Is this a keeper or should I toss it?

sarasphotos

On our recent short trip to Tyrol I took a series of shots one evening from our hotel room balcony (it was very cold!). I used the balcony railing as a tripod and gingerly pressed the shutter release. The lens was zoomed to about 90mm, F9, .5 sec, ISO 3200.

C & C appreciated.

denisegoldberg

I like this one Sara!
I think it's the combination of the haze and the light on the tower that pulls me in.

sarasphotos

Thanks, Denise. This fog effect only happened on one evening and I'm glad I braved the cold to capture it.

Stumblebum

Brilliant Sara! Love this!

sarasphotos

Thanks Taz, glad you like it.

OrvSal

I'd keep this image but crop it into a vertical and clone out the lighter spot in the shadow, add a touch of vignette, sharpen a bit. Whatever you feel about the scene that you saw is what matters the most as all images are unique and open to interpretation. Enjoy making it "your own"

Juano

A keeper for sure, it lends itself to alternative processing techniques. Have fun!

ziggy53

I like this a lot, Sara! Reminds me of a rocketship blasting off.
The lights in the foreground house do distract a bit and I think that digitally dousing them is justifiable.
Absolutely a keeper!

black mamba

I think it's a great shot, Sara. I agree with Ziggy about the foreground lights.....I would even go further and zap the two distracting spots of light off to the right of the tower. This leaves the tower alone to capture the viewers sole attention. It's really almost a magical scene.

roaddog52

A keeper. Very moody and mysterious! I agree regarding the lights.
Phil

sarasphotos

@OrvSal @Juano @ziggy53 @black mamba @roaddog52 Thank you all for the comments. Here it is again with the suggested lights zapped and once for @OrvSal with a vertical crop. In the original photo there were other lights that I zapped away - I left those two because I felt they provided a sense of depth and "life" if you will.

roaddog52

Very Nice! The vertical doesn't really strike me like the original.

Phil

OrvSal

Thanks Sara, either works for me. I do prefer most horizontal shots because I do mostly wall decor, so it depends on what and where you want to use it.

Jeff_Parham

> @sarasphotos said:
> On our recent short trip to Tyrol I took a series of shots one evening from our hotel room balcony (it was very cold!). I used the balcony railing as a tripod and gingerly pressed the shutter release. The lens was zoomed to about 90mm, F9, .5 sec, ISO 3200.
>
> C & C appreciated.

Hi Sara,
I like the horizontal shot. The image is very atmospheric and you have managed to catch a moody shot! Its a Keeper! :)
Jeff

Cornflake

Wonderfully moody. I like the revision in landscape orientation. At first I thought you might crop it a little more but I've changed my mind. Good work!

sarasphotos

@Jeff_Parham said:
Hi Sara,
I like the horizontal shot. The image is very atmospheric and you have managed to catch a moody shot! Its a Keeper!
Jeff

@Cornflake said:
Wonderfully moody. I like the revision in landscape orientation. At first I thought you might crop it a little more but I've changed my mind. Good work!

Jeff, Don, thank you both for the comments!

Juano

Horizontal version for sure. I would still play with grain, exposure and contrast a bit more.

El Gato

Sara...

The revised image looks great. I think it might work with some grain removed, however, adding some grain might really produce a different "look" that would also be interesting.

Well, done on the initial image, especially with a balcony as your stabilizer/tripod!

sarasphotos

Thank you all for the comments!! Here is one final version - I've taken back the brightness on the front of the church tower and played a bit more with the noise, but there's only so much you can do with a m43 camera with a zoom lens at ISO 3200, added to that, noise reduction/sharpening is probably the weakest link in my Lightroom skillset.

ziggy53

@sarasphotos said:
Thank you all for the comments!! Here is one final version - I've taken back the brightness on the front of the church tower and played a bit more with the noise, but there's only so much you can do with a m43 camera with a zoom lens at ISO 3200, added to that, noise reduction/sharpening is probably the weakest link in my Lightroom skillset.

This is the best of all, with enough foreground detail to give it raison d'être, without distracting from the subject. Großartig und schön!

black mamba

I agree completely with Ziggy. I can only assume that his congratulatory remarks are spot on. In my case......terrific, Sara.

sarasphotos

@ziggy53, @black mamba Ziggy,Tom, thanks for the nice compliments

And thanks to everyone for helping me reach the point of being satisfied with the picture.