I'm at my wit's end and needing help.........

[builder24car]

Thanks Ken! I've heard a lot of things about Photoshop. Photoshop this, photoshop that. Then all this other software for post processing, etc. It totally blows my mind! *sigh*

[Phill D]

Builder the guys are giving you some good advice here. Post processing can be wonderful & pretty straight forward in skillful hands but in my case even the simplest version of photoshop ie elements that I was given as a birthday present doesn't get much use beyond auto fixing the exposure. At my skill level I just dont seem to find the time to learn it maybe one day. In the mean time I've downloaded Picassa 3 from google which has some great auto fixes. Fixing your shot is probably beyond Picassa's limits though but you might want to give it a try as it's free & may just give you an easy intro to post processing. I'm certainly finding it quick & easy at the moment until I've time for something more extensive.

[Rooz]

depends how important this building is for you to photograph. to me this is just a sitting duck for blending exposures. its on a tripod adn the subject isnt moving. take 2 or 3 bracketed shots to expose the building and one shot to get that light up front right and then blend them all together.

no way you're gonna get the pic right with that lightsource smack bang in the middle.

[Ken.]

I do the majority of post processing in Lightroom. I haven't touched Photoshop in ages. It's just too complicated and process intensive to do simple things. There's nothing in your shots that's so off I couldn't pull a good image out of. The highlights are a bit too hot, I might I have pulled down the exposure a stop. It really depends on the end use of the image. If it was a poster, then I'd muck about with HDR. For the web, probably not.

[builder24car]

Thanks Phil. I actually had Picassa at one time. However for some reason it found every pic on my computer. It found EVERY pic! Needless to say I uninstalled it ASAP. LOL The guys on here have given me great advice and I'm making notes on every bit of it, it's greatly appreciated!

The building isn't important at all Rooz and Ken. I don't have time to shoot any more after work since it's dark when I get home, so this is just practice for night shots, nothing more. However I do feel anything I learn on stuff like this can only help me later thus the reason for the questions. Stuff like blending and post processing I know very little about so I'm going to have to learn all that. I'm pushing 50 fast and I'll be the first to admit I don't catch on nearly as fast as I used to. That's why anything I can do to make the pic right to start with is a bonus. Ya'lls advice is really appreciated, I can't thank you enough!

[Ken.]

I'm over 50 so relax. Night shots are always a bit tricky since the metering tries to compromise a bit too much. The contrast ratio can be very high at night when you factor in street and building lights. RAW gives you a bit of leeway but bracketing exposures helps, too. Like I stated earlier, there's always HDR but that has to be used with a bit of restraint. HDR can create surreal images.