Any way to get proper exposure on BOTH parts?

Snapped this a few nights back. Overall, there is supposed to be a very bright yellow cast on the buildings from the lights as the area is illuminated well, however the street normally has a darker black look with a yellow tint from the lights. What type of in camera settings can I try to lessen the brightness of the foreground while still catching a nice exposure of the background?

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/K4rb​oh

Heya,

Do more than one exposure. There is too much dynamic range to capture both in a single exposure. With a top shelf sensor like Sony's latest (found in the D810), you would expose for the highlights and then lift shadows (the street).

On older sensors with less dynamic range capture ability, simply do two exposures. One for the building, one for your foreground. And blend them with masks.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18092830
Heya,

Do more than one exposure. There is too much dynamic range to capture both in a single exposure. With a top shelf sensor like Sony's latest (found in the D810), you would expose for the highlights and then lift shadows (the street).

On older sensors with less dynamic range capture ability, simply do two exposures. One for the building, one for your foreground. And blend them with masks.

Very best,

agreed^^

this is easily done in lightroom, by photo merging.

Not to add a question to the original question but what would one think the photo would look like with longer exposure time (30 seconds) with higher aperture (f16)?

Would the shot basically be the same as the one posted? I know the street lamps would be tighter with more star-bursting but how about the amount of light on the pavement?

Thanks for the response. Hopefully it will assist with the original question.

Gart

Gart wrote in post #18093173
Not to add a question to the original question but what would one think the photo would look like with longer exposure time (30 seconds) with higher aperture (f16)?

Would the shot basically be the same as the one posted? I know the street lamps would be tighter with more star-bursting but how about the amount of light on the pavement?

Thanks for the response. Hopefully it will assist with the original question.

Gart

Looks like you already counted the stops and went from F4 to F16 knowing that's 4 stops and then took the shutter from 2 seconds to 30 seconds, again 4 stops, so the exposure is the same approximately (well, 32 seconds to be the same, so there is a fraction of a stop lost there).

The difference would only really be in the star spike shapes due to narrow aperture and blade configuration, along with a lot more noise due to heat and long exposure.

For this kind of exposure in a single shot, even from the 1DX he used, ideally just expose highlights of the buildings and raise shadows in post, he could have gotten a stop or two in shadows from the RAW.

Very best,

The exposure looks pretty good to me as is. The buildings in the background can be seen clearly, and so can the street in the foreground. The foreground is very yellow, but you say it's "supposed" to be yellow. So be it then, but I would still experiment with cooling the yellow color.

Have you thought about going back when the sky is not completely black? That might help a bit with the yellow cast and might reduce the relative intensity of those bright street lights.

Archibald wrote in post #18093195
The exposure looks pretty good to me as is. The buildings in the background can be seen clearly, and so can the street in the foreground. The foreground is very yellow, but you say it's "supposed" to be yellow. So be it then, but I would still experiment with cooling the yellow color.

Have you thought about going back when the sky is not completely black? That might help a bit with the yellow cast and might reduce the relative intensity of those bright street lights.

Well everything on that street does have a yellow tint due to the lights used on the streetlights there, but just not THAT yellow. I really wanted a night shot, and cars do travel that section fairly regularly, so I can't go for a very long exposure. So for example, on these shots, i think I wound up with maybe 10 different exposures of various focal lengths. I usually take two or three at each setting so I can be sure at least one is in focus and clear. I also play with my focs points as well. Anyway, I normally can snap off a few shots and then a car comes through, and then I wait for the car to pass, then move the tripod again and take another shot or two. I'm sure the street would be more vacant if I went at 3 or 4AM rather than 11PM, but I got a regular 8-5. lol Though perhaps a photo of the buildings with some light and then another photo later to expose the ones in the back may work as well. Just need to shoot a quick dot on the street with some marking paint for the tripod location.

I appreciate everyone's advice about merging two shots. I think I may also see how much I can bring the shadows out in LR on another set with less exposure on the buildings in the foreground.

The next time, just set up bracketing for -1,0,+1 for example and then play with the merge functions that exist in various software packages. If the 1DX had an HDR mode like the 5D3, it could be used as well, but I don't think it does?

TeamSpeed wrote in post #18093440
The next time, just set up bracketing for -1,0,+1 for example and then play with the merge functions that exist in various software packages. If the 1DX had an HDR mode like the 5D3, it could be used as well, but I don't think it does?

But this just creates a JPEG right? I think exposure bracketing is a better idea.

The hdr in camera produces a JPG but keeps the raws around, for some models. Or you can just bracket without the hdr mode as usual too.

mikeinctown wrote in post #18093428
Well everything on that street does have a yellow tint due to the lights used on the streetlights there, but just not THAT yellow. I really wanted a night shot, and cars do travel that section fairly regularly, so I can't go for a very long exposure. So for example, on these shots, i think I wound up with maybe 10 different exposures of various focal lengths. I usually take two or three at each setting so I can be sure at least one is in focus and clear. I also play with my focs points as well. Anyway, I normally can snap off a few shots and then a car comes through, and then I wait for the car to pass, then move the tripod again and take another shot or two. I'm sure the street would be more vacant if I went at 3 or 4AM rather than 11PM, but I got a regular 8-5. lol Though perhaps a photo of the buildings with some light and then another photo later to expose the ones in the back may work as well. Just need to shoot a quick dot on the street with some marking paint for the tripod location.

I appreciate everyone's advice about merging two shots. I think I may also see how much I can bring the shadows out in LR on another set with less exposure on the buildings in the foreground.

Well rather than trying to get there early in the evening, get there early in the morning, the light will be quite similar as you get towards dawn. Get towards autumn, and you won't even need to be that early. Do it on a Sunday morning and it will likely be even quieter.

When it comes to processing in LR I would try using the local brush to deal with the very yellow light. Actually what I would try is using the HSL sliders to reduce the yellow saturation in the image, and maybe even some orange too. If that then affects other areas that you want to keep the saturation looking unaffected I find that using the local brush, with Saturation set to +52 adds back the removed colour, without affecting the other channels so much. It's only when I set the Saturation above +52 that I see a general across the board increase in the saturation when doing this. I really wish that Adobe would put the full range of HSL sliders on the local brush. Oh and just allow setting another full WB, rather than having to use the WB offset as at present.

Alan