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I shot this reflection of a warning light in at the bay outlet not long ago. Alert followers may know I fond of reflections and I thought this would make a nice, stark composition. It didn’t require much tuning in Lightroom to get the color and contrast right but you may notice that the same image (below) has numerous tiny spots throughout the light and dark areas. It’s much more noticeable in the full resolution version. I find the spots distracting so I used the Spot Removal tool in LR to remove them. I do this with the image enlarged to 100% to get as many of the spots cloned out and it’s easy but time consuming to do. These files are about 28 MB in the RAW state. They are converted to the dng format when imported into LR which helps keep the file size down but even at this size it puts a strain on my computer.
I mentioned my computer problems in this post. On New Years Eve the PC died but I was able to resurrect it with a new power supply and it seems fine now. The good folks at LyteSpeed Computers had it back to me on Jan, 2, a very fast turn around. I have decided on the repair rather than purchase a new PC because I would like to wait for Windows 10, Microsoft’s next OS, which will be a better fit for me rather that Win 8. The new PC will be able to handle this type of editing much faster than I can presently do with what I have now but it’s worth the wait. Thanks to every one for their suggestions for PCs. I have a good idea of what the next purchase will be, hopefully in the second quarter of this year.
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2clicksaway 
Superb
Thanks, SP.
In case you are still looking for what to buy, I can direct you to these guys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Systems
My last two computers have been from them, and I’ve been very pleased by both the products and the service (William George).
I don’t like making recommendations, believing people should do their own research, but I am comfortable with mentioning the place on the off-chance it meets your needs.
. . . and, nice photo . . . if I had water around these parts, I might do more with reflections.
Thanks, E. I looked at Puget Systems site and it looks like they have some very nice hardware. The Deluge looks like some others I’ve been looking at. It may be more expensive than I can afford but it probably is built better than whatever is pre-fabricated. However, I have about 6 months before I plan on buying so I should at least put them on the list to consider.
This is a very nice photo, Ken. I like the way you processed it, and feel that cloning out the “spots” definitely improves the photograph.
Thanks, Tom. I think a good photo deserves the time it takes to process it fully.
Very cool image. I particularly like how it is monochrome except for the red lights!
Thanks, Howard. I just pushed the blue slider a little to get this effect. The red light has not been changed.
That’s a great image – the simple compositions are so often the best. And the spotting out was worth the time and the effort
Thanks, Andy. You may remember spotting conventional photo prints back in the day. It wasn’t fun and if you made several copies of the same image it became tedious. There is a certain peace that comes over me when I do this now.
Spotting prints with a fine paint brush was a grim job – you are absolutely right! I know exactly what you mean nowadays – sitting there in a bizarre zen-like state (?) clicking repetitively on tiny spots and watching them disappear. Sounds crazy but weirdly satisfying…
Wonderful graphic quality.
Thanks, Ash. This is the first shot in the 2015 book.
An excellent opening, to be sure.
This is brilliant Ken. An image with a quiet narrative but also with a powerful impact; my favourite combination. Well done.
Thanks, Cedric. I’ve tried to get this shot several times before but the conditions were never right. When I shot this I wasn’t looking for it. I guess there’s something to be said for spontaneity.