Thank you everyone for your entries. I know it wasn’t the most compelling image to work with, but you soldiered on, and soon there will be a Post-Processing Challenge #212!
Before I announce the winner and bore you with my comments, I should give you a little background so that you might better understand why I selected the entry that I did as the winner, and why I looked for certain qualities when judging each photo.
Since Wikipedia says it better than I can, I’ll let them:
Nicknamed the Queen City, like its county a few years earlier, Charlotte was named in honor of German princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become the Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland in 1761, just seven years before the town's incorporation.
Fast forward to today, and you’ll see “crowns” atop several of Charlotte’s highest buildings, like the Bank of America building (the tallest one towards the center) and, just to its right, the Hearst Tower. So I feel being able to make out the detail in those “crowns” (as you would be able to with the naked eye at night) is very important, if not essential in this case.
Enough history. Now a few brief comments:
Glenn – Your B&W entry was among my favorites, with nice detail in the buildings showing, including those of the largest building’s “crowns,” a still realistic amount of contrast, and I found the hint of twilight/clouds remaining aesthetically pleasing. I think the streetlight’s starburst on the extreme left is a bit distracting, but otherwise find your crop quite appropriate.
Todd – From the foreground grass and roadway, to the sky itself, your second entry has very pleasing colors and a nice color balance to it. The highlights are also well tamed on the tops of the tallest buildings. In addition to your tighter crop, it appears you went as far as cloning out the bluish lights on the building on the far right, keeping our attention on the nicely balanced skyline.
Arizona Dave – The lack of detail in your B&W’s dark foreground solved what I felt was this image’s biggest issue—a lack of “connectedness” with the distant skyline and the well-lit foreground. In other words, the image as captured felt like two different scenes to me—one of a brightly illuminated inner city highway, and another somewhat distant city skyline. (Of course I didn’t quite realize this until I saw your entry.) My only minor nit would be the placement of the somewhat bright building on the extreme right. A little space between it and the edge of the frame, or a little burning/darkening of the building itself, might keep my attention from being pulled there.
Francisb - Your B&W version is very contrasty and a bit dark overall, giving it a rather abstract look. But I get this sense of energy from it that I truly love. Chop a little off the top, maybe, and it might make for a great album cover.
Astonm - Excellent work taming the brightest highlights and keeping great detail throughout. The rather cool color balance feels appropriate and fits this image well. The foreground colors, grass, etc., look outstanding. It’s close to how I envisioned my own version, but much better than what I ended up with!
Ismaelg - You nailed the colors atop the Duke Energy Building on the left, and did an excellent job with the colors and appearance of the brightest tones. I’m not sure if you stretched the buildings to make them taller, but they feel very commanding in your version. On my monitor at least, the buildings themselves come across a bit darker than I would like overall, but you did an excellent job dealing with the glare from the very distracting streetlight just outside the frame on the right.
Capmazariegos – I would prefer to see a bit more of the detail atop the buildings, and less of the glare from the streetlight just outside the frame on the right. But the blue colors in the sky and the rest of the buildings look phenomenal, as does the amount of contrast in your version. This really pops on my monitor and would no doubt make for a nice metal print.
Audra – Welcome! Your dad consistently produces first-rate work for these contests and I see the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. The blue-green lights in the city impart a bit of a cinematic feel to the scene, and are just plain nice to look at. The exposure you worked with doesn’t have the bright band of red taillights, which might have been a bit distracting the more I think about it. Great eye and an amazing job, first Lightroom attempt or otherwise. Lightroom and Photoshop are a lot of fun and I hope you continue to work with and enjoy them.
I was leaning ever so slightly towards one image when I started writing my comments, but the closer I scrutinized each entry, the harder it’s gotten for me to select a winner. They’re all great and all worthy of being chosen… Each has attributes that stand out… And as always I’ve picked up ideas from each of you… But since I must narrow it down … And choose one…
The WINNER of Post-Processing Challenge #211, and soon to be host of #212, is Arizona Dave!
Congrats Dave! Francisb, you were right there. I literally went back and forth between the two of your entries and only decided as I typed.
Thanks again to everyone that participated.