A New Way To Edit Your Night Street Photos in Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom can get a bit repetitive at times. You have your regular workflow - using the basic adjustments - changing the Exposure, the Highlights, the Shadows, the Clarity, etc. Then you might do a little work with the Tone Curve, perhaps creating an s curve. a touch of local adjustments might be in order, depending upon the details you want to highlight in the photo; and then finally you will do some Sharpening, and perhaps at a Vignette. It can get a little bit samey and even a little bit boring. That's why for this photo of Mermaid Street, in Rye, East Sussex, I decided to solely use local adjustments with masking tools to adjust the Highlights and Shadows.

I wanted to try editing a bit differently, and use Brush tools, Radial filters, and Graduated filters to expose different portions of this night street photography image. it is always a challenge to balance Highlights and Shadows in any night street image, because there is always such a large dynamic range between the lightest areas and the darkest areas - especially with streetlights, shop lights, and very dark shadows which are not illuminated at all. it takes practice to balance the highlights and shadows in camera, and then you generally have to work on the highlights in post, to once again, get the balance right.

By working on individual areas of the image with local adjustments you will be able to selectively highlight areas of the image that you want to draw attention to, and also ensure that areas that would look too bright, (if you just used basic exposure tools), can now blend into the image, with a nuanced amount of highlight or shadow, depending on how you want the final image to look. 

Editing an image in this fashion gives you the ultimate control over not only the balance of Shadows and Highlights, but also the overall vibe/atmosphere, and if you wanted to take it further, you could use a little Clarity and Texture to highlight a specific portion of the image, and even sharpen areas that you want sharpened, whilst keeping other areas un sharpened. However, I would only do this sparingly, as you don't want to over edit your photo and turn it into a horrific HDR mess. I personally don't think HDR Street photography looks good. But that's my  take.

You have to be very careful when using these tools because you can easily over brighten certain areas of the image. Therefore, you have to constantly check each portion of the image, and look at the overall image to ensure that the balance is correct and that you haven't accidentally over brightened something in the image; or left a particular subject too dark. It can happen easily, believe me. Using local adjustments to edit image takes more time than just using the basic adjustment tools, but the rewards are generally great once you finally complete the edit.

Not only this, but working on an image in this way, gives you a greater respect for the process of editing an image and also pays in dividends, the amount of knowledge that you gain from studying and re-exposing dark and light areas in your photo.

Don't just take my word for it. Give it a go and see if editing in this way works for you.

Go forth and create.