Tourist Snapshot


I think every tourist that visits the Empire State Building at night has a similar shot. How on Earth does this land in a “professional” portfolio?

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19 Comments

  1. Er…that’s from an aircraft. Just sayin’.

    • So it’s professionally shot through one of those tiny double pane aircraft windows. That would certainly explain the “artistic” haziness of the image.

    • That’s what I thought! Not bad, with a camera phone and an airplane.

  2. “I think every tourist that visits the Empire State Building at night has a similar shot. How on Earth does this land in a “professional” portfolio?”

    Obviously the photog had a deep professional relationship with the pretty bridges.

  3. Not everyone specializes in portraits.

  4. Yeah, although there are better aircraft shots, this is a good shot (and opportunity) for a start up photographer. Whatever.

  5. Anonymous

    I think this is quite unfair to say – just because everyone can do that shot doesnt mean it can’t be a professional image. I dont think this is a terrible picture, I quite like it. Another thing to consider what if this person is from a different country that would make this image more interesting. If you are in Australia and there are photo’s of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, or beaches, then it would be a cliche, over seen and used image, but viewing the image from a different country it is rarer and more interesting.

    • Compositionally speaking though, there is nothing about this photo that is professional. It has a bunch of pretty twinkling lights, but nothing to draw you into the image at any one point and even less to keep you there.

  6. It’s definitely not the worst shot ever but I wouldn’t rank it up there enough to want to show it off as being in my portfolio. I agree with you there that it’s not show-off worthy.

    Perhaps if it WAS off the Empire State Building, things would’ve been a bit more clear and visible and thus better.

    • eh…too wide angled of a shot without much composition to help it out even if it was a camera bolted to the empire state building. It’s a bad angle more than anything. The haziness just adds to the crappiness that already is there.

  7. Hmmmmm…actually this is a great photo!
    I’ts a really beautiful city at night…and not every human get a chance to go there.

  8. I wouldn’t put this in my portfolio, but it’s not bad for a shot from an airplane. If someone paid for this, I’d be more concerned.

  9. skynigurl

    I think I saw this at IKEA.

  10. There is nothing wrong with this shot.
    Yes there are 100’s like it.But this is actually a good shot at night showing the lights of the city.
    I’ve seen this sort of image in well known stock houses…
    So there is no reason to be knocking this image.
    Also if this is a new photographer then I dont think I’d consider them a feauxtog. They obviously tried…and didnt do to bad..

  11. To improve this image… This image may have been even better by possibly using a wider angle lens opened wide to capture more of the city and horizon line. Also a slower shutter speed if possible to grab more ambient light. Something to think about. It’s worth a try for next time. You just might be surprised.

  12. #1, This photo is from an aircraft, hence the angle. More than likely high-ISO…and high shutterspeed to reduce motion blur. There are no buildings that tall that you would be able to capture the city lights. This doesn’t look like Hong Kong, does it? ~sarcasm~ So there are no mountains to be able to capture this angle of view.

  13. This is not from the ESB; the shot was taken somewhere near the Brooklyn/Queens border, probably from a helicopter.

  14. Yep, i got one, too

  15. Rch2411 Photography

    Does anyone notice the Auto Focus Red light on what appear to be the window the person is shooting through? Turn off AF light before shooting or remove Via Photoshop before submit into portfolio. I’m not a pro just student but I do prefer my manual focus.

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