As is often the case with photography, you go out looking for one thing, and you come back with something else! Sometimes the something else is even better than what you went looking for in the first place. Then again, sometimes not. I went looking for a great sunset shot to post to Skywatch Friday a few nights ago, but the skies weren't cooperating. On the way back to my car, I set up my tripod along the road to capture some of those streaky lights you get from cars during long exposures (corner of Bastanchury and State College in Fullerton). The night sky is kind of ho-hum, but overall, not a bad shot.
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| Original: 30 second exposure, f/14, ISO 200, 50mm |
Pretty easy to make out the headlights in the far lane and the taillights in the near lane. What if we spice things up a little by adding a texture?
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| Version 1 |
This particular texture adds some nice blues and "grunge" to the otherwise ho-hum sky, but we lose some cloud detail. What about adding a moon shot I took a while ago?
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| Version 2 |
Kind of nice, but (to my eye) the moon is too big and therefore a little fake looking. Also, I think the sky is too light, so let's add another texture and darken things up a bit. I'm also adding some grain and reducing the clarity and contrast for a "moody" look.
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| Version 3 |
OK, nice. This is my favorite. I loose some detail but I prefer this version overall. Last version... what about b&w?
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| Version 4 |
Hmmm, almost a toss-up for me, because I love b&w, but I still prefer version 3. Do you have a preference??
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the darkened one you like needs to be a poster. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tex! That one is terrific!!
ReplyDeleteCool. Somebody was having a lot of fun with photo editing. :-) Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful night sky and I love the long exposure to capture the lights on the cars. A fantastic group of images.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting series!
ReplyDeleteAfter looking through them several times, I like the original best simply because you lose the sky detail in the other versions. It is that brown/blue contrast in the sky that makes it more dramatic and interesting.
Happy Sky Watching!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
Interesting sequence, but I like the one with the big moon !
ReplyDeleteLovely shots. I too prefer the last colour version.
ReplyDeleteI do have a favorite,ok a couple. I like the reality of #1 perhaps because I have been to that place many times and it is a great capture and I also love the Black and White #4 because of the contrast and shadow. #4 shows the play of Winters cold air on the dry leaves against a stark sky.
ReplyDeleteYou do nice work.
Like the streaks on the street lights.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous skies! I love the first shot for the colors and the third shot with the cool moon. Happy Weekend!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun watching you play around with the pics. I like them all including the original.
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ReplyDeleteI'm with both you and Lea - I love the sky in the original, actually, but also like the depth of color in the third edited version, and I love the mood of both.
ReplyDeleteBut I also have to cast a vote for the one with the moon superimposed on it! I love that! The super-sized moon in that surreal-looking sky made me think of the odd and depressing but haunting and beautiful film, "Melancholia."
When we were kids, my friend Joni came up with the idea that at Christmas, all headlights should be green so that as you drove down the highway at night (which we were doing with her family at the time of her brainstorm), the green headlights and red taillights would look very festive. :-)
What a fun experiment! I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but cars whizzing by scare the bejesus out of me, so I've got to get past that. Love what you did on the edits, but I think I prefer the original! It looks smooth and the colors are very pleasing. I guess I'm in the minority. Oh well! Great shot any way you look at it. :)
ReplyDeleteThe original for me. I like that you included the settings you used. I'm taking notes.
ReplyDeleteI'm voting for #3 and 4!!!
ReplyDeleteWell I do like the original but the sky in version 3 is a great color. Cool picture anyway. MB
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat clueless here and like them all. Most interesting what you can achieve and appreciate the time you have taken to put this post together.
ReplyDeleteI like the moon picture. And the black and white...all of them!
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ReplyDeleteEach permutation is beautiful in its own right.
ReplyDeleteYou make it hard to pick a favorite. All of them are marvelous. But if I had to pick just one I would go with version 3.
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ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to try this... but we don't have many moving vehicles where we are! Beautiful examples.
ReplyDeleteWow, I don't want to choose!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, have a nice weekend :)
www.womenandperspectives.com
I like the original because it retains the cloud patterns in the sky. The traffic streaks are great and I like the way the street lights are shining stars.
ReplyDeleteTough choice! The heavy saturation in version 3 is awfully nice. I commend your patience on those long exposures. I find tripods just too annoying, but you sure get some great shots with one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the brown text is awfully hard to read in your header image. Adjust color?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sara... good suggestion. Let me see if I can fix that. Been experimenting with look of my blog, and not totally satisfied, so more to come!
DeleteIts indeed a tough choice but I prefer number 1 I think.
ReplyDeletecool ideas on playing with light and photos, thanks for sharing and thanks for your kind comments on my post
ReplyDeleteCreative, but I prefer the original. Like the details in the sky.
ReplyDeleteThey are all interesting. Hard to pick a favorite. Nice work! Thanks for sharing. John
ReplyDeleteI still love the original version.
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