Cottam power station in Lincolnshire at -2 deg C. Original photo cropped and sharpened.
Response to feedback:
Although the landscape is actually higher on the right hand side of the image, I take on board all the comments about straightening the horizon.
I don't like to alter my photos too much after they've come off the camera, I actually felt bad cropping the photo as I've never done that before so didn't even consider a rotation.
However I can now see the error of my ways and have taken something positive from this submission.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback - it's been really helpful and I won't make this mistake again.
Statistics
Place: 9 out of 77 Avg (all users): 6.6897 Avg (commenters): 7.1364 Avg (participants): 6.4286 Avg (non-participants): 6.7578 Views since voting: 2231 Views during voting: 461 Votes: 203 Comments: 30 Favorites: 1 (view)
First impression: Very good long exposure taken at night of what most of us see and think of as a threat more than clean energy - a nuclear power plant.
Artistic: Colours are great and the tiny silhouettes of the trees add to the ominous feel here. What was your WB, it might help explain if it's a shooting star or a satellite/plane passing by.
Technical: Good use of thirds, I am assuming you used a tripod or are absolutely rock-steady at a handheld 1/30. I have that lens too and love it. Lighting is ambient and adds to the feel as it's bouncing off the clouds of steam.
Hmmm did you notice that your horizon's slightly askew? *ducking* PhotoShop and its ilk are not to be feared. There is no disgrace to pp'ing an image. Straighten the horizon, then crop. (I can tell you where to find the tools if you like). I don't find the green streak to be distracting but you could have cloned it out. Just remember, too much pp can easily ruin a perfectly good image, and no amount of pp will rescue a bad photo.
Overall: You finished in the top ten with your first ever submission, with an image that has a tilted horizon *gasp!*you should be very proud of yourself! Keep up the good work, learn basic pp skills (PS Elements is very affordable and may be all you need, no need to remortgage the house buying PS CS5).
I did think a 1 was a bit harsh... I do wonder if they did that on everyone to lower the overall %. But I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Not voting yet, just commenting. I think this is a terrific scene for a nightscape and your aperture setting was apparently right on to judge by those stars. Nice color and clarity, too. I sure wish the horizon felt straight to me -- even if it isn't.
very nice photo, for some reason the noise is more "enjoyable" than it usually is in other photos. If you shot RAW and imported to Photoshop, there should be a straightening tool that'll allow you to rotate very slightly to level the horizon. I think using the crop tool and rotating it would also work, but it's a little trickier to do precisely.
It's tilted a bit, but I like the movement and the layers of texture. The piercing light in the lower right adds a cool dimension to the overall color pallet. Good clarity...and the shooting star on the left (or whatever) is just a bonus of the long shutter! Nicely seen!
Nice photo. I'm being really picky, but I think it would be significantly improved if you rotated it a few degrees clockwise and re-cropped. Strong lines and structures really get thrown off when the angles don't feel right.
Really a fantastic scene. I think it would get a better score from me if it had rec'd a clockwise rotation to square things up. Otherwise, it's an interesting long exposure.
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