Night Shots - Wanting Feedback/Advice - Please C&C

I tried taking some night shots a few evenings ago and this is what I came up with. My shutter speed was roughly 25 to 35 seconds depending on the shot.

Any feedback for me for next time? Is everything so orange because of white balance issues, or do I need a fluroscent light filter (especially the last two)?

Thanks for the advice!!

 

all seem to be blured

 

I agree, seem blured

 

They don't look blurry to me. Just busy. The clouds have some ghosting and blur but that's a product of a long exposure. I like the first and second, the skies are nice. I'd desaturate some of the yellow/orange in the foreground lights - #2 would be really cool if you could see the foreground grass better, maybe manually firing a flash or painting with a flashlight could have given you that look.

I don't think you need a filter or anything, I'd just adjust white balance in post.

 

Thanks reznap, for a comment that is actually constructive. Any others?

 

I agree with Paul, adjust the WB in post. Not sure if those are fluorescent lights. It's tough to get the WB on street lights.

Desaturate the orange color in post. Your info said OK to edit, so thought I would show you what a few seconds did by playing with color saturation. I'll take the image down if you want. I also sharpened and increased contrast a hair.



Saturation settings to give you an idea of what colors I messed with (ACDSee Pro color EQ):

 

I LOVE the edited version!

 

I generally agree with this, and I probably "sucked out too much". Are you saying you prefer to leave the intense colors street lights will cast? Is there another, better way to handle that sort of thing in post? How do you shoot scenes like the neighborhood one without getting too much reddish/orange from the lights?

In your scene of the downtown lights, that makes sense, there are not numerous neighborhood street lights with that strange color temp they give off.

 

Great work in editing 'myfotoguy', I agree that your edits make the photo far superior. Thanks for showing me that! Very helpful.

I will try playing around with WB the next time i'm out doing night shots, but it's nice to know that some PP can really enhance the picture