Unlike my other photo of the Mel’s Drive-In sign near Hollywood and Highland, producing this was more involved.
I got closer because there was a billboard behind and to the left of the “Open 24 Hours” sign. Then, I took three landscape exposures (from bottom to top) to create a panorama.
After stitching the photos together, I used lens correction to reduce the distortion 18mm would make. Then, I cloned out the corner of a building at the lower left side of the frame.
Since I finally learned [non-destructive] dodging and burning, I used that technique to subtly brighten the darker areas of the sign.
Back in Lightroom, I square cropped the photo then used a few presets:
- Matt’s Auto Adjustment (Everything Else)
- Matt’s Edge Darkening 1 (Light)
- Matt’s Deep Blue Sky (Level 1)
To finish things off, I slightly increased the exposure and fill light to my liking.
I hope you like it!
All Narfed Up 