How can I get this dark photo looking realistic?

[kuro68k]

@tankist02

Quick edit in ART

Sorry, what is ART?

@Tim

Actually, I brightened everything in the photo that was that shade of blue.

I think that’s the next thing I need to play with, trying to mask stuff in less obvious ways. It looks great, by the way, thanks.

@priort The second one looks very “Google”, with the dynamic range being very compressed. I’m in two minds about it, because on the one hand it’s like looking at it in real life where your eyes can cope with a huge amount of dynamic range, and on the other it doesn’t look like a traditional photograph.

I’m not criticizing, that is exactly what I asked for! Thanks for sharing your workflow.

@cedric

Interesting how some reduce or “straighten” the vertical perspective and some do not …

Indeed, I’ve experimented with that and find that a little bit of straightening can look good, but for some reason it doesn’t seem quite right if I go all the way and make some of the lines perfectly vertical.

I’ve seen some great photos where there are lots of “perfect” geometric shapes, but I think they have to be a bit abstract to work in my mind.

@AtaraxicShrug

I didnt bother trying to use filmic to fix the censor-clipped window sections. There was nothing in them that seemed important (to me). But I did drop the highlights enough that the cross shaped trim would show. I also added some brightness and got some contrast back in the sky with color balance rgb. I didnt mess with the contrast in the brick building enough (it is getting direct sunlight)…but you can probably work that out.

You may need to add saturation/chroma to suit your tastes (I tend to undersaturate relative to everyone else).

Thanks, that looks really great. The sky is exactly the right colour and brightness, good amount of contrast. I think I’d do a little more with the windows, but I’ve been struggling to get them even half way to where you are, and as you say the detail of the crosses is there without the highlights going pink or blown out. Overall it looks very natural, I really like it.

I have an LG 4k monitor which I have colour calibrated with an older device (sorry I forget the model, but I used DisplayCal with it, and bought it used from that very branch of Hard Off) so I think my screen isn’t a million miles off. I do use Firefox which I’ve heard can have colour rendering issues, and doesn’t support HDR on Windows. The monitor does have HDR but it’s a joke and couldn’t be calibrated. I have a laptop with an OLED panel and Dolby Vision, but it’s not ideal for editing on. I mention this because it’s interesting what some people say looks natural to them seems a bit too warm for me. Or maybe it’s just that there is an assumption about the time of day that the photo was taken. For reference it’s about 2 PM Japan time in December. Google names the files with UTC time.