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Posted by on Aug 20, 2012 in Lightroom | 12 comments

Free Lightroom Presets – The Dark City Night


I realize I must be way behind, but I just saw the new Batman movie this past weekend. I love going to the movies with my kids but the summer has just gotten away from me and we haven’t been in a while. Anyway, all of the dark music and sweeping skyline scenes got me thinking about a preset for cities. People love to shoot skylines and cities while traveling so I thought these would make a good recipe to try out on those photos. Like many of my presets, there’s 3 flavors to this one (Light, Medium, Strong). They all have a slightly dark them to them so if you like the overall effect and want the photo brighter then try increasing the Exposure setting a little. But keep in mind they’re meant to be applied to night photos so starting off with anything else could lead to some not-so-intended effects.

Here’s the before/after:

Enjoy!

Matt Kloskowski

Matt Kloskowski

Education Director at NAPP / Kelby Training
Matt is a full time Education Director for the NAPP and Kelby Training. He's a best-selling author of various books on Photoshop and Photography co-hosts the live weekly photography talk show "The Grid" and is co-host of "Photoshop User TV". In his spare time he practices as a 1st degree black belt in Taekwondo and enjoys spending time with his family in Tampa, FL.
Matt Kloskowski

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Matt Kloskowski
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  • Dennis Zito

    Matt,

    These are Great! Thanks for sharing them with us! To get the glassy smooth looking water in this photo, did you use the Big 10 stop ND filter? I really like the look and feel of the water and reflection!

    Thanks again!

    Dennis

    • http://mattk.com Matt Kloskowski

      Hey Dennis. I honestly don’t remember if I had a filter on or not. It’s a 70 second exposure. I doubt it was the 10-stop because at that time of the night it would probably have been longer. I have a 3-stop ND but I just don’t remember if I had it on or not :)
      Anyway, thanks for the kind words :)

  • http://stephenprobert.com/ Stephen Probert

    The “before” and “light” look exactly the same to me. Am I missing something? And, Dennis, at this time of day, no ND filter is usually needed. Matt probably got a 3-5 second exposure at ISO100 and F16, which he probably wanted to get a large depth of field. If he needed any ND, probably just a stop or two.

    • http://stephenprobert.com/ Stephen Probert

      Ok, looking at it again, I can see a bit more lightness in the buildings over the before shot.

    • Dennis Zito

      Hey Stephen,

      Thanks for the info … for some reason I thought he took this in the early morning. Appreciate the info … makes good sense!

      Dennis

  • http://t6flier.organdshotbyjef.com Joan Feldvary

    Thanks Matt

  • SHARON T FUNNELL

    L E G E N D :)

  • MaxFerrarini

    Thanks as always Matt!!! You’re the best!

  • pbpinftworth

    Is it wrong for me to say I like the “Before” the best? There’s just a lot more to see without the effect.

    • http://mattk.com Matt Kloskowski

      Only if it’s wrong of me to say I didn’t ask you ;)

  • Jim Fair

    Hello all, I am sure it is user error, but I cannot download the preaets, I get a notice that I need WINRAR and it is not free. I am not sure what this is or even how to get it. I look forward to your response- Jim

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  • http://www.facebook.com/svrk.prabhakar Svrk Prabhakar

    Hi Matt, thank you so much for sharing these presets that I have been searching for very intensely.

    Can these be used with fireworks? The main problem with fireworks are the haze/smoke that comes out and the over exposure in some spots (especially at the base of the fireworks).

    It would be great if you could make some presents that could neutralize the haze/smoke and increase the clarity and contrast.

  • Pingback: [Preset Lightroom] The Night Dark City pour lightroom 4 - bonplanphoto