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General => General discussion => Topic started by: TheRaven on 08 November 2012, 21:34

Title: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: TheRaven on 08 November 2012, 21:34
Looking for feedback on things to do better? I'm quite pleased with this one! First time trying it with just a single exposure!

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8167770447_43101e32a7_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenphotography2012/8167770447/)
Grace (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenphotography2012/8167770447/) by ravenphotography2012 (http://www.flickr.com/people/ravenphotography2012/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: shepgti on 08 November 2012, 21:49
Nice shot, my criticism would be it needs straightening slightly and Im not a fan of the 2 different tones from the warm orange sky and the cold blue from Im guessing an led torch.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: TheRaven on 08 November 2012, 21:52
Yeah that is an issue with the single exposure. Will have to go somewhere further away from bloody sodium lights!
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: DubFan on 08 November 2012, 22:59
The colour of the sky wouldn't be so much of a problem if it matched the colour of the torch.
Also if you had a shorted exposure and did multiple shots, you would see less of the light pollution in the sky.
I'm sure you could get it matched in photoshop though, a couple of layers with masking and custom colour temps.

Other than that you've done well to light the car to see the detail without losing the essence of a night shot.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: Ridg on 09 November 2012, 08:57
Yeah that is an issue with the single exposure. Will have to go somewhere further away from bloody sodium lights!

no you don't  :rolleyes:

http://www.fotosense.co.uk/rosco-strobist-gel-set-55-filters.html#fo_c=77&fo_k=9dcb03258e93421af73e3d81d84f56c9&fo_s=gshuk

http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/lighting-101-using-gels-to-correct.html

The lighting is good but the colour cast has ruined the photo as a whole, you've had to compromise between the two meaning the car has too blue a tint and the sky looks like mud.

For the sake of a couple of £ get some gels otherwise convert the photo to black and white.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: TheRaven on 09 November 2012, 09:37
Cheers, for that, will do a little eBay!

And to solve the issue of the WB...

(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/8168982852_c6eeee26f1_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenphotography2012/8168982852/)
Grace BW (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenphotography2012/8168982852/) by ravenphotography2012 (http://www.flickr.com/people/ravenphotography2012/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: DubFan on 09 November 2012, 10:05
That works much better.
Noice.  :smiley:
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: Ridg on 09 November 2012, 10:16
And to solve the issue of the WB...

Miles better :afro:
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: Diamond Hell on 09 November 2012, 10:51
B&W definitely the way to go on this one, unless you can even the colours out.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: DubFan on 09 November 2012, 10:58
The only issue with that B&W conversion is that it's more difficult to tell that it's a nighttime shot. The hedges for example look a little too bright. But that's being critical.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: TheRaven on 09 November 2012, 11:06
No it's very true. Basically what I'm aiming for is to not have to do 5-10 shots lighting different areas up, I want to do one long single exposure, light it all and done.

However, I do shoot in Raw so I can layer it, one for the background and one for the car. It will still be a single exposure!

Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: Winso on 12 November 2012, 13:31
To be honest I prefer the original version! BW looks cool but like DubFan said, it doesn't really look like a night shot any more.

I think the original is easily saveable though. I'm at work at the moment so I can't play in photoshop, but basically the exposure is pretty perfect and that's the hard bit to get right.

Personally I'd just darken the sky , probably with a 'multiply' adjustment layer and a graduated layer mask so you leave the car alone. Possibly desaturate a bit too, or maybe actually saturate it more!. For the car I'd just pull all the saturation out of the cyan/blue type area of the spectrum. Dirty and quick but I think on that shot it would work OK. Possibly a quick layers adjustment too, shadows look fine but midtones and highlights might need a little lift on the car.
Title: Re: Single Exposure VW Golf Light Painted
Post by: Ridg on 12 November 2012, 14:41
I'd go an alternative route, open the image white balanced for the sky.
open a copy of the image balanced for the car, copy paste onto the first image.  change the blending mode to screen or lighten (others might work better).

The long and short is shoot the image right in the first place and you'll save ages in PP.  A couple of gels will save you so much time in PP.