[SammyC]

I want this one to be print worthy but I would appreciate some comments from you chaps to perfect it:



Don't hold back now!

[Arkady]

The foreground is too dark for me. Rather than bringing up the foreground detail on the original, I would have made two exposures (assuming you're on a tripod; if not, keep a reference point at the same place in the veiwfinder), one for the sky and one for the foreground then combine them in Photoshop.
Digital is getting better, but still hasn't got the latitude of neg film.

Waiting 5 minutes might have made a more atmospheric shot, immediately after the sun had set.

[SammyC]

Ah, well, I'll just have to go back to Tokyo then. What a shame! lol

[Arkady]

*lol* we always used to say that film was the cheapest part of any trip abroad - with digital there's no reason at all not to shoot the **** out of the subject.

[Dave]

If you shot in RAW then you could produce the 2 different exposures that could then be processed for HDR (See Bachs thread in Digital Manipulation section)

[SammyC]

It was in raw so I'm sure I can get the detail. These are the kind of comments I want as I want to spend some time on it to get a good result.

Keep 'em coming!

[SammyC]

This is the detail that's in the raw:



I've not bothered to do too much to it, just exposure adjusted in RSE and slight curves in PS.

So, do you think more of this detail should be visible?

[CT]

The shot first posted is way too dark in the foreground. It's a great shot and it's just about acceptable viewed on a monitor, but I think a print from that shot would be look even darker in the foreground, as you lose some of the luminance that you get from seeing it on a monitor.

The saving grace is you still have the RAW file. I'd duplicate the RAW image and process one for the sky and one for the foreground, save them as TIFFS then combine the two shots via layers in PS.

Definitely do-able I would think, but you'll need to excercise good judgement to get the depth of colour in the sky and the detail you need in the foreground, without the final result looking false.

[SammyC]

Thanks for the advice CT (and others) I'll have another go at it!

Anything else before I butcher it again?!

[Arkady]

See the breakdown of detail in the darker areas, like the trees? You'll have a job making it look as good as if you'd made two seperate exposures.
Shooting in RAW is no substitute for getting the exposure right in the first place, though it will be OK for adjustments up to 2.3 stop. Beyond that there's too much degradation in shadows for my liking.

[SammyC]

TREES! There's trees in there! What a waste of valuable Tokyo real estate!

lol

[SammyC]

I've tried to bring out the foreground detail a bit, its a bit of a hack as I don't have PS at work:



I think the colours are better in the first one but that's becuase it's easier to adjust things in CS2 than the crap stuff I have at work!

What do you think?

[daveyuk]

Sammy
For me it's got to be your first one as I like the dark moody feel. The orange sky plus the dark sky and fg works well for me IMO for what it's worth.

[Dave]

A quick blend of 2 images you posted, with orange wash added over distant buildings. Foreground sharpened slightly & contrast increased. Not perfect by any means , but just another example of what can be altered.

[SammyC]

I'm not sure about that one Dave, I know you've not got much to work with but I think the buildings in shadow look better (more moody as daveyuk said).


This is one with a bit more detail added:

[Dave]

The original just needs that bit more punch for buildings....even if dark, some lights on in buildings would have done it. A hard one with the light being so low. Another option is to crop tighter :-



Once again, not saying this is better, just another view In fact the more I play , the more I like the original the way it was :lol: