Night lights of 312 Bridge in St Augustine

I had posted this photo on another forum a couple months ago and never got a response on it. I'm posting it here to see what you all think and any suggestions. I like taking long exposures but don't get to take them too often. On of the things that I don't like is that the stop lights are kind of over powering. Any suggestions on how I may be able to not have them so intense? And overall, what do you think of the picture?


Exposure 3 sec at f/6.7
Focal Length 135mm
ISO 100
Metering Pattern

I like the picture. But, the only way that I can see to lessen the intensity of the traffic lights is to not have them in the picture.
This is a 3 second exposure. Because those lights are the closest to you, they will be the most intense in any long exposure.
You might want to consider another location without traffic lights.
Also, I would crop this as 8' X 10" and lose the left side billboard with the incomplete spelling of Badcock. It adds nothing to
the composition and draws the eye away from the focal point, which is the bridge.
Other than those points, I really like the shot.

Hope this helps

Pete

I personally think it's fine. The bright stop lights actually draw your eye into the photograph....which is the point in the first place, isn't it.
Having said that, what about changing the angle from which the shot is taken, so as not to get the full force of the traffic lights into the lens? Just a suggestion.

I had played around with cropping the photo but I didn't post that one. I do agree that cropping it would be a good idea. I was standing on another over pass to get the shot, unfortunately there really isn't too much area to move around, but I will have to take another look at the area.

Thanks for your input,

Marc - Sorry I'm late responding to your request for a critique. The hard drive on my computer died and I have spent a couple of days getting everything up and running again.

The suggestion I have in shooting directly into lights like this is to use a neutral density filter to take out the glare. I have a set of ND1 up to ND3. I also have a CPL Polarizer which is in effect a 1.5 ND. In a shot like this the subject is the lights but they are not very attractive if they are just glaring at you. The important details are the ones in and around the areas lit by the lights. Those are the areas I would shoot for and I would let the dark shadows go black. The very bright lights put the f/stop range way out of anything most cameras (lens) can handle for a good exposure, consequently you are left with a lot of glare. If the camera was set in AE mode it is trying to average out the exposure between a lot of very dark shadows and extremely bright lights and that makes the glare and loss of detail in the highlights even worse. The best shooting mode is manuel with the shutter set on bulb and the f/stop set at it's maximum for the lens (for most it's in the f/22 range). The glare from the lights, for a good exposure, is up in the range of f/32 to f/40 and a ND filter of 2 or 3 (which filter will depend on how bright and how close you are to the lights) will be needed to get it down to the lens range of f/22 or less. The exposure time will increase significantly, to as much as 1.5 to 2 or even 3 minuets.

In the composition there are a lot of other lighting elements competing with the lighted bridge as the subject and drawing attention away from it. The street stop lights actually dominate the shot. For my taste there is a lot of empty space that does not add anything to the composition. The large empty street area at the bottom of the shot is more distracting than helpful. The black night sky takes up the top half of the shot and is distracting. If the lighted bridge is to be the subject then it should be a lot more dominating than it is. It's a great idea and would make a really good shot. Maybe there is another place where you can get a better and closer view of the bridge. I would do more foot work, driving or walking around to find a place where you can get closer to the bridge and it's lights and place it in the view finder as the major element. If you can't find that place on this side of the bridge there may be one on the other side. A lot of work but would be worth the effort.

Because you are shooting directly into the lights it will be difficult getting a single shot with a good tonal range. You might consider shooting a series of over and under exposures and merge them as an HDR.

Hope this helps.

I'd probably get as close to the bridge as I could and shoot an upward shot - long exposure.

I'd set my ISO to 100, stop down my lens to around f/14 or so, place a polarizer filter on to avoid the glare of the bridge lights (or minimize them), and experiment on shutter speeds.

Nice shot and I think we all understand (sympathize) the difficulties with night time shots, they're tough to get right. I like the photo but am left with what exactly are you trying to capture, the emptiness of the streets, urban setting, or the bridge. If it is the bridge then you need to get closer to make it the dominate feature. Good job with the long exposure, I don't see any shake or blur from camera movement.