Help with night shot in Brooklyn

[photo_rev]

I took this photo at this popular location in Brooklyn, NY. See how the street lamps are overpowering the picture. Also there is a strange green aberration near the top of the photo. I would appreciate any tips on how to improve this photo. Thanks.

Taken on a tripod at 17mm. No filter.
ISO 400, F-11, 2.5 seconds

 

[bulldurham]

I edited it in PS but since you don't allow editing, telling you what conclusions I came to would be fruitless because you wouldn't have any comparisons...I will tell you it has to do with the light sources, especially the one causing all your issues.

 

[JBPhotog]

That "strange green aberration" is called flare, I have circled examples of this in red. Nearly every lens will exhibit some sort of flare when a strong light source projects through the lens. Some brands are better at control of flare through their proprietary lens coatings but very complex lens designs with multiple glass surfaces can cause this. Edit it out as bulldurham suggested or live with it, second option is to shoot a different angle to eliminate the light source.

You also have some hot pixels circled in yellow.

 

[Braineack]

do you have a UV filter on the lens?

 

[SCraig]

This type of scene is EXACTLY why HDR was developed.

 

[NancyMoranG]

I hope you get to fix it because I like the shot!! (I don't know how to help you, sorry)

 

[greybeard]

The big bright light source in the top center is blown out. The pixels are maxed out and there is really nothing short of extensive editing that can help this. The green and purple flair is from light bouncing around inside your lens. I see that you were not using a filter and that is smart as filters will add flair to this type of scene. These can be cloned out in pretty much any editing software.

HDR would be the way to go for this type of shot. There are tons of videos etc. on how to shoot HDR's and many cameras have built in HDR though I don't know if it would be extreme enough to handle a shot like the one you made. HDR will tame the blown out light sources but, it won't do anything to help the flair. I'd go back to that location and try shooting a 5 or 6 frame HDR.

 

[otherprof]

I took this photo at this popular location in Brooklyn, NY. See how the street lamps are overpowering the picture. Also there is a strange green aberration near the top of the photo. I would appreciate any tips on how to improve this photo. Thanks.

Taken on a tripod at 17mm. No filter.
ISO 400, F-11, 2.5 seconds

View attachment 163077

I agree with all the comments about flare and filters but if you want to salvage this photo, as opposed to shooting it better next time, I think you can crop it to a vertical with the top under the main problem light. You will still have some rays around a couple of lights on the right, but you lose the cars on the left - a positive result I think - and keep the person, the identifiable bridge and the Empire State Building. I tried it with an 8x10 vertical. I would also lower the highlights and brightness. In Photos, on my phone, “dramatic cool” worked for my taste.

 

[Strodav]

Nice shot, especially the lines formed by the cobble stone street and the lights at street level. It is well exposed and tack sharp. I wouldn't throw it out because of the bright street light and flare. If you can do it over again, maybe a little longer lens and frame below the bright street light as, to me, it is a street shot and not a shot of the bridge in the background. It would be hard to crop out the bright light in PP because of the large flare.

 

[D7K]

Don't get caught up with the flare, It's a nice shot, and yes its said time and time again, for long expo lose the filter..
The best way to achieve long expo under harsh and massively contrasting light / dark is to shoot a few shots and blend manually, Not HDR, as this often looks fake, awful and plastic. Expose the scene you want, as you have here, then expose for the highlights, if needed expose one for deeper shadows and blend them together in post.
The being said, you may still suffer flare ("green bits") - From looking at the shot, the angle that the light is hitting the lens is is your only issue, This will be something you can reduce by moving the angle of your lens slightly, however, it's not something to get hung up on, Sometimes it can add to a scene, sometimes it can kill it, sometimes, the content aware fill in PS will do a great job of getting rid of it...
Check through the viewfinder as you will usually see it, it's a nice shot, I'd have taken a few exposures and blended if I wasn't happy with the highlights... sometimes I actually quite like the streetlamp to blow me a star or two...