Hi all,

A night shot from holidays, Any tips / pointers appreciated.

Thanks!

I like the composition but all the lights and pool are blown out.

Agreed Frog,

Now on a night shot like this, how can I preserve the vivid colors without blowing it out? I tried a few different exposures, but I seemed to get it either too flat or overblown like this. Is it just trial and error to get the exposure correct or is there a trick? Obviously I am new to this, if you can point me in the right direction maybe I can justify a trip back to Costa Rica to re-shoot :D

K

Some great colors and nice composition. I agree with Frog that the lighting is blown out but, with some levels adjustments I was able to get toned down a bit. I can post what I came up with if you'd like. Just didn't want to post it without your permission.

Do you shoot in Raw format? If you do then you can make many adjustments that might improve the final result.
Greg

Xia_Ke,

As long as you don't clone me out of a pic and you into it, no problem! I would love to see your results.

Greg,

I was shooting in RAW and backing up to my iPod as I have only one CF card (need to get another). Unfortunately, like an iDiot I uploaded with half full battery in the iPod and it died mid transfer.. this messed up the iPod as far as uploading pictures so I had to revert to jpg only in order to save space. I wanted to shoot RAW as I am better with photoshop than a camera at this point.

This all reflects on the original quandry, how can I work the night exposures to save the post processing? I guess this must just be an experience thing?

Thanks for the help...

K

Look for RawShooter, it's a free download and it works wonders for a free download. It's a little slow, but you can't complain with free.

I could be wrong here...on my night house shots in keys...the higher aperture settings produce less blowout and more star effect. That said....start with a high aperture, 8 or higher and manually set speed accordingly for each aperture up and below , bracketing...might take 50 or so pics but then youll get a good idea on computer as to how these settings effect everything and take the best compromise. or not...

I would have added a bit more foreground and subtracted a little of the sky. Just so the pool wasn't clipped. I like the dreamy effect of the time exposure on the water..

GB

Here's what I came up with after some levels adjusting. Still some blow out due to the original exposure. Personally though, I like the effect of the little blow spots one shots like this.

Thanks all, very good advice that helps a lot.

Xia Ke, the edit looks nice, you preserved and enhanced some shadow detail while reducing the blowouts... excellent!

GB1, I actually tried to get the full pool but the staircase I was on made the angle really tough to swing it. I would have gotten a lot of trees and such in the way.

Thanks again all.

K