tutorial on another photo site and think its something you’d be interested in: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-shoot-the-night-sky-introduction-to-astrophotography

    I haven’t gotten to try it yet, but looks like you can get some great results. Also they mention a formula for calculating the longest exposure time without getting star trails so you can keep the stars still.

  • vasekk92

    It is really nice photography, nothing new, but good colour and composition, on the otherhand you shoud retouch a highwoltage, for me its quiet distubing. I know from my own experience, the highwoltage can be very anoing and it is almost everywhere.

  • seanpking

    I like it ….you don’t want night pictures to look like the day.Night time is where you Visually have to have your brain help fill in the missing info….just enough fill light to silhouette the trees and fore ground having the tree fade into the sky pulls you into the stars …well done

  • http://16fivephotography.wordpress.com Valerie Close Evans

    Hi. I’m afraid, for me, this photograph doesn’t quite work. If the tree wasn’t there, and the subject was clearly the night sky, then it would be almost right. I agree with the comments above that the stars should be either visibly trailing, or not at all, and this can be achieved by layering shots (it’s not an easy task to master by any means). However, if the subject is the landscape and the sky is meant to be a background, then it’s underexposed. Not that you should try to build an exposure that turns night into day, but this isn’t balanced just now and that makes it difficult to know what you’re trying to show us (sky, or landscape?) One way or another, the tree is poorly positioned in the middle of the frame, failing to frame or balance the image.

    Having come down quite hard, I have to say I do think only a couple of minor tweaks one way or another would have produced a much better shot, and it’s incredibly difficult to find either dark sky sites or good (safe and accessible) landscapes for night-sky shots, so kudos for getting out there and giving it a go. If you really want to push astrophotography, I recommend visiting Jerry Lodriguiss’s site or reading Phillips ‘Astrophotography’ by HJP Arnold to start with. And best of luck, I hope you’ll find it an incredibly rewarding discipline!

  • Nene

    There’s an amazing picture in there. I tried to bring out the hidden sky on photoshop, and the result was stunning. A leafless tree silouhetted against a starry sky!

    My verdict: Great shot. But needs some post processing.

  • Terry

    I love this shot. But like some of the comments, I think the tree in the middle, unbalances the image. I’m sure that the photographer would have come to that conclusion too. What we dont see, may have been the problem. Maybe there was something that spoilt things just out of shot. However, I would have used duplicate layers to improve composition and over exposed the whole image a little bit. Overall, a nice shot with stunning colour and one I would have liked to have a go at.