This time I will post two images on which I did more then my normal share of post processing. The night (cold freezing and bright) and sunrise (equally cold) were quite nice, but the images did not turn out to be what I had envisioned. Hmm, that was a bit of a bummer. For both images the key to improve was to go heavy on the blacks in Lightroom (settings around 60). Now I must admit that the sun really wasn’t that warm and colorful, and the night sky may not be as purple as it appears, but it was the images as I had been trying to take. So I am happy with the result!

The cold bright night…

For the night shot I had been trying to capture the dynamics of the night (star trails, which went well) and include both a strong, short, weathered tree and the light pollution on the horizon. Everything was in there, but it just needed some pp. I think the image went from nice to strong and conveying the message I had tried to put in.

Nikon D700, 16-35/4 VR, f5.6, 7:30 minutes, iso 400, WB fluor, tripod

The colorful sunrise

The sunrise, although having a very different atmosphere suppered a similar fate. The warmth just wasn’t popping from the image. Again, working with the black to a more extreme setting than I usually do, the image became strong and full of that early morning orange and red.

Nikon D700, 70-200/2.8 VR, f11, 1/320s, iso 800, handheld