Post editing night shots

thedrcoma · Jun 27, 2012

Due to constraints on time and whatnot, I have a tendency to shoot at night fairly regularly. Lighting is never as I'd like it, and as such, some of my pictures require a bit more tweaking in post. I'm essentially looking for some tips on my color, contrast, white balancing, etc. My monitor is NOT calibrated, and I have the added perk of being red/green color deficient.

Details:
I do not do any sort of in-camera adjustment - meaning, I disable every automatic "image correction" related feature available. (I know they're intended to speed the process along, but I intend to force myself to learn all the aspects of digital hobby shooting, including post manipulation)

Camera: Canon 550D
Lens: Bower (Samyang) 8mm f/3.5 Fish-eye
Location: K st, Downtown Sacramento
Shooting specifics: f/3.5, ISO-100, 5-sec., no exposure compensation.
Image specifics: sRGB, JPEG, 100 quality, converted using LightRoom 4

Please excuse the shadow... 180* FOV is an SOB to manage.

Direct RAW -> JPG

After editing:

Be gentle.

*edit* Color profile, and compression added.

KmH · Jun 27, 2012

I guess you missed this just under where you started this thread.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...m/289372-new-beginners-forum-description.html

PinkDoor · Jun 27, 2012

I was confused for my first post too

I put an intro in the photo galleries section, oops!

I am not an expert on building shots, and definitely lack knowledge for night shots. Comparing your soon and your pp edit - I think the edit looks great! I really cannot find anything to pick apart (other than the shadow, but you already said that). Great work, and welcome to TPF!

thedrcoma · Jun 27, 2012

Oi.

More like I had assumed this constituted a beginner's posts, as the Forum Description mentions white balance, and this is just an expansion thereof.

My apologies. Should I let this die?

---

Pinkdoor - thanks for the feedback!