Night Time Resort

[chinaski]

Hi all,

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

Thanks!

[Frog]

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

[chinaski]

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

K

[Xia_Ke]

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.

[Greg McCary]

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

[chinaski]

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

[Greg McCary]

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.

[jkriminger]

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...

[GB1]

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

[Xia_Ke]

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.

[chinaski]

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