Shooting Conditions at Night

Ferry Landing
Coronado, CA, United States

Canon 5D Mark II
Focal Length 28
Aperture 20
Shutter 13 sec.
ISO 200

This is a photo that I shot at the Ferry Landing shopping center in Coronado, CA.  The below photo is the original.  The biggest problem with this picture was that light was trapped in what I hoped would be a nicely contrasted black sky.  There are a number of reasons that this may happen.  In this case there was a higher than normal level of humidity in the air.

I try to keep my photoshopping to a minimum but in this example more drastic, but simple, changes were needed.  I did all of my post-production in Aperture 2.0 (For Mac) and enhanced the black point.  This is a great basic way to darken the sky in night photography.  This is best used sparingly however because the rest of the scene will also be darkened.  You could also adjust the contrast, but this may have a dulling/flattening effect on certain parts of the scent.  By using the black point adjustment I feel that a smoother, more luminous image is obtained.

A better technique would have been to stand from farther away and crop the shot after the fact.  This would have greatly reduced the lens flare.  There would have been a loss in resolution (depending on how much cropping was needed) but it would have yielded cleaner image that would have needed less post-production.  By excessive adjustments to black point you are running the risk that your image will look overproduced, as in my opinion, is the case here.  Far from comprehensive, but an easy, quick fix none the less.