Since rejoining photography (in the digital age) a little over a year ago, I haven't done much shooting at night. Here are four pictures I took last November on an uncrowded night on the Boardwalk in Kemah Texas. These were shot RAW at ISO 800 with my DS2 and FA 35/2 and converted in Bibble with Noise Ninja.

Some people produce exceptional night photos, but I've not been happy with mine since I shot film. Please tell me what (and how) I could process night pictures better.

A couple of people standing at the door of Aquarium restaurant bar:



A shot across the Kemah Channel of a commercial fishing boat in Seabrook:



Closed concession stand:



Babin's Restaurant:



Thanks for any tips,

Jerry

[Alvin]

I like all the shots. The concession stand shot, the slant works for me, but I wish I could see a touch more of the sign.

[NaClH2O]

Hi Jer, I don't do night shots well either so I don't have any pointers. But I would like to say that I really like the second shot, it's got great composition because the reflections of the two lights leads the eye out and then the boat gets noticed. Good feel and execution.

NaCl(I should go over to City Island some night to see what I can capture)H2O

[Sailor]

Thanks guys, but I still think my PP needs some tuning. Maybe the best thing is more empirical experimentation - look what it did for Edison.

Jer

[vievetrick]

Really enjoy night shots. Yours are great thanks for sharing them

[Jonas B]

I like pictures taken at night.

One thing that i sometimes do is to desaturate certain parts that are affected from blooming/CA/purple fringe (whatever). In your picture No: 2 there is a lot of it in the water, in the reflections from the two lamps at the right. I think I would have desaturated these reflections. Of course, if you like the purple and the greenish effect you should just leave them.

You can often see this sort of fringe around highlights, like lamps and reflections. If you want the picture to resemble a more natural look (=the way most people remember the scene) it sometimes pay off removing the coloration.

That's what that comes to my mind. I like the first picture the best. Maybe I had been waiting to get somebody walking out from the restaurant to get a silhouette from the front.

Thank you for showing them - I need some inspiration to get out in the snowy cold at late nights with the camera...

[mingdie]

I like your night photos. The second one works really well for me. The reflection in the water is nice.

Thanks for sharing.

Eddie