Streetlight Interference

[Cheeze439]

I live in a suburban area, and when ever I try to take any night shots, especially longer exposure ones, I get a lot of orange glare from the streetlights. I even get this (but reduced) when shooting out in my rear garden where there are no lights around. It's probably because the streetlights are diffusing in the slight haze.

Anyway, someone suggested to me that a polarizing filter could help reduce this... is this true? And if so would a linear or circular one be better?

Failing that does anyone have any good tips on this for me? Even if it's something done in post processing?

Thanks

[OsmosisStudios]

Youre never gonna be able to get rid of that. It's just the way things are. You can cool the light to a more subtle pale yellow, but its still gonna overflow alot.

What kind of night shooting are you doing?

[Austin_HXC]

Yeah, you're never gonna be able to change the streetlights. But you can, however, gel your flash to an orange so all your light is the same color and then change overall white balance in PP to get your orange lights to look white. Just a suggestion.

[Cheeze439]

I've been experimenting with shots of the stars, just until I get out to a better location with no or little street lighting. Someone else suggested turning the white balance to Incandescant, which has actually made a fair bit of difference. It's not eliminated it completely but it's toned it right down.

[OsmosisStudios]

Even set to incandescent, shooting RAW you can alter it after the fact.