Lights At Night is not the topic of this week’s photo challenge, it’s actually “It’s Not This Time of Year Without…” but to me holiday lights at night mean that the Christmas season has arrived. It’s also perfect for a photo challenge because shooting at night is a challenge to me. Part of the problem is practice, in that I almost never do.
Something I decided to try on this shoot was to use the Kelvin temperature feature for my white balance. I was shooting just as the sun had set and was looking to capture those deep blues in the sky. Here is an article that explains Kelvin with a chart to give you an idea of what temperature you would need to use under various temperatures. This is one of the photos I captured:
ISO 800 50mm f/11 1/25
It’s got the blue sky and the lights, but I’m not too sold on the rest of it. So, I decided to edit a bit more and here is another version that I came up with:
ISO 800 50mm f/11 1/25
What I have done is created a black and white version and layered it over the original and then masked back in some of the color. Two other things I did was remove the neon reflection in the pub window and the red tail lights that are in the first version. Those are just two details that really bugged me.
What do you think of this second version? Feel free to leave a comment below. Do you have a favorite setting to use on your camera at night? I’d love to hear about it in the comments, and if you’ve blogged on that topic, feel free to leave a link.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
I like the first version for the sky ☺ and the second for the selective coloring.
Night photography is difficult for me too – it’s as you said, not much practice at all. 😅 Your picture is another nudge for me to try it more!
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Thank you for your comment. I always think of getting out more at night with my camera when I see other people’s nice light shots 🙂
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Good idea to remove the red lights, but I didn’t notice the neon until you mentioned it.
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Yup, just one of those little things that once it caught my eye I couldn’t un-see it.
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I understand and experience the same sometimes.
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I figured you could relate.
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I like the second one more. It has that holiday look..
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Thank you!
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I like the second version – it has an air of mystery to it!
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Thank you, I find it a bit more interesting than the first anyway.
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I really like your PS edits! I love the color through the window and the photo looks very soft and peaceful! 🙂
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That light was something I was looking to preserve as I was working through the edit.
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I really enjoy your edited version, it gives me the warm and fuzzy feeling of the holidays! It was interesting to read about your edits, I didn’t even notice the tail lights in the original until I read your comment. Isn’t it strange how something that is obvious to one is missed by another? Once I had seen it, I couldn’t unsee it, though. I think you made a good call 🙂
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Thank you and thanks for reading. I agree with you about the lights, it is often small things like that that once you see them become almost the focus even though other people would totally miss them.
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I like the first one much better; the dark blue is so rich and lends a mysterious mood. The second image seems a bit ghostly and flat to me.
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Thanks for your honest thoughts on this. I do really like the blue in the first shot. I don’t often shoot using the Kelvin setting for white balance, but I think that I got good results with it here.
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I can say they are both beautiful shots, and I can certainly admire your skills. But, I can’t join in the conversation because you are talking way above my comfort level. 🙂
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Thank you for commenting, I do appreciate you joining in.
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Having just moved from a point and shoot to a bridge camera (that shoots raw), I’m not going to try to offer advice. My night shooting is based on luck at this point. That is a nice photo. I like it in all three versions. The first edit has nice color. I would have edited the neon and car lights, too, since they distract from the lighting that is the star of the photo.
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Thanks very much for your comment, just wondering what camera you are using and do you like it so far?
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I bought a Canon PowerShot SX60 HS. Every day, I say I’m going to wear it around my neck. Needless to say, that isn’t always practical and I need a camera bag. I choose It for the zoom, EVF and raw image ability. The few times I’ve used it, I’ve been happy with it. I’m looking forward to trying raw images.
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It looks nice (I googled it) RAW format really expands what you can do with a photo when you are editing, it’s a format that I really like. Have fun 🙂
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GORGEOUS GORGEOUS!!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Really love both – their is a different mood on the second – a quieter and a bit austere – but also winter magic like – and it reminded me of being in Pennsylvania at 4 am – hm
But the original I loved because of the darkness anchoring the colorful lights – it felt like peeking in on a setting for Xmas – 😉
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Thanks 🙂 I have to say it is that quieter feel that is just calling to me right now.
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😉
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