High Intensity Lights / Navigation Lights.

[bererunner]

Spent the week end in London with the intention of tidying up my bucket list of images I'd like to attempt. Canary Wharf was on that list. While adjusting my camera's settings to get the exposure I needed, invariably the high intensity lights on the dozens of construction crane in the area were totally blown out.
Is there a away of negating the effect of the lights while shooting or is it a photoshop job once back at home ?
Would a graduated filter help with the problem ?
Any help or pointer gratefully received.

bererunner

 

[Brazo]

One can do a hdr stack and expose for the lights and then incorporate that image into a regular image in post.

PersonallyI find them a bit annoying and try and exclude them. I have cloned out before.

 

[HoppyUK]

Massive dynamic range is the problem. Relative to the overall scene, the actual lights are extremely bright. It's like trying to get the sun to appear as a nice yellow orb on a summer's day - if you did that, everything else would appear pretty much black.

Yes, it's basically a Photoshop job. HDR technique is the only way, and some experimentation to get the relative exposures as you want them, depending on the situation.