Time For A Smoke Break!!

This is a fantastic shot!
I like the colors

Excellent; great subject for hdr!

The framing and composition is A+. I like the overall color saturation, but maybe just a tad too much. And maybe a tad over sharpened. But this shot could be a real winner. I would try a few more HDR versions.
Sometimes it takes 3-4 versions to get it just right.

The lights above the bar look washed out, I would try to bring back some texture in that area.

And the lights next to the Kershaw sign lost detail, blown out. I know, maybe you need to take another picture of the sign and just clone it in.

The brick textures, sidewalk, and the guy smoking all look PERFECT.

Very inspiring. I love the lighting and detail in the guy behind the counter.

Great shot! The "overdone" look is just perfect for this. I really like it alot.

It's time for you to quit, man. You're making everyone else look bad.

This picture is really good.

By the way, what do you mean when you say, "this was done in three stops."?

Love this, nice work!

Cool shot.

Jon.

Chet wrote in post #9224426
I love this look. Now tell me how you pulled it off? I got as far as you took a cool picture.

navydoc wrote in post #9224687
I know each image is unique, but can you share your settings for this piece? I really like how it turned out. I can't seem to get my hdr's 'painterly' enough.

Pardes wrote in post #9225370
Very impressive and captivating. The bike rack in the lower left corner is a nice touch. Can we twist your arm to see one of the photos before processing. Also, I'm amazed you don't have a link for purchasing this photo.

Normally all my hdr work is 5 shots/1 stop steps, but sometimes like in this case I shot 3-1 stop shots and then work the highlights separately. What I mean is I will shoot a couple of shots exposing only for the neon signs and interior lighting, which is usually 3 stops to 5 stops under middle exposure. The start of my workflow is to open the group of exposures in ACR make my adjustments to the batch and then save the images as 16-bit Tifs. I really keep my Photomatix workflow to myself, but I will say that every group of shots has their own special challenges and I pay close attention to my histogram and the smoothing, strength and color saturation adjustments.
Once I open the finished image in CS4 I work with the images I took exposing the neon signs and interior lighting and put them on top and apply a hide all mask. I will then brush in with a soft brush say 30%-50% and the same in opacity and brush the neon signs to my taste, also the interior lighting and any other areas that need toning down. A comment was made that they felt this image was over sharpened, it might be just a tad too much. My plan is to print it, so I purposely selectively strong sharpened some areas. Hope this helps and thanks for the supportive comments.

Kevin wrote in post #9241741
Normally all my hdr work is 5 shots/1 stop steps, but sometimes like in this case I shot 3-1 stop shots and then work the highlights separately. What I mean is I will shoot a couple of shots exposing only for the neon signs and interior lighting, which is usually 3 stops to 5 stops under middle exposure. The start of my workflow is to open the group of exposures in ACR make my adjustments to the batch and then save the images as 16-bit Tifs. I really keep my Photomatix workflow to myself, but I will say that every group of shots has their own special challenges and I pay close attention to my histogram and the smoothing, strength and color saturation adjustments.
Once I open the finished image in CS4 I work with the images I took exposing the neon signs and interior lighting and put them on top and apply a hide all mask. I will then brush in with a soft brush say 30%-50% and the same in opacity and brush the neon signs to my taste, also the interior lighting and any other areas that need toning down. A comment was made that they felt this image was over sharpened, it might be just a tad too much. My plan is to print it, so I purposely selectively strong sharpened some areas. Hope this helps and thanks for the supportive comments.

The image just became much more intriguing. Thanks for sharing a bit of what went into it's production. I take it you sell your output. What sizes do you commonly print?

dmccabe wrote in post #9237136
The framing and composition is A+. I like the overall color saturation, but maybe just a tad too much. And maybe a tad over sharpened. But this shot could be a real winner. I would try a few more HDR versions.
Sometimes it takes 3-4 versions to get it just right.

The lights above the bar look washed out, I would try to bring back some texture in that area.

And the lights next to the Kershaw sign lost detail, blown out. I know, maybe you need to take another picture of the sign and just clone it in.

The brick textures, sidewalk, and the guy smoking all look PERFECT.

Very inspiring. I love the lighting and detail in the guy behind the counter.

Thanks for your comments, we each have our own style and look, that's what makes each image special.

The look I strive for in night photography is to use bright lights, starbursts and very bright colored lights as elements of first impression as well as elements demanding the eyes attention. When a high intensity light is staring you in the face it has no detail, just a strong blinding light. So adding detail into it would be like putting detail into the sun soaked snow. I do appreciate you taking the time to give your personal input, it is always welcome.

I really like this one!

Kevin do you mind sharing your techniques with this HRD photo?

Do you use Photomatix or just Photoshop? particularly how did you tone map this one?.

Thanks

Lantz wrote in post #9241846
I really like this one!

Kevin do you mind sharing your techniques with this HRD photo?

Do you use Photomatix or just Photoshop? particularly how did you tone map this one?.

Thanks

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=9241741&po​stcount=24

Chet wrote in post #9241902
https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=9241741&po​stcount=24

lol... he posted that while I had the reply window open by the time I finished the reply (?) and answered the phone his reply was already there. does look like I didnt read it though

I wouldn't know how to begin at this, it's very good!