Daniel, I really like the composition of the two entries, don't get me wrong. I was just hoping to help out a bit on improving them a bit. I know it sucks when you have to compress these down for the challenge...you always lose a bit of what they look like in original. I like the reflection of the flag at the bottom of the image with whatever it is holding the flag up. What street was this taken on? ~Britt
Britt: many thanks for taking the time to analyze my entries! I must confess (in all modesty): I like this picture a lot. Therefore, I had it up in another challenge before, with little to no success either. I can see it’s dark; but I want it to be dark in order to «reflect» the atmosphere I felt there in a wintermonth’s late afternoon between skyscrapers. (Yes, I substituted—after reading your comment—a *slightly* lighter version.) And, of course, you’re right: it isn’t sharp, due to an exposure time of 1/2s handheld (what an insane idea of mine, instead of pumping up the ISO!); and partly also—I imagine—to the enormous amount of compression this picture needs to conform to the ctfchallenge rules. In addition, as you say, the focus is on the reflecting instead of on the reflected facade. And still: I do like this picture a lot... Anyway: thanks for your advise; I do apreciate. — db.
Daniel, The reflections of buildings are hard to get in NYC in some places because it can be pretty dark down low. You might want to try to bracket your exposures or just over expose +1/2 to +1 depending upon how dark it is, as the image is pretty dark. Play around with the exposures and see what you get. Did you sharpen this one? It seems just a bit flat too. It's hard to make reflections in windows sharp as the camera either focuses on the building itself or the reflection, using a smaller fstop like f/16 might help. Anyone else have some advice? ~Britt
