I had this idea very shortly after the contest was announced, I knew that the "Frost Cafe" sign would be good for an after-dark challenge. When I showed up at about 4:30 the diner was still dark, which was a bummer because I really wanted to have it lit up, like it was the only thing alive at that ungodly time. Luckily for me the cooks showed up right as I was considering packing up. I think I captured the total desolation of 4:00am. In my sleepy little agricultural town nobody's doing anything at 4 AM in the winter. :)
The photo required a healthy dose of post processing to make it look decent. All changes were done in RSE:
There was a horrible color cast because of the sodium vapor street lights. I haven't mastered in-camera white balance yet, so I adusted the color temp to 1800 the tint to 19, and the hue all the way to -25. If I could have gone to 1500 and -50 I probably would have. :)
Saturation was bumped up full blast without any negative effects, in my opinion. The yellow building was yellow even before I messed with saturation, and it really made the red sign pop and highlighted the reflection of the neon off the building.
Then in PS7 a slight crop, resize, and save for web.
I hope you like it.
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