Thanks. What I was hoping to fix was the color/contrast to make it look more like a professional nighttime shot. Also I wanted to see if I could reduce the noise in the sky. I can't really do anything about the composition at this point.
WHAT would you change??? I think it is fabulous. Maybe curves could help you out, but I wouldn't change a thing. It certainly doesn't look ameteurish to me at all!!!
I do think that the colors look a little bit flat. My favorit trick for punching up colors is what I call "velvia action". I believe I read about it first in american photographer magazine. I use it for almost every single exposure I take. Here are the steps for it.
1. Create a channels mixer adjustment layer.
2. On the RED channel boost the RED levels to 144, the GREEN to -22 and the BLUE to -22.
3. On the GREEN channel, boost the GREEN levels to 144, the RED to -22 and the BLUE to -22.
4. On the BLUE channel, boost the BLUE levels to 144, the RED to -22 and the GREEN to -22.
This is much more pleasing to the eye, and doesn't burn out your colors like if you simply raised your saturation levels.
Another technique I like to use is to create a duplicate layer, and use the oval marquis tool, set the feather to 200pix (for a full res pic, for the sample I edited, I used 50pix) basically make an oval around the center, covering most of the pic. then delete the center out. Do brightness/contrast on the layer with the hole cut out, and drop the brightness to about -20. this makes the edges darker and brings your eye to where you really want it to be.
I do think that the colors look a little bit flat. My favorit trick for punching up colors is what I call "velvia action". I believe I read about it first in american photographer magazine. I use it for almost every single exposure I take. Here are the steps for it.
1. Create a channels mixer adjustment layer.
2. On the RED channel boost the RED levels to 144, the GREEN to -22 and the BLUE to -22.
3. On the GREEN channel, boost the GREEN levels to 144, the RED to -22 and the BLUE to -22.
4. On the BLUE channel, boost the BLUE levels to 144, the RED to -22 and the GREEN to -22.
This is much more pleasing to the eye, and doesn't burn out your colors like if you simply raised your saturation levels.
Another technique I like to use is to create a duplicate layer, and use the oval marquis tool, set the feather to 200pix (for a full res pic, for the sample I edited, I used 50pix) basically make an oval around the center, covering most of the pic. then delete the center out. Do brightness/contrast on the layer with the hole cut out, and drop the brightness to about -20. this makes the edges darker and brings your eye to where you really want it to be.
Here is my results:
Thanks for posting this! I was shown that velvia action a few years ago and have been wondering about it since. Very helpful.
