[electrolyte]

Best viewed large here

Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure: 15 sec (15)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date and Time (Original): 2008:03:24 18:30:29

This is a shot of the fountains in Sheaf Square in front of the train station in Sheffield. Taken with my trusty 350D and 18-55 USM kit lens. On the kit lens I put 2 Cokin filters - a P121M (grad ND4) and a P197 (grad sunset filter).

PP included exposure increase and dust bunny removal in Lightroom and then a high pass filter in Photoshop. Resized to 2000px wide and uploaded to flickr. Once on flickr I noticed that the exposure was still not right so I made use of the "edit photo" option and fiddled a bit in there with exposure and contrast. First time I'd ever used it and it is a super tool. Well worth playing with if you've not discovered it yet....

[stevegreen]

Copped it on your Flickr before you posted here........cracking shot!

[Tobers]

Yep - ditto. Lovely curvy levelly shot with water too. Nice location & composition. Not sure about the pink sky, but it warms everything up.

[Liquid101]

Nice - great exposure. Might have been nice to go with a tighter crop to avoid the background distractions. Still a great shot, and bound to be up there.

[electrolyte]

Originally Posted by stevegreen

Copped it on your Flickr before you posted here........cracking shot!

Thanks Steve; glad you like it.

Originally Posted by Tobers

Yep - ditto. Lovely curvy levelly shot with water too. Nice location & composition. Not sure about the pink sky, but it warms everything up.

Thanks Andrew. I know what you mean about the pink sky. I tried taking a shot without the sunset filter but the sky looked a bit flat and uninteresting without the pinkness added by the filter. So I went with this one.

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Nice - great exposure. Might have been nice to go with a tighter crop to avoid the background distractions. Still a great shot, and bound to be up there.

Thanks Scott.

I ummed and ahhed about which shot to enter - this one which had a leading line that led to the train station and the lady in a red coat or the other one I took which is cropped in tighter but the leading line didin't lead to anything.

I knew that if I entered the former someone would say it would look better with a tighter crop. And if I entered the latter someone would say, the leading lines don't lead anywhere.

I'll post some of my other shots to the not valid thread tomorrow which have either pink or no pink sky and are cropped tighter.

Thanks for all the comments though - I appreciate them.

[onefivenine]

Fantastic shot mate. Nice use of those filters.

[chrisw]

Yep, like this. Did you take any that weren't on an angle? If so, how did they come out as I seem to be tilting my head to look at this!

[Sabretooth]

This is a great entry electrolyte. Like the way the curves lead the eye and how the colour goes from almost blue/grey from one diagonal to pink at the other end. Only very slight critisism is that I would have had a slightly less steep composition angle but I can understand why you have done it like this.

Nice one

P.S. just goes to show what you can achieve with a kit lens with the right skill behind it

[thompma]

Very nice, i like the smoothness of the water and the way the level draws the eye along, pink sky better like you say.

[bodoman]

Wonderful photograph, your best for a while Simon, my favourite so far

[Habanero]

I like this one too. I pleased that you've used on camera filters to get the sky effect, though I'm a bit surprised that you got a pink tinge.

[T0MAT01]

Very nice shot.
I think I agree with Liquid about a slight crop because my eye is drawn away from the lovely silky water you have managed to capture. Still a great entry though.

[iandrews]

Lovely photo, you have got the curve of the fountain, and the curves made as the water flows over the edge, and of course the levels. As other have said, maybe a little too angled, and I think if you had just cropped out the red coat you would still have had the lines leading to the train station entrance.

Ian.

P.S. Really like the "Red Light" one on your flicker site,

[electrolyte]

Thanks guys for all the comments.

Originally Posted by onefivenine

Fantastic shot mate. Nice use of those filters.

Thanks 159. Was actually the first time I'd ever used them so was pleased how it turned out.

Originally Posted by chrisw

Yep, like this. Did you take any that weren't on an angle? If so, how did they come out as I seem to be tilting my head to look at this!

Sorry, no I didn't. I'm about to post some alternative shots in the not valid thread but none are straight on. I wish I had now as even I'm getting sick of the angle having just edited another 4 versions!

Originally Posted by Sabretooth

This is a great entry electrolyte. Like the way the curves lead the eye and how the colour goes from almost blue/grey from one diagonal to pink at the other end. Only very slight critisism is that I would have had a slightly less steep composition angle but I can understand why you have done it like this.

Nice one

P.S. just goes to show what you can achieve with a kit lens with the right skill behind it

Yes, a less steep angle would have worked but I wanted a more "dynamic" image and a steep angle did that for me...

Originally Posted by thompma

Very nice, i like the smoothness of the water and the way the level draws the eye along, pink sky better like you say.

Thanks mate!

Originally Posted by bodoman

Wonderful photograph, your best for a while Simon, my favourite so far

Thanks Baz, kind words (or have my recent photos all been stinkers )

Originally Posted by Habanero

I like this one too. I pleased that you've used on camera filters to get the sky effect, though I'm a bit surprised that you got a pink tinge.

I must say I was surprised. I wouldn't have predicted an orangey/yellow filter on a blue sky would give pink. But it did. No PS tomfoolery with this one; it was the real deal.

Originally Posted by T0MAT01

Very nice shot.
I think I agree with Liquid about a slight crop because my eye is drawn away from the lovely silky water you have managed to capture. Still a great entry though.

The more I think about it the more I wish I'd entered a tighter crop version. I'm about to post a couple in the not valid thread so you can tell me I definitely entered the wrong one!

Originally Posted by iandrews

Lovely photo, you have got the curve of the fountain, and the curves made as the water flows over the edge, and of course the levels. As other have said, maybe a little too angled, and I think if you had just cropped out the red coat you would still have had the lines leading to the train station entrance.

Ian.

P.S. Really like the "Red Light" one on your flicker site,

And yes, I think I entered the wrong one. The more I look at it the more I wish I'd had the balls to enter "Red Light" - I thought the red curve would distract too much from the unlit water levels. Oh well. For those of you who haven't a clue what Ian and I are talking about check out the not valid thread in 5 mins or so....

[andyandy]

Originally Posted by chrisw

Yep, like this. Did you take any that weren't on an angle? If so, how did they come out as I seem to be tilting my head to look at this!

Like this alot, though I too am tilting my head to view!

Love the smooth water - thought it was Sheffield before I read your blurb, recognised it from a night out there after a training session!

[tryingtimes]

Very nicely shot Simon.
I've had a look at the others, but I think this one is just fine.
I think the pink tones tie in nicely with the soft water effect.
Good stuff.
I can't help but want to turn my head to match the angle though

[alfienoakes]

That's lovely and certainly going to serve you well in this comp. I've tried to find something to be critical of, but given up Well done

[electrolyte]

Originally Posted by andyandy

Like this alot, though I too am tilting my head to view!

Love the smooth water - thought it was Sheffield before I read your blurb, recognised it from a night out there after a training session!

Thanks. Perhaps everyone will have curved necks from looking at my photo!

Originally Posted by tryingtimes

Very nicely shot Simon.
I've had a look at the others, but I think this one is just fine.
I think the pink tones tie in nicely with the soft water effect.
Good stuff.
I can't help but want to turn my head to match the angle though

Thanks trying. I'm pleased that at least someone prefers this to the others I took.

Originally Posted by alfienoakes

That's lovely and certainly going to serve you well in this comp. I've tried to find something to be critical of, but given up Well done

Thanks Alfie, that's kind of you to say.

[Butch499]

This is a lovely image, I like it a lot. The combination of the softness of the water and pastel colours works very well for me.