Pedestrian Overpass

[Manfred M]

I was out last night scouting a location for a project I am working on. This is a pedestrian overpass over an 8-lane highway. The shot was taken well into Blue hour, facing north-west.

I'm looking at using this as a backdrop for a composite image, but found it was kind of interesting as a stand-alone shot too. I should have stayed a bit later, but got tired of feeding the mosquitoes...

This was a 20 second exposure and I had hoped that I would pick up light streaks from the headlights and tail lights of vehicles on the highway, but no such luck.

[Donald]

Perfect backdrop. Wonderful colour. I look forward to seeing how it is used.

[selig1656]

Great composition and so well done.Terrific example of DOF. love the symmetry !!!

[lovelife65]

fantastic!
My only question would be, on my upper right when viewing the photo the two very bright lights. Is that intentional?

[Manfred M]

fantastic!
My only question would be, on my upper right when viewing the photo the two very bright lights. Is that intentional?

They were there, so they are in the image. They are dead easy to remove in Photoshop, so I could do so if needed...

[Rufus]

Regarding the two very bright lights near the top right:

They were there, so they are in the image. They are dead easy to remove in Photoshop, so I could do so if needed...

I would agree were it not for the red flaring, which as a whole extends across a significant area containing colour gradients and reflections. How would you remove the flaring as well? Would you clone and then dodge and burn to acheive an approrpiate fall off in colour in the cloned steelwork, shadow, reflections etc?

[Wavelength]

Excellent image

[Urbanflyer]

Lots of interesting aspects to this shot. It will be interesting to see your idea of a composite.

[Manfred M]

Regarding the two very bright lights near the top right:



I would agree were it not for the red flaring, which as a whole extends across a significant area containing colour gradients and reflections. How would you remove the flaring as well? Would you clone and then dodge and burn to acheive an approrpiate fall off in colour in the cloned steelwork, shadow, reflections etc?

While this is by no means perfect, 5 or 10 minutes of work gives me this.



For the most part, I stole pieces without the flare for the beams and transplanted those parts. The small areas I cloned in.

[Rufus]

For the most part, I stole pieces without the flare for the beams and transplanted those parts. The small areas I cloned in.

Pretty good for 5-10 minutes work!

My question was prompted because I could not see where the source material for the edit would come from. I could see how the vertical steel could be edited and the lamp post itself, but I just could not see a potential source for the horziontal beam. And it is till not obvious, and you have achieved a very realistic even colour along the whole section. Did you by any chance copy a beam for the other side, flip it and then tweak it some more? Or maybe I am over-thinking it?

[Manfred M]

Did you by any chance copy a beam for the other side, flip it and then tweak it some more?

That's exactly what I did. Good analysis...

I spend a lot of time working in Photoshop, so I can generally figure out how to fix a lot of problems.

[Chataignier]

Lots of interesting aspects to this shot. It will be interesting to see your idea of a composite.

Yes it will. Some people perhaps ?

[Manfred M]

Yes it will. Some people perhaps ?

The plan is for one person. I expect to start shooting that soon.

[Rufus]

I am also looking forward to how this project develops. I imagine the light in this shot will be a challenge to match in the portrait, but there are some lovely colours and tones here for the background.

[Manfred M]

I am also looking forward to how this project develops. I imagine the light in this shot will be a challenge to match in the portrait, but there are some lovely colours and tones here for the background.

If the "normal" colour temperature of the studio lights does not give me the look I want, I am looking at three different approaches:

1. Gel the studio lights when shooting my subject. I can go with either cooler colour temperatures (blue gel) to match the blue sides or warmer colour temperatures (yellow or orange gels) to match what is happening with the artificial lights on the overpass.

2. Go back and re-shoot on a rainy / overcast day to provide a more neutral background. The site is only about 5 minutes from where I live, so doing a re-shoot will be easy; and

3. If all else fails, go with B&W.