Icy Light

[cromrif]

I was trying to capture the ice and give the photo a frozen look while at the same time keeping some life in the photo with the warm glow from the light. I tried cooling the picture off some but it killed the glow from the light, any suggestions? I feel like im getting close to over processing it, also im pretty new to photography and was wondering how the composition turned out any suggestions?

[jbm1991]

Hi there, your edit is pretty good
Would it be possible for you to supply the original image so we can see what the photo started off looking like? It's easier to make comments about an edit if the unprocessed image is available for comparison.
Also, could you maybe upload both the images to somewhere like flickr so they're a bit higher resolution

Best wishes
John

[cromrif]

ok here is the link to the original and higher rez edited, thanks in advance

Flickr: cromrif's Photostream

[jbm1991]

Upon seeing the original I really like what you did with your edit. But i've made my own quick edit and if you like it i'll happily tell you what i did to acheive it.



Best wishes
John

[cromrif]

yeah I like this, maybe a tad on the blue side for my taste but that is defiantly the direction I was wanting to go, and you retained more of the warm glow from the light. what did you do?

[Murtasma]

What editing software are you using? You could make a mask so the warm fuzzy light is not affected by the blue color.

[jbm1991]

To make my edit I did the following:
1) I used the method described here to enhance the image: Turn Ho-Hum Color into WOW! with Photoshop (NOTE: I have this set up as an action so i just need to click a button and it does it for me as I use it on pretty much every photo) However instead of setting the layer to the usual 30% (give or take) I set it to only 7% opacity.
2) I then copied the original image onto a new layer and put this layer on the top of all the other layers. I then erased out all of this layer with a large soft eraser apart from the light and surrounding glow. I then dropped the opacity to about 35%. This just gives the light a bit of an extra boost.
3) I added a new layer on the top and painted it completely blue, which shade of blue is personal preference. I then changed the layer mode to "overlay", and adjusted the opacity accordingly for the bricks and ice, NOT the lamp.
4) On the blue layer i took a large soft eraser and centred it over the bulb and glow and clicked a few times. This makes the image remain blue and icy without affecting the lamp glow.
5) I then added a Hue/Saturation layer and dropped the saturation to -47.
6) I then merged all of the layers (I also had created a back up layer of the original image at the start, so i did not include this in the merge)
7) At this point i added in another blue overlay layer and dropped the opactiy to 50%, However as you said it was a bit blue for your tastes you may wish to not do this, or maybe drop the opacity more than I did. 20% perhaps.
8) I then added a "Black and White" adjustment layer and left it at the default values (40, 60, 40, 60, 20, 80). I dropped the opacity of this adjustment layer to 50%.
9) Then like before i took a soft eraser big enough to cover the lamp and glow and centered it over the bulb and clicked a few times till I liked how it looked.

And thats it finished. Your version will probably look a little bit different to mine if you've used a different shade of blue at different opacities to what I used. Glad i could help

Best wishes
John