MC #3 - Help me decide (please)

coscorrosa

When I found out I was eligible for this challenge a few days ago I was thinking of wilderness and star trails and 10 minute exposures and freezing my butt off and all sorts of fun stuff. But I'm not going to have time to execute on any of those ideas before the contest period ends, so I decided to stay local and take some shots of the Seattle skyline.

I sort of blistered through the processing on these (I took them a few hours ago) so if there's any minor post-processing changes that you think may be beneficial, let me know, I'm sure I'll discover a few myself when I look at them again.

I've ranked these from my favorite (#1) to least favorite (#4).

I have color versions of all of them but I think the B&W brings out the "night"ness in these more than the color versions do.

Also, these are all XL size, I apologize if that's too big, but I think they look better bigger

#1:



#2: Taken 10 minutes after #1 (about 30 minutes after sunset), I'm kind of split evenly between this shot and the first shot.



#3 (5 minutes after #2):



#4 (Color version of #1):

pyroPrints.com

I rather like 2. It says "night" better.

clemensphoto's

#2 works for me.

Candid Arts

#1 works for me, the cloud detail is way better IMO. Although I do like the wide angle-ness of #3, but the cloud detail in #1 still takes the cake. Sky just looks weird in #2.

ic4u

It's a toss up for me between #1 and #2, with #1 having the edge! I like being able to see the horizon and the defintion around the lake. Really like the choice of B&W. They are all really great IMO, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them! Good luck!

Karrie McD

Wow, these are great! I think #1 is my fav.

Llywellyn

I prefer #1. I love the cloud detail and hint of shimmer on the lake, both of which are lost in #2.

coscorrosa

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I think I'll go with #1, I might try and tweak it some more to bring out more "night" without losing the details of the ocean and sky, but it's more likely I'll enter it as-is.

hawkeye978

I like #1 best. I wonder if the sky could use a little more drama?

richtersl

All of them are terrific.

To me #3 conveys "night" the best and has nice cloud detail in the sky.

#1 could be misconstrued with "dusk".

BeachBill

Love #1! Very nice image!

I like the composition and exposure the best in this one and those clouds, wow... they seal the deal.

PaulThomasMcKee

1 Love it! So crisp and very "night" to me.

sweet caroline

A little late, but another vote for #1. The light and the details in the clouds helps balance out the shot. Love the composition. Really amazing- makes me glad I'm not competing against you!

Caroline

coscorrosa

Thanks again to everyone who has provided feedback, I think I'll go with #1 as is. I agree that it's not quite as "night" as the second shot (mainly because it's not as dark), but I think it's "night enough" and is slightly better overall than #2 (it's all subjective though).

Now what am I going to title the stupid thing?

And ______less in Seattle is NOT an option!

Dumb ideas so far:

1) The Night Time is the Light Time (this is what I get for listening to Ray Charles on the way home tonight)
2) A Freeway Runs Through It (I think freeway has too many negative connotations)
3) Nighttime in Seattle (generic, blah)

I'm not even going to include the other ideas I had, they're even worse than these.

divamum

Late to the party, but I like 'em all (for different reasons)! I think you could choose any of them and be confident it was a strong image image

BeachBill

coscorrosa wrote:

Now what am I going to title the stupid thing?

How about something with "Emerald City" in the title?

coscorrosa

BeachBill wrote:

How about something with "Emerald City" in the title?

Actually, yeah, that might work.

"Night Falls in the Emerald City"

That's way better than anything I came up with (well, I sort of came up with half of that one, but you get my point ). I think I'll go with that. If someone can come up with a better one I can change it later.

Thanks for the help!

JAG

They are all great in their own right...but I do agree with Linda...#3 conveys the night theme more for me.