Grand Central Station, a bit slow

[Hazel Grant]

Yes, I'm late on the slow shutter speed thing, but then I was just there a couple days ago. I'm still working on how to do this and am finding it hard to get the slow speed shutter without too much light flooding in, but I'm learning. Anyway, I was on a NYC tour this week and since we went to GCS, I thought I'd try one of those classic shots of people. This one came out the best I think, given the light situation. I like the one couple standing still in the middle with action around them, but have a couple concerns. What do I do with those horrid neon/shining sign boxes that stand out? This is a closely cropped version. The original had a lot of floor showing that I thought was too much, but I'll post that in a reply so you can see and advise about that. Is there enough sharpness in the "still" parts to contrast properly with the "moving"? other comments?

5/2 sec.
Exposure : Manual
f/10
iso 200
focal length 18 mm. no flash
metering mode: center weight

[Hazel Grant]

This is the original so you can see how much I cropped. Too much?I like the busyness of the original but wondered about that big empty floor space.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Hazel I like what your trying to do !!!

For these do try keeping your camera very steady for having the stationary things sharp, will make the motion blur that much stronger. Here I love how your trying to show motion in the station.

I like the selected crop but do look out for people walking out of the frame like the ones in the lower right. Exposure wise compensate like for any shot, having a long shutter speed won't make a difference. Best to keep close eye on the histogram !!! Looking forward the the next one !!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Hazel - Like where you were heading. The uncropped image is good to see as well.....
IMHO - This is like a lot of blurs in that you need something sharp and not blurred to hold the viewers attention. In the repost with the people in the bottom LHC you can see that the appear to be relatively stationary yet they are blurred - most probably from camera movement with the slow shutter speed. Assume this was handheld.

Keep em coming .......

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Hazel,
I like what you were trying to do, you do need a sharp, fixed, stationary point or anchor in the composition to make this type of motion blur work...by the way...I used to take the trains from Grand Central every day...it brings back good memories...:cool:

[Dave Leroy]

I love these sorts of shots Hazel. I like the soft colours and friendly feeling to your photo and like the crop.
I seemed to have the best luck using a lamp post or handrail as a support and then gripping tight to them. Fun to do. Dave

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks for the comments and help. I was on the upper part of the stairs and rested the camera on the wide bannister while shooting. Didn't have a tripod with me. Will try to think ahead next time if ever facing this possilbility of shot again anywhere.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Hazel I like the second one it seems to have more of a focal point. It seems to me the main center of interest are the man and women wearing the hats. I would remove the bright blob on the right, and the person at the bottom. Good advice about bracing. Sometimes I hold my breath for longer exposures seems I can get pretty sharp down to about 1/3s. I think in your techs you meant 1/2 s. Anyways fun shots to do.