Las Vegas Night

[Darcy Grizzle]

Went out shooting from the east side of town to get the sunset with Teresa. I was having some issues with my focus and was so frustrated when I went to edit, as I had taken close to 100 pics of the sunset & most were not sharp. This is one that came out decent, but it was really after the color was gone. I had edited it warmer & really sharpened it, went back & did a re-edit to this and liked it better with the blue and did not sharpen this time, just did a little noise reduction. Still not as crisp as I would have liked, but not as bad as I first thought either.

 

[BarryHamilton]

This is pretty nice, Darcy. Especially with the thin crescent moon showing some earthshine!
Is this one exposure? The city and land feel a wee touch under-exposed to me. I'd be tempted to take two exposures, one for the sky and one for the land, and blend them in PS.
And what is your focusing procedure?

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

This is pretty nice, Darcy. Especially with the thin crescent moon showing some earthshine!
Is this one exposure? The city and land feel a wee touch under-exposed to me. I'd be tempted to take two exposures, one for the sky and one for the land, and blend them in PS.
And what is your focusing procedure?

Yes this was one shot. this was at 50mm, f11, 1/2 second, ISO 640. I tipped the tripod, focused 1/3 into the frame, switched lens to manual, recomposed. I am pretty sure my settings were not the correct ones!

 

[BarryHamilton]

Yes this was one shot. this was at 50mm, f11, 1/2 second, ISO 640. I tipped the tripod, focused 1/3 into the frame, switched lens to manual, recomposed. I am pretty sure my settings were not the correct ones!

Those are good settings for the sky. Any more exposure time and the moon would start to blur from its motion through the sky. Did you get any longer exposures of the scene, amongst your 100 shots? It could be used to blend the land into the good sky exposure. For this scene it should be pretty simple. I am assuming you use Photoshop?

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Those are good settings for the sky. Any more exposure time and the moon would start to blur from its motion through the sky. Did you get any longer exposures of the scene, amongst your 100 shots? It could be used to blend the land into the good sky exposure. For this scene it should be pretty simple. I am assuming you use Photoshop?

Yes both photoshop & lightroom. No this was one of the last shots I took & with struggling I was pretty done. When I looked at them in lightroom I only saved 4 and threw the rest away

I will have to remember to do a couple shots, with different exposures next time I go out! One for sky & one for land.

 

[Kyle Jones]

For a scene like this, I'd just focus on the buildings. There's really no foreground to worry about.

I like the colors in this and the dark ground doesn't bother me.

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

For a scene like this, I'd just focus on the buildings. There's really no foreground to worry about.

I like the colors in this and the dark ground doesn't bother me.

Thank you Kyle!

 

[JimFox]

Hey Darcy,

This is a pretty cool looking shot. I agree with Kyle on what to focus on in an image like this.

What are you using for sharpening and noise reduction? And if this image is in that group you posted in the Critique Forum, you can answer that in that thread if you would like.