"Spectra Light Tower" at Hobart

[enaiman]

Been out last evening to take some more pictures of the Ryoji Ikeda's "Spectra Light Tower".
All good, managed to capture some pictures and I was looking forward to do the usual post-processing on them.

I did it and the result is not what I would have expected.

I tried to get pictures from different angles and the one I am showing here is one of "those" images.
I am happy with the composition; it does show the upper part of Hobart's Cenotaph with the Light Tower at the background. I tried to get the obelisk and the light centered, the light to appear to surroundit, to look like a shower of light.
Exposure-wise was also OK with no disasters.

I tried different approaches for a couple of hours and I wasn't happy so I started again and again.
This is the result and I am not very happy about - it looks flat and doesn't have any impact - quite far from what I had in mind when I took the picture.
I know something is missing, I can't get a good result in Photoshop at all ... guess my artistic sense is on a break right now

Can anyone offer some suggestions about how I can improve it and what I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

[gregj1763]

Not sure Eugen, looks pretty good to me. I'm actually down in Hobart tonight and the light show has just started. I'm going to head out a bit later and see what I can manage to bring home. Perhaps we can compare notes later

[John 2]

I think you are being a bit hard on yourself Eugen. This has a fair amount of impact and it's a good image. Perhaps it just isn't what you had in your mind's eye. Would a different exposure bring out some more detail in the highlight area. There seem to be some halos there that might be quite attractive. You could try several exposures from a tripod at different shutter speeds. One to produce the same detail in the obelisk that you have here and the rest to see what you can pull out from the Light Tower. If you have the software to do it (layers in Photoshop or an HDR app.), you could then merge them for the best result. If you are using RAW files, you might even be able to create several copies to achieve the same thing depending on how much detail you have captured.

[Stagecoach]

Eugen,

I had a quick play in PSE with it to try and improve what you consider is a flat looking image;

a) In levels simply tweaked the mid tones, that in my opinion gave it more impact.

b) Used a graduated filter to darken the upper half and added some overall contrast, that failed in my opinion.

But I'm no expert and consider your image is fine.

[enaiman]

@gregj1763
Tonight is the best night since the show started. Until now it was at the best drizzle and at the worst rain. Quite a lot of people go there every night so the paring might be a problem. Good luck

@John 2
Thank you John for your kind words
The halo is the result of the preset from Topaz Detail and I remember that I liked it and I decided to keep it. The surface of the obelisk actually had enough light for itself to bring out every detail. The decision to have the obelisk darker came a bit later in the process because it looked to me that the details in the obelisk were too distracting.
I won't give up

@Stagecoach
Thanks Grahame for your reply. I'll try to tweak the midtones ... carefully. It happened quite often to get some banding in the sky when adjusting midtones and that -for me - is something very hard to get rid of.

[Mike Buckley]

I think you are being a bit hard on yourself Eugen. This has a fair amount of impact and it's a good image. Perhaps it just isn't what you had in your mind's eye.

I agree.

Having said that, try selecting the monument and applying a reverse S-curve as shown below in Overlay mode. Adjust the opacity to suit you. For me, doing that renders the monument more harmonious with the drama in the rest of the scene without increasing distracting detail. (I agree with you that increasing the detail in the monument is distracting.)

[enaiman]

Thanks a lot Mike, I'll try it right away.

[gregj1763]

@gregj1763
Tonight is the best night since the show started. Until now it was at the best drizzle and at the worst rain. Quite a lot of people go there every night so the paring might be a problem.

Yep found that out about 6:30 pm and gave up. Think I will get up 4am and head out then for another try.
What time does the lights go out?

[enaiman]

They stays up all night long.

[RustBeltRaw]

The original image is great. But this tower looks like an excellent HDR candidate. You might want to try painting a little blue over the front of the tower (not sure of your views on such alterations) to make the light look like it's coming from all around the base. Framing's great, but I think the tower's leaning a tad to the right. Nothing some distortion correction or leveling can't fix. Very good shot!

[enaiman]

@RustBeltRaw
Good suggestions - thanks

Hope to have something to show some progress tomorrow.

[enaiman]

Well, it took me a while and this is the best I could come with. It's the closest to what I had in mind ... but still not there

Thanks for all help.

[John 2]

That's a great shot. Not quite symmetrical but loads of impact. Like it.