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Night Photography Post Processing
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Hi All,
Anyone got any tips for night photography? I specifically need to look at a minimal post processing flow that doesn’t involve more time playing with sliders on a touchy feely basis than taking the photograph.
Maybe I need to do more when taking the image to make it easier? Attached is an image that was taken at night…there’s a lot to do with it to make it “real” looking without having to revert to the B&W route. :?[attachment=0:28q8kgox]test_night_001.jpg[/attachment:28q8kgox]
Alan.
First port of call needs to be white balance. If you only have a jpeg, you may be out of luck, as your file may not have the processing flexibility you need though. Play with that first, then see where you stand. If all you do have is a jpeg copy, and not a raw file, b&w may be your only option. Ruined some Paris night shots a few years ago by shooting jpeg-only with auto white balance giving me results just like your image.
RAW only…jpeg is soooo yesterday! ;-)
Rob (former active member here) gave a bit of advice and that was to create a custom WB which makes a whole lot of sense.
Thanks for your input.Alan.
Hi Alan.
I’ve always found that shooting at dusk rather than when the sky is totally dark gives nicer results as there is still some colour in the sky. Shooting RAW with customised WB will also work well, but a scene with mixed coloured light sources will be challenging to find which is most pleasing. Shooting streets on wet nights also offers lovely reflections to a scene. A tripod & cable release will allow longer exposures at lower ISO’s which will help to reduce noise in your images & are great for car light trails.Hi Alan, no expert at night shots, as I don’t do enough of them! But your test shot does scream
white balance, street lights always seem to give that orange glow, why not process that shot to
your liking and make a note of what you did, then adjust your settings accordingly before your
next shoot? I have a custom menu in my camera that I can programme in various settings and it
is quite useful for night photography, it means I can just call up the custom menu and work away,
It does cut down on post processing considerably (especially if I get it right) :lol:Thanks Jenny…and that’s exactly what I did last night. What didn’t help was this dumb ass not remembering that specific WB settings were available on Lightroom while I was trying to do it manually. :roll:
Now I got the colour right (as in the second image) but I felt it better to go B&W. Thanks for all the help folks.
Alan.
Hi Alan.
Just a quick question regarding the starburst effect in your shots. Is this from a filter or is it from the lens’ aperture blades?
p.s. I love the last shot.The “starburst” is just from the shuter blades. I was asked this elsewhere if it was F22 but the settings were 6 seconds F11, ISO 200, 50mm.
These are very good Alan. Would like to try some nighttime shots myself. Have a book on Brassai – Paris which is all shot at night.
Well worth a read if you get the chance.Thanks Mark…will do. Right now I don’t have much choice – going in to work in the dark…coming out in the dark. But it’s different!
Good work Alan, I like both those shots. Re: lightroom, sometimes the scope of wb changes you need can be outside the range of the presets, so no harm to be able to do it by eye manually either :)
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