Shelter

[DanK]

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for the comments and critique, yes I've been playing around with the highlights/shadows in ACR and I sometimes push the clarity a bit.

I was guessing that these artifacts are a result of excessive clarity, but I just tried replicating it with several of my own night photos and couldn't replicate it. So perhaps it is a combination of substantial lifting of the shadows (which will often reveal problems, particularly at high ISO and if exposed to the left) with a boost in clarity (which would exacerbate them).

If the original histogram is bunched to the left, that might be a clue.

[Shadowman]

I was guessing that these artifacts are a result of excessive clarity, but I just tried replicating it with several of my own night photos and couldn't replicate it. So perhaps it is a combination of substantial lifting of the shadows (which will often reveal problems, particularly at high ISO and if exposed to the left) with a boost in clarity (which would exacerbate them).

If the original histogram is bunched to the left, that might be a clue.

Hi Dan,

Yes the histogram was bunched to the left and I do push the shadow slider all the way to the right.

[skitterbug]

I like that you caught the challenge on the wall of the bus stop! And how the light bounces off various places in the picture! If I jogged for one minute - I'd probably fall over! I do better walking! So maybe I should skip the bus!

Interesting pic and well done!

[DanK]

Hi Dan,

Yes the histogram was bunched to the left and I do push the shadow slider all the way to the right.

I'll bet that's the cause of the issues that Manfred pointed out with this and one other photograph.

Are you using a tripod for night photography? That makes it feasible to get a reasonable exposure (at least for static subjects) and to get images that are free of this sort of artifact.

[Manfred M]

I'll bet that's the cause of the issues that Manfred pointed out with this and one other photograph.

Are you using a tripod for night photography? That makes it feasible to get a reasonable exposure (at least for static subjects) and to get images that are free of this sort of artifact.

The consensus I have from other experienced Photoshop users is that the Shadows and Highlights sliders should generally be kept in the -80 to 80 range, otherwise artifacts can start becoming a problem. I have exceeded those limits on occasion, but those were definitely special cases and I had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the resulting artifacts.

I agree about the tripod as that gets one into low ISO settings which preserves the data in the highlight and shadow areas a lot better.

[DanK]

The problem is that there is very little signal at the bottom end, so amplifying it by a great deal amplifies by a great deal all of the noise, etc.

For this reason, I often expose night shots brighter than I want the final image and then darken it in post. I always use a tripod for this work, and I almost always shoot at ISO 100 or 200.

[Shadowman]

I like that you caught the challenge on the wall of the bus stop! And how the light bounces off various places in the picture! If I jogged for one minute - I'd probably fall over! I do better walking! So maybe I should skip the bus!

Interesting pic and well done!

Hi Sandy,

Thanks for the comments.

[Shadowman]

I'll bet that's the cause of the issues that Manfred pointed out with this and one other photograph.

Are you using a tripod for night photography? That makes it feasible to get a reasonable exposure (at least for static subjects) and to get images that are free of this sort of artifact.

Hi Dan,

Both were handheld.

[Shadowman]

The problem is that there is very little signal at the bottom end, so amplifying it by a great deal amplifies by a great deal all of the noise, etc.

For this reason, I often expose night shots brighter than I want the final image and then darken it in post. I always use a tripod for this work, and I almost always shoot at ISO 100 or 200.

Might do so (tripod) for this particular shot I want to do of a cathedral which has immensely bright floodlights.