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06/14/2006 02:40:14 PM · #1 |
Got a chance to take some pictures of the Wilkes-barre(PA) court house last night. I haven't really worked with any night shots before, was wondering if anybody could give me some tips on what all I could/should edit.
Thanks in advance! :)
 (btw, only change with this was save 4 web, 640pxls)
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06/14/2006 02:56:23 PM · #2 |
You've got a pretty good tonal range there with the colors of the building and the blues in the sky. The trick is to boost the mids without blowing out the highlights. Do you use Photoshop? If so, try Curves and lift the midtones straight up a bit. You can also use the same tool and select a white and black point in the photo, and then play with the curve.
Send me the original file and I'll tweak it and let you know the steps. PM me if interested. |
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06/14/2006 03:56:44 PM · #3 |
Here's my edit:
Editing steps on the photo. Was your original really only 800x600? Shoot larger! |
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06/14/2006 04:31:13 PM · #4 |
You've got yourself a great photo there. I am no expert, but from talking to others, one way to increase your tonal range and get a better overall shot is to do a composite of bracketed exposures. The problem with night photography is the huge range between light and dark. If you shoot separate exposures that correctly expose for lights, mid tones, and shadows, you can bring them together in a composite that gives you increased tonal range. My first attempt at this approach is this image:
Unfortunately, I only took three exposures for this image and wish I would've taken more, but you live and learn. This image was a composite of the three images, all shot from the same perspective using a tripod and bulb exposure. The range of exposures was from 30-50 secs. (roughly). I plan on doing more of this type of photography, but it is certainly challenging. The method above is not legal for any challenges on this site though (since it is a composite image).
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06/14/2006 05:05:12 PM · #5 |
Tried some of the editing tips strangeghost mentioned & came up with this:
Thank you both for your advice!! :)
Really nice image btw Palmetto!
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06/14/2006 05:16:28 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by bs-photos:
... was wondering if anybody could give me some tips on what all I could/should edit.
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Often, as in this case, you get a reddish and/or yellowish color cast to your images under low lighting conditions. That can be partly due to the camera and partly due to tungsten lighting.
Not to say that the golden yellow color it gives the building in this image is not kinda cool but after you see it in a few hundred low light pictures here at DPC it loses some of its luster. ;) These days I normally don't score images that have color casts as high as those without them unless it strongly supports the composition.
A low light color cast is easier to deal with than you think. It can be fixed with Curves, Selective Color and/or Hue/Saturation. In yours you would reduce both red and yellow. In a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer alone all you have to do is desaturate the reds and yellows and possibly increase their brightness to bring it back to its natural color. You might want to try it out just to see how you feel about it. Not saying you should do it with this image but you will want to do it with some low light image sometime, especially if it contains people. Might be fun to play around with it now.
This is similar to what you would do to correct people's reddish skin tones you get sometimes in photographs. There all you do is apply some desaturation to red in a Hue/Saturation layer to correct their skin color. It is fast and easy. That is a little secret those portrait photographers try to keep to themselves. LOL!
Message edited by author 2006-06-14 17:24:03.
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