Spot Light Problem

[CarolLHB]

Hi Friends,
I could use a little help. I take lots of pictures at band events, many of them at night, and typically there are great big lights across the field in all the shots, like the one here. Is there any way to tone down just the lights so that I don't have this giant ball of light in my photos?
Thanks :D

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1glDyiU46sihqX2vK8nhkRhyFngV

[GaryK]

Hey Carol

I just had the same problem with another photo. It took me a while to figure out but ...duh.... it was so simple :lol:

Just clone out the light with the black sky. It honestly took me 5 months to figure it out.

Do it on a copy of the original though.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1p2ASORE3FC6IKOaIdMn6ea8jAZ

This took all of 30 seconds..you might want to be a bit more careful and have a closer look when you do it, but it gives you the idea.


Gary.

[CarolLHB]

Gee Gary,
Maybe we can be co-winners of the "DUH" Award for '05 :lol: :lol:
I'm stressing to tone down the lights, never occurred to me to obliterate them!
Awesome job, clone tool, here I come!
Thanks :wink:

[GaryK]

Carol

I tried filters, adjustment layers..all sorts of stuff.. I don't know what made me think of cloning over..but so obvious :lol: :lol:

Take your time..I kind of hurried on yours so you can see some areas where the clone was obvious..maybe a softer brush would have helped.

[willpresley]

Well I did a quick one with the lasso - tool -- to get ride of everything from the top of the bleacher to the sky select it and then use levels,

I took the black slider all the way to the right and then the bar underneath I moved the white to the far left. Gave a nice black image but this was done on a rough and quick trial.

I too obliterated the light.
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1mzGa2NioPMXaxlvW0QYiDhbKMVvoi

[kevq]

Carol,
All I did was use the marquee selection tool to select the area, made the feathering quite high and filled with black.
If there is too much black a crop to your requirements would make it better.
Kev.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1qqNzb2nrYMsoIgdCYHJetx14texCq1

[Wendy]

I have mixed feelings about this ... I can understand why you want to remove it but I actually think some light adds to the scene. It seems a little flat without it ... perhaps just toning it down a little would work?


Wendy

[CarolLHB]

Thanks everyone-great suggestions.
Wendy, I do agree that keeping the lights would be fine, but we can't figure out how to tone them down to a softer, less intense glow. Over the years some of thie lights have been pretty cool, especually when it's raining. I've had some funky auras, etc. How would you approach it?
thanks :)

[CarolLHB]

:oops: Oops-BTW, welcome back!

[GaryK]

Wendy

Do tell.

I tried a bunch of stuff on the one I was having trouble with but I could never make it look any good. I ended up cloning over it, as per previous posts. Mind you, mine was right on a building so I had a bit of structure to clone in and it wasn't so stark.

[Jodi Frye]

can I answer ? this is what i tried and it looked ok...first I selected the eyedropper tool and sampled the black sky color. Then I created a new layer above the image and and made a sloppy lasso selection around the entire sky...I feathered it at 30% and then filled it with the color I had previously sampled. I lowered the opacity of the layer until I could see somewhat of the light...then i grabbed a soft eraser and just erased a bit in center to brighten it a bit...not sure if this is the effect you were after but that was one way...I'm sure there are a million others....anyone else coming down with a sniffly cold ? What a crappy feeling !

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1u468EdLbobGb0vUPDEN0gZ4zLY4f50

[GaryK]

Thanks Jodi

I've had this darn cough, after a cold for over a month now. Its just hanging on. At least now I only cough if Im running or cycling and really breathing hard.

[Wendy]

Hi everyone ...

I did it sort of similar to Jodi ..

First I duplicated the layer then I did a loose selection with the lasso and feathered it 40. Then I did a levels adjustment on the selection ... moving the centre slider until it darkened the outer area.

Next I did the same as Jodi ... but I varied the opacityof the eraser ...high opacity in the centre and lower towards the outside of the light:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=19bm9ns32QfO9UKXoMLFZGgV3nquK


Wendy

[CarolLHB]

Dear Jodi and Wendy,
They both look great, thanks so much for taking the time to play with the shot. This will let me keep some of the overall effect of the night shots. You guys are the best! Now I have some work to do!! :lol:

Hope you feel better Jodi-allergies are getting me now (sniffle)

[Wendy]

Carol ...

I do think that some of the light effect adds to the image ... it give it more atmosphere.

Glad to help :)


Wendy