From Black to Black and White

[ken1953]

Recently, Almo placed a long exposure of his backyard on FB and it piqued my interest to do some testing with some nice results. However, my biggest surprise came with this shot.
I was practicing with bulb settings and accidentally changed my setting to 25 seconds. Needless to say...a black photo was the result. :--( .
After getting home and viewing my good exposures, I decided to practice on the "black" photo. I rarely shoot in RAW but this time I was, so I opened it in Photoshop CS2 and began playing with settings. I didn't have any idea what I was doing, but things started changing for the better. My result is the second shot. I hope you like.
All comments are, as always, greatly appreciated.

[n8]

The shot it's self doesn't do much for me, but the amount of data you can pull out of a RAW image is just ridiculous.

[ken1953]

Thanks n8...that was my point in posting it.

[almo]

Sorry it took me so long to get on this Ken. The server was down for a while.

As an image on it's own merit there is not much going for it. But, as a detail of what one can pull out of a RAW image, it is amazing. It's nearly clear enough to qualify for legal evidence. In fact in some cases it might even pass for that.

I'd bet you could get it even a bit clearer with some work. not bad Ken.

Thanks for sharing!

[ken1953]

Thanx John, yes my point was to show what shooting RAW can do for you with a bad photo. And I'm sure if I had more experience with this and maybe a better RAW converter than PS CS2 I could have done a better job. But, I've got a new found interest in shooting RAW so will continue in this vein now. BTW..thanx for the inspiration.

[almo]

Thanx John, yes my point was to show what shooting RAW can do for you with a bad photo. And I'm sure if I had more experience with this and maybe a better RAW converter than PS CS2 I could have done a better job. But, I've got a new found interest in shooting RAW so will continue in this vein now. BTW..thanx for the inspiration.

How awesome a feeling it is to be told you have inspired someone outside of yourself. I should thank you Ken. Why don't you send me the raw file and let me see what I can do with it in CS5?

I'll send you a PM with my email if you're down for it

[ken1953]

OK...will be waiting...