Help editing city landscape please!

[echoyjeff222]

Hi all,

I just processed the first of my photos from yesterday's trip. I am pretty confused about which processing I like. I posted three below: one is the original, unedited, pne is the b&w conversion, and one is the "blue" tinge that I tried for a futuristic look. I like color because of the two different light trail colors, but I really like the blue for some reason as well .. I was hoping for some feedback, since this is one of the few times I've ever done a b&w conversion in photoshop/lightroom. I was hoping to bring out the s curves really nicely and darken the other parts. I wasn't sure how much to darken the other parts, though.

Thanks a bunch!

Also, if anyone wants to play around with this file, I would be happy to send it over. I am not a pro at all in PP, so I would love to learn! Just let me know what you did, so I can learn!

Original by .Jeffrey L., on Flickr

B&w Conversion by .Jeffrey L., on Flickr

Blue Edit by .Jeffrey L., on Flickr

 

[The_Traveler]

I think this image is quite terrific if you pull back the highlights so everything doesn't look so glare-y and fuzzy.

This has to be done on the raw file to pull the highlights into the dynamic range of the jpegs.

 

[sleist]

Nice shot, and nice edit Lew.

 

[The_Traveler]

the shot did it all.

 

[echoyjeff222]

photoshop god ... how did you do that?

Can you send me the workflow so I can know how to do this in the future? I must either be using the wrong functions or I just haven't done enough photoshop.

EDIT: Actually before you do that, let me play around and see if I can edit it as you did ...

 

[The_Traveler]

this is totally easy.
It's just recognizing where changes make a difference.
What I thought was missing was that with the headlights and bright windows so fuzzy and blurry, there was no real impact from the snake of the headlights.
The reason I wanted the raw was to look at the highlights to see if they were burnt out completely but they weren't so I could decrease the highlights a lot so that only the brightest parts of the headlights were left - a nice clean line.
Pulling back the highlights also sharpened up the windows in the buildings by removing the spill. So everything started looking sharp and well-detailed.
I think I did this in the raw conversion.
Then I added vibrance and saturation to taste and voila.
Maybe 3 minutes start to end, tops.

This picture didn't need hand skills, it just needed some experience at seeing what it could be if some changed were made.
The underlying picture was great, just a bit of noodling to bring it out.

 

[The_Traveler]

One thing I didn't mention was that when the highlight were lessened, then the colors in the windows became apparent so they scene became more interesting and the colors reinfoced the headlights.

The reason the windows turned color is that all the three colors were forced to an equal max brightness 255,255,255) and became white.
When the light was decreased, then the dominant color showed.

 

[KenC]

My vote is for toning down the highlights in the raw file as Lew suggested and then converting to B&W. The straight B&W emphasizes the shapes and the light/dark balance, which are the things that appeal to me most about this image. Of course the colors are interesting as well, so you really can't go wrong here.

 

[JustJazzie]

I agree, While I love Lew's fantastic edit, I really would like to see it in black and white! It was definitely my first choice in the program options.

 

[echoyjeff222]

SUCCESSSSS! (I think)

Wow, I was overworking myself so much on these last edits. Ijust figured out how to use photoshop's brushes and OMG it is so much easier. Before, I was importing and exporting from lightroom --> photoshop like 3 or 4 times for different tools. This time I used it basically ALL in photoshop except for clarity adjustment in lightroom! YAY!

I am much much happier with this result. So much cleaner.

I felt this project helped me a TON with learning how to use photoshop. WHEW. SIMPLE = BETTER. thanks for all the feedback!!!!

Here are the final two edits: color and b&w [Tips on how to improve the conversion welcome!!]

Final Color by .Jeffrey L., on Flickr

Final BW by .Jeffrey L., on Flickr

 

[mingxuan]

what a nice light-belt, l like it !

 

[The_Traveler]

I've been thinking about this and thought perhaps it might be interesting to say why I think dimming highlights make them look sharper.
If we look at sharp points or lines of lights through the atmosphere, especially on humid nights, the lights appear fuzzy because the part of the light streaming out at angles away from us get diffracted by the particles of moisture towards us. Thus we can see it but at a lesser strength, thus the edges look dimmer but fuzzy.

If the highlights are lowered in strength, that diffuse light fades until it becomes invisible and only the brightness of the actual point or line is visible.

An equivalent effect occurs to turn whitish points and lines into a color.
If a specific point or line is composed of red,blue and green with red much stronger than the blue or green, then if the brightness of that point or line is so high that even the blue and green are at max brightness for the display, the resultant light is white.
If the brightness of that spot is dimmed so that the only the red is very strong and the blue and green are less, then the line or point will now display as a color with a dominant red hue.

All this above is my conclusions from looking at pictures and there is absolutely no knowledge behind this.
Any corrections and/or allusions to actual fact would be welcomed.