R
rocketman
Guest
I liked the Gazebo shots, too. They are very appealing photos and good, even exposures. My vote for the first shot was with a holiday card in mind. I feel that is a stronger image for that purpose. One could certainly mount that argument for the gazebo shots, too.
I rather liked the shallow depth of field--perhaps because it's more unusual in a night shot. The exposures are blown out though. That's the latitude of the image sensor. Because Alex exposed for the bike (and rightfully so) the much brighter lights on the tree/clock tend to be overexposed. One way to deal with this is fill flash (or if a longish exposure, a secondary light shining on the bike).
Your photos are generating discussion. That's always a good thing.
Yup, now that you mention it, it is the fact they are blown out more than simply out of focus. I noted that in the one above the slats and some of the lights were slightly out of focus but the exposure was such that I assumed it had some fill light and thus the lights are not blown out since it would have been shot with a faster shutter speed. Without them being blown out they are not so dominate in the photograph and are thus not so distracting. I should have considered that as I have just been doing some night shots that included strong lighting and have encountered that very aspect of night-time lighting trying to put together my series for the current challenge, which I am so far still struggling with! The third shot is still eluding me!
RM