Closure on a night shot

Ogven · February 5, 2025, 5:42pm

This image was taken in 2023. I posted a PlayRaw the same night because I sensed that there was something good to salvage from this exposure.

For reference, here’s a similar crop from the JPG OCC:

After editing the image on and off but never being quite satisfied, I had all but written it off at least in the sense of not editing it further because I simply lacked the editing skills.

Then in December 2024 I learned that a dear colleague of mine would soon be leaving our facility for a position in upper management. He has always been very very supportive with regard to my fledgling photography hobby, always encouraging me to keep at it. So it was clear that I wanted to gift him a print as a farewell present, and in looking over my hard drives, I rediscovered this shot. (It’s thematically fitting because Cologne Central Station is where our daily commute paths joined and diverged, respectively, and also train tracks are generally a good metaphor for how life paths join and diverge yada yada.)

Over the past month, I’ve spent WAY too much time looking at this image and part of the reason I’m now posting this as my first contribution to the Showcase category is that I need closure on this. When you stare at one image for too long, you lose all perspective on what actually looks good or plausible.

Imho I’ve finally nailed it with the version posted above. If you feel like trying your hand, you’re very welcome to add your version(s) to the PlayRaw linked above. Also, I’m still convinced that a professional could get a far better result regardless of the software used, and probably in much less time than it took me.

Nonetheless I’m quite happy that I achieved this edit exclusively using RawTherapee (5.11) which can evidently produce absolutely outstanding results, especially in aesthetically neutral technical image processing (maybe some other programs are more convenient and/or more powerful when it comes to more creative processing approaches).

Working on this image has taught me that the biggest obstacle is often neither the hardware nor the software used but instead getting accustomed (and therefore blind!) to settings. It’s definitely worthwhile to occasionally turn all modules on and off, and to play around with their settings, just to combat such effects. Some of my best breakthroughs in image processing (not just on this one) have come about when I finally adjusted that tonecurve which I thought was already optimal, or when disabling a module that I thought was integral to the edit.

Btw, on my way to this edit, I have to give some well-deserved credit to @Popanz, who provided helpful advice when I felt completely stuck.

So yeah, it’s not a grand opus or anything, but I’m happy enough with this version that I’m posting it here and declaring the image finished.

Edit 1: obligatorily forgot the pp3
Edit 2: replaced the JPG OOC because I had left some modules on in RT
Edit 3: a few words

paperdigits · February 5, 2025, 6:04pm

It is a really nice result! As someone who also often takes years to edit something, it is good as long as you’re still moving forward, even if the motion is slow.

I’m glad you’ve chosen to brighten the foreground, the light catching on all the railroad tracks makes for some interesting lines and works with the themes of your colleague.

well done!

Ogven · February 5, 2025, 9:51pm

Thanks for noticing! On test prints, the foreground always looked muddy and lifeless. So I added a negative (i.e. brightening) graduated filter to the bottom quarter of the image, while the mild vignette pushes the lower corners back down again. I find that this (conveniently but more or less accidentally) emphasizes the light between the tracks coming from the train and leads nicely into and out of the image.

Here’s the pp3 applied to the two exposures before (identical camera settings):

These images are not terrible, but without the light from the train (and only from that particular train), the foreground is dark and boring, and even the graduated filter can’t change that. (Also note the lack of brightly lit cables contrasting with the night sky.)

Popanz · February 5, 2025, 9:57pm

So the prints were fine and you are satisfied?

Ogven · February 5, 2025, 10:04pm

Eh… I’m still waiting on the last ones, they should arrive in a few days. The one that arrived yesterday is already usable but not quite perfect.

Full disclosure: the final printed version is the same as the one I posted here, the only difference is that in the print version I enabled Tone Mapping set to 0.01 to give it that final little brightness push. On screen, this version without the Tone Mapping looks better.

Ogven · May 8, 2025, 1:41pm

DSC_5188zzz81 pixls.jpg.out.pp3 (62.8 KB)

Alright, so this is what actually ended up looking good in print. This is officially the final version.

After editing this image all through January, I had to put it aside for three months because I simply couldn’t look at it anymore and I had other images waiting to be edited.

Last week I finally sat back down and finished it fairly quickly after figuring out that local contrast was what had ruined the edit. That, and AI helped me figure out a poor man’s workaround for not having proper color calibration on my monitor nor access to my printshop’s ICC profiles: Simply reducing (in RT) Lightness by 5, Contrast by 10 and Saturation by 10 creates a very faithful soft-proofing simulation, at least faithful to the difference between my screen and my printshop.

Popanz · May 8, 2025, 2:58pm

Wow, that’s a bright render for a night shot. Anyway it’s nice, that you finally came to a print you are happy with.

Ogven · May 9, 2025, 5:24pm

For reference, this is the same edit with the soft-proofing simulation values included, so basically what my printshop “subtracts” from the image. On my monitor, this looks very much like the actual end result in print.