Took this in March when I was in Manhattan for 2 nights... The winds were incredibly harsh, and I had to hold my tripod in place with my hands during the 15 sec exposure... the clouds were moving quite quickly, which was good for the shot...
I'm not sure if I'm happy with the PP I did on this in Camera Raw... I tried to tone down the saturation and I lost some of the strong reds in the car lights along the way... For whatever reason, the unprocessed RAW thumbnail looks way better to me... I think I need to go back to shooting raw+jpeg...
Also, I'm considering cropping the lights at the top out... (they seemed like a good idea at the time)
Cool shot! Personally, I like the lights. They give me a sense of the viewer's situation in relation to the shot. I feel I'm in the shot, surrounded by the city, and the light looking down at me makes me feel kind of watched myself. I think it's a cool immersive effect.
Cropping aside, this is a cool shot. Thanks for sharing. It's something I hope I will learn to do in the future.
I like this Mac, but agree I'd like more of the red brake lights to contrast with the blue on the building. What intersection is this? I'm in NYC pretty often and am always looking for new places to shoot...
Thanks, Jkilroy... I think I actually feel the same way about the crop... leave it how it is...
rickberk: Thanks. This was the northwest corner of Broadway and 55th, right behind the hotel I was staying at..
I don't know what happened to the reds.. it looked great on my LCD, looks fine as a thumbnail, but as soon as I send it to ACR, it loses the red, even when I view as "image settings".. I tried all the normal adjustments to bring it back out, but nothing seems to work... The blues on the building were over-saturated straight out of the camera, so any bump on saturation (even just the red channel) makes the blues bleed... I dunno... I think the problem ma be in the color profile..
Very nice shot. I'm surprised that you were able to stand somewhere in NYC for 15 seconds and get this image. Very well executed. I definitely would keep the lights, it just adds to the image, IMO. I would, however, like to see a bit larger version. I'm sure the detail in this photo is amazing.
XFBO: I checked, and my raw converter (ACR) isn't set for any kind of red-eye reduction...
I tried boosting the saturation in the red channel to no avail... it works, but completely over-saturates the already bright blues in the building...
the more I look at it now, the happier I am with it, I guess...
As requested, here's two other shots from the same night:
Leave the lights - it gives it a sort of War of the Worlds feel. Did you try cutting saturation with individual channels, or just the master? You might be able to retain your reds if you experiment with that.
I think I actually feel the same way about the crop... leave it how it is...