first night shot and it doesn't look right... help!

[Bigbitt8706]

I would usually say with a picture that looked like this that the light was off, but there was no light, at least not in a sense I am used to. I shot this at 100 iso, 8 seconds, at f/4.5. Help!!!! I can’t get this right!

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii262/bigbitt8706/IMG_4541edited1.jpg

[Bigbitt8706]

sooo nobody can help?

[tonydee]

I'm not sure what software you're using... but in the Gimp (available free for Linux/Windows/Mac - google it if interested) - the Colour / Adjust Colour Balance dialog provides sliders for Cyan...Red, Magenta...Green and Yellow...Blue. I found moving strongly away from red towards cyan, and away from yellow towards blue, helped restore a more natural colouration... but it's best for you to tune it as you have your experience of the actual conditions. FWIW / I don't think you'll get many replies unless you put "IMAGE EDITING OK" in your profile, as nobody can even post their edits. Cheers, Tony

[loony33]

It's an interesting picture.
What are you trying to show from it?
What do you exactly need help with?

I would try a larger f/stop for more depth of field and compensate with a longer shutter speed and ISO 200 if needed.
Also, I think if you modify white balance on your RAW file the colors will look totally different and might be more pleasing.

[Transfer]

Yeah white balance may go a long way. But as asked, what are you trying to show? I think it's an interesting picture at least. The colors and highlights just kind of hurt my eyes. Maybe stop it down and/or make your shutter shorter to play with brightness?

Surprisingly I really like the lines, colors and texture of the bottom 3rd of the photo. Really neat.

[Bigbitt8706]

tony- good call, i just changed it, so PLEASE if anyone can do better than i can (which probably isn't that hard lol) post it!also thanks for the advice on the software, i'm dowloading it right now in another window!

loony- i'm trying to show the cars passing by an interestingly lit (at least IMHO) storage business, and i need help because the colors look horrible. adjusting the WB and tony's advice on the software will help a ton

Transfer- you hit the nail on the head as to what i need help with... the colors hurt my eyes to.

Thanks all for helping me get unstuck on this one! when i'm done studying for finals i'll post the new edit. if that doesn't work i'll go reshoot ASAP!

[Bigbitt8706]

dammit lesson learned... always save in RAW!! i know, rookie mistake (checking my WB before taking a picture would also probably help lol) but here is the best i can do, still don't think it looks 'right' but it will have to do until i can do a reshoot:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii262/bigbitt8706/IMG_4541edited2.jpg

P.S. Tony, i am retarded when it comes to computers and GIMP is fantastically complex to install (at least for me). i did the best i could in photoshop with a few filters and adjusting shadows and highlights.

[Walczak Photo]

This is just a guess, but those streetlights over the garage doors there...were they by chance those orange HPS lights (like newer street lights)? I could be wrong here, but if that's what they were, I'd be willing to guess that's what threw your white balance into a tail spin. Unfortunately short of using a white balance cap (such as an Expodisk or something similar) I really don't know how to compensate for this...HPS lighting messes with my Rebel XT too.

BTW, while I would certainly agree with the benefits of shooting in RAW, I'm not really sure that would have helped with this shot. I even tried to correct the color with Nik Color Efex White Neutralizer and I couldn't do anything with it. Next time I'd not only shoot in RAW, but I'd try and find a self-storage lot that has lights with a different color temperature 8).

Other than that I think this was a neat idea for a composition. I would add however that next time I'd back the exposure down too as you really blew out the highlights on the garage doors. According to your exif data you shot this at f/4.5...next time try stopping down a bit...maybe try f/11 with a slightly longer shutter speed (maybe 10 seconds instead of 8 ). The neat thing about long exposure shots like this is that you can push and pull the exposure for different effects, but sometimes you have to play with it a bit. If nothing else, try Aperture Priority mode next time...setup the aperture for f/11 or even f/16, meter close to the lights and let the camera set the shutter speed.

Peace,
Jim

[tonydee]

This is what I'd done a couple days ago. Couldn't recover from blown colour channels though - above comments re shooting RAW are on the money. Cheers, Tony

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