2012, Day 79 - Before and after

I thought tonight I would post a little before and after.  This is another photo from Saturday night taken where I-405 and I-5 intersect.  Last night I posted a photo of the highways taken from a distance and is the same place but taken from a different angle.  I am astonished that what looks so well-ordered from a distance appears to be a chaotic mess close up.

Below the processed (over-processed?) finished photo is the image straight out of the camera with the only adjustment being for white balance.  From there I toned to add texture, ran a high pass filter to create definition, and then an exposure overlay to balance out the lightness of the intersecting roads.  The result is a high contrast and slightly gritty/dirty looking urban scene!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 17-40/f4L
17mm, f8, 8 sec @ 200 ISO