night shot c&c

[syphlix]

Hey there -

any opinions on this night shot?

how's the composition?

is there any way to take a long exposure w/out blowing out the lit windows?

do long exposures make pictures look flat? i think this one looks like it got flattened or something.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

It has a surreal quality to it. A little flat, as you say. Did you try adjusting levels or the contrast?

Cool shot.
I am a sucker for water towers.

 

[shmne]

(I can't get the image to upload without freaking, here is the direct link)
http://img508.imageshack.us/i/3804558857e3748af928bco.jpg/

I did this with my track pad in a couple of minutes so the masks aren't anywhere near perfect but I just used 3 layers to add a slower descending darkness until you hit the sky scraper which is the darkest.

Yes you can get a shot with those lights properly exposed, but you'll have to underexpose the rest and do some PP in order to get them in to the proper exposure

Maybe something to this effect taken another step (especially if you have the raw still) would be a nice addition for some depth in there.

If you are willing to lose some sharpness layering small amounts of blur (almost to the point where you can't tell it is there) could give you the slight illusion of depth as well. From the JPEG alone I couldn't do much with the colors to fix the depth without destroying the quality :x

 

[syphlix]

hrm. not sure why, but the link isn't working for me. imageshack comes up but that link doesn't.

 

[thenikonguy]

^^ same

 

[Samanax]

It has a surreal quality to it.

Yeah, it looks like it came out of a video game.

 

[syphlix]

well this is the real-life Liberty City after all

 

[shmne]

It has a surreal quality to it.

Yeah, it looks like it came out of a video game.

This is how I felt as well, here is the image direct link.

 

[fokker]

I think it looks cool

I guess the best/only way to get the windows not blown out with the rest still properly exposed would be to do an HDR on it...

Oh PS shmne your link still isn't working :er:

 

[syphlix]

ah this looks pretty cool the way you did it...

is there a tutorial on how to do something like that? i do have the RAW as well...

the colors look more nightish than mine did...

 

[shmne]

ah this looks pretty cool the way you did it...

is there a tutorial on how to do something like that? i do have the RAW as well...

the colors look more nightish than mine did...

Do you have photoshop? It is very simple and quick in photoshop, plus I don't really know how to use anything besides that so I don't know if this technique is universal. If you do have photoshop how experienced are you?

The reason mine looks more nightish is because I adjusted the white balance, slightly darkened the image, and adjusted the shadows to be a dark blue, highlights light blue. (since I had a jpeg the shadows and highlights still had a bit of orange in them after I adjusted the whitebalance)

Remember in the mind night = dark blue so the orange of the city lights will ruin that

 

[syphlix]

here is my attempt at some PP... do you think it's better now?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I like it better than shmne's.
Your's adds to the surreal quality, shmnes still looks flat and dull.
Do YOU like what you did? That's what matters, and that where style will come from.

 

[syphlix]

yea i do like what i did...

i'm not sure how he got the sky to look so dark cuz i like that, but the rest of it seems to pop a little more this way

i'm pretty much a noob at LR and PS, but it's fun to try this stuff out...

thanks!