Help needed if possible

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kevmalone

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I've been after this shot for a long time and decided that with the Illuminations being on, the backdrop would we a bit more interesting.
Obviously its a long exposure to get the trails and then a burst of rear curtain flash to hold the model still.
My problem is the differing levels of light in the shot, in particular the blown out light on Coral Island.
I tried all sorts of things to blow them out less, but all led to underexposure in the key places.
Could anyone shed some light on how to get around this.

Thanks

 
Taking a couple of different exposures and blending them in post would be one way to allow a greater control over the varying strength lights.
 
I think the nature of the shots, ie movment in the light trails would mean that one shot would need to be used, converted 3 times +2ev 0 and -2ev and tione mapped in photomatix or similar.
 
Would that not give the unrealistic look of HDaRse?
I'm not great with Photoshop to be honest. I tend to just use Aperture.
 
I like the photo and and can live with the blown highlights, to be honest its pretty inevitable with long exposures and strong lighting. Maybe the use of an ND filter on the right side could have helped keep the highlights more manageable.

My only crit would be the black sky shoot a bit earlier, just after the sun has gone down, to capture some colour in the sky.

Steve
 
It doesn't look too bad to me, but if anything it is all a bit over exposed. You could probably pull the exposure down by a stop or even two.

Do that with f/number or ISO and leave the shutter speed the same to get the blurred car lights. The neons will still burn through and you'll retain the detail you want. The tarmac will obviously go darker but I think that will look better. Increase the flash power to match of course.

And using second curtain sync hasn't done anything for you there except make the timing of the actual flash less predictable. There is no movement of the girl, so first or second curtain makes no odds in that situation.
 
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