A few shots during / after sunset.

[kysham]

My first ever photo posting in Photoclubalpha!

I shot these yesterday after work, during the sunset period. These were taken at the Sabah Foundation building here in Sabah, Malaysia (used to be called North Borneo).

#1 The Sabah Foundation Building - a famous landmark of Kota Kinabalu.


#2 The view behind the Sabah Foundation Building, facing the sea.


#3 Unfortunately, the sea view was blocked by the gate. It was locked, which was unusual, because they normally left it open.


#4 Instead, I went sideways, and look for silhouettes at the nearby mini park.


#5 This tree was interesting to me, as the roots were on the surface.


Would appreciate some comments & suggestions on how to improve my shots from any forum members here.

Thanks in advance for any comments!

[KevinBarrett]

I like the subject in the first image, but it's a bit of a close crop on the bottom edge. The range is good in that one as well, but the next three images could have benefitted from some Dynamic Range Optomization. The last image is superb!

[kysham]

I like the subject in the first image, but it's a bit of a close crop on the bottom edge. The range is good in that one as well, but the next three images could have benefitted from some Dynamic Range Optomization. The last image is superb!

Thanks, Kevin. Appreciates your suggestions. Will keep that in mind. I was hesitant in deciding to keep the shots the way they were or to make them look like silhouettes. Guess I should had made silhouettes out of them as second shots. Ah.... hesitation is bad!

[KevinBarrett]

Thanks, Kevin. Appreciates your suggestions. Will keep that in mind. I was hesitant in deciding to keep the shots the way they were or to make them look like silhouettes. Guess I should had made silhouettes out of them as second shots. Ah.... hesitation is bad!

Oops! I actually meant it the other way around, that the in-camera DRO, used a little aggressively a +4 or +5, would have made the foregrounds a little brighter and add interest. The trees in the fourth image especially would have been great!

[kysham]

Oops! I actually meant it the other way around, that the in-camera DRO, used a little aggressively a +4 or +5, would have made the foregrounds a little brighter and add interest. The trees in the fourth image especially would have been great!

Ah.... ok. Thanks. Got it now! Will keep that in mind next time around.

[Dr. Harout]

BTW, I like the fence shot. It has something in it... something forbidden, or closed...

[kysham]

BTW, I like the fence shot. It has something in it... something forbidden, or closed...

Yeah.... I was barred from taking a sunset shot by these gates, which were locked when I was there. These gates were usually not locked, so I was not sure why it was locked then. That was why I took that shot, with my flash fired wirelessly, aimed at the padlock. Sort of like to represent my disappointment at being locked out of my intended sunset shot.

[springm]

Impressive shots! The gates with the flash effect on the padlock really grabbed my eye.
#1 has potential. In my opinion it could be a bit brighter (DRO could help here if shooting jpg, as it was already mentioned) but the deep saturation should be kept as is. I think it suffers a bit by not beeing really symmetrical and the building being tilted a little bit to the left. I guess it's wort re-shooting.
#4 has wonderful light and details in the silhouette. #5 for me is a bit overdone in terms of pseudo hdr/postprocessing. If it was not postprocessing, I probably would try to add a bit more contrast.

Regards - Markus

[kysham]

Impressive shots! The gates with the flash effect on the padlock really grabbed my eye.
#1 has potential. In my opinion it could be a bit brighter (DRO could help here if shooting jpg, as it was already mentioned) but the deep saturation should be kept as is. I think it suffers a bit by not beeing really symmetrical and the building being tilted a little bit to the left. I guess it's wort re-shooting.
#4 has wonderful light and details in the silhouette. #5 for me is a bit overdone in terms of pseudo hdr/postprocessing. If it was not postprocessing, I probably would try to add a bit more contrast.

Regards - Markus

Thanks, Markus. Your comments really means a lot to me. I will find another time to shoot these scenes again, putting your suggestions into practice and see how it turns out. Very good suggestions, indeed. Again, thanks.