DSLR Photography Forum

Last night I was about an hour too late--the nice clouds quickly moved past while I was wasting time in the kitchen working on the recipe for my fresh coconut & semisweet dark chocolate candy bars so by the time I got serious about night shooting it had become fully overcast.
This made me sad.

Tonight I was dozing on our sofa when the little voice in my head whispered "What does the sky look like now?".
I was on the road in 2 minutes!
With the fast 24/7 pace of our construction there are new sections and ramps being finished all the time. I have managed to bring home a decent photo or two every month lately but with January almost over I was afraid my streak was going to end.

So here are my four favorites, taken a couple of hours ago.
These are quick and carefree edits--I need to live with them for a few days before I'll commit to final versions of cropping, perspective adjustment, color management, noise reduction, etc.









I think I need to re-shoot #2--the out-of-frame light is having too much impact to not be shown, yet lens flare was a problem.
Where was I for #3? In the street.
#4 shows the messy construction still going on--the exit ramp bottom/center is temporary, as are the short light poles and all the wires and piles of dirt and debris. This will be a nicer view soon.

Two drunk young dudes snuck up on me right after #4 and I was nervous for awhile but they turned out to be cool. This is the first time my situational awareness failed me when shooting alone at night.
One of them wanted to see all of the pictures I had shot and was impressed and a little excited by what I was doing, then he reminded me to "be careful" when I left. Should have given him my card.

Now that I have these I don't feel like my weekend was wasted.

I think you've posted these in my order of preference. But then, I generally prefer abstraction to inclusion, and you've created a logical sequence from tighter to wider. (I don't think the reverse would have been as effective.)

I don't mind not seeing the light in #2, but I was really struck by it. It feels almost like a miniature -- it could be a photo from a well-crafted model train layout. I'm not sure what's making me feel that (perspective, lighting?) but I get a similar feel with #1 and #3 as well.

these are fabulious--the colors and the cleanliness of line. What post processing do you do?

M--I just posted them in chronological order. But I agree because by the time we get to #3 things are getting a little too busy for my tastes. Now that I have the locations tested (plus a few I didn't try yet) I will be re-shooting these--thanks for the insight.
I think that seeing the light's effect on the ramp in #2 is enough to clue the viewer that it's there, so maybe they don't need to actually see it? As long as nobody thinks the haze it created top-left is just a processing error.

Don--post consists of levels adjustments and sometimes a little desaturation of certain colors to fight the odd lighting.
#2 got pretty noisy so I used NeatImage noise reduction at full strength because I was lazy and rushing.
#4 wasn't as bad so I used NeatImage's PS plug-in instead so I could fade the effect to only 44%.

I just never get tired of this series - #3 is my fav of this bunch FWIW.

You really need to publish this as a photo essay or an exhibition.

Toad, even better would be selling the prints to the Dept. Of Transportation (TexDOT) to hang in their offices.
Lots of offices all over the state.

I'm still working on it--there are a lot of other highway details I haven't gotten yet--outlines of Texas in concrete walls, murals and brick mosaics, views from above, old old crumbly bridges, more of the unfinished bits...
Thanks for your enthusiasm!
Helps me stay interested in finishing this project.