but the lights are yellow... I like the pic but are those dead pixels in your shot or are the stars shining bright tonight?
they are stars, not dead pixels and the shadow is a pier walk rail being cast from a light on shore. and hang on, ill work the lights without the yellow-ness
There are infinite ways to post process this image I desaturated the yellows, tweaked the color balance, dodge/burn the water
this looks better than the original and 10x better than the other people's tries but the shot is still a yellowish shot. maybe im just not one to change the entire picture to make a scene what it isn't.
^^ I disagree. too much cyan in the sky, the pier looks bland and lifeless. there is also colour bleeding in the middle light reflection on the water, see how it is white and then cyan and then orange? blech. here's my attempt. pulled a lot of yellow out until the sky in the top right looked a proper inky black. then fiddled the other channels until the rest of the sky looked reasonably realistic (the other correction attempts are too purple, too cyan/blue, WAY too purple, and the one with the lens flare looks fabulous). tried to retain as much yellow on the pier as necessary to make it look good, because after all they were sodium lamps they are SUPPOSED to be yellow. mine still has a slightly purple tinge to the sky but I got bored fiddling with the sliders.
yes another one just like me. i was hoping it was! great shot! i love my camera too. fuck the naysayers, the D40 is a good camera. BTW the origional is so much better, the lights are yellow, leave them yellow. at least it doesn't look fake. white lights belong in aparking lot, not on a pier...
first.... why on earth are you shooting night shots at ISO 400? Kick it down to 100 and use a tripod. 2nd did you shoot this in RAW, or JPG? If you shot in RAW, change your WB to Tuengsten. If you shot in RAW, you should have set your WB to tuengsten instead of auto. 3rd. the bridge is to centered. Move it to the upper, or lower 1/3rd of the screen. 4th. f/3.5 is a little to low, a higher fstop would have made the light from the lights "crisper" and given them a star effect rather than blobs. shoot for around f/5.6 or higher.
Nice PP, that one actually looks good. Thanks for the pointers also, ill take that into account next time i do some processing with those kinds of lights.
I love this camera also. Its my first SLR and was within my budget. My next lense will be the 18-200 that costs $800. but it will have to wait a few months. im still saving up for it.
1st the D40 only goes down to ISO200. who cares if its on 400. Do you see any noise? didnt think so. 2nd I shoot in JPEG, and Im still learning the ropes on white balance. I think the picture looks fine. 3rd the rule of 3rds doesnt apply well to this picture the subject is the pier and whatever city line is in the background. not a dark sky or dark water. I tried it, it didnt look right. but thanks for you $.02 4th again, i am no pro. im still learning how to use the camera what what settings are best for what. Ill take everything you have said into account next time i shoot night shots.
the thing that makes this picture is the city lights in the background. makes the bridge seem more secluded than if it wasn't there.