Tutorial led by Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Susumu Sasaki
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 5th of November 2025

I prefer the soft light of streetlights to the harsh light of the sun. I wanted to take a photo of the city at night, lit by streetlights, so I went to Otemachi in Tokyo, a place where I often take photos.

As I was walking down the street, I came across an open-air seating area where people were eating. They were illuminated by the streetlights. 
Initially, I thought about taking a photo of them. Then I saw a woman in a kimono walking towards the entrance of the restaurant on the terrace, so I decided to focus on her instead. I took several shots while the restaurant's lights spotlighted her.

From the several photos I took, I selected the one with the best lighting and the woman's posture.

Equipment and settings: Nikon Z50II
NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR
The camera settings were manual mode, 1/200, f/8, ISO AUTO, and -1.0 exposure.
No filters were used. I mostly use these settings.


Post-Processing
I use the following tools for post-processing: Adobe Lightroom Classic - Adobe Photoshop 2024 - Nik8 Color Efex

Lightroom
I Convert the selected RAW file to black and white using Lightroom's >BW and adjust the overall brightness and contrast.

I primarily process in black and white. This is because I believe that black and white, with its simple color information, allows me to process the image as I envision it without being limited by color information. 
Next, I use the Radial Gradient mask to darken the surrounding area of the woman, the main subject, to make her stand out.
I changed the file back from black and white to color and set the profile to Adobe Standard to lighten the overall colors.

I further reduced the vibrance to make certain colors less noticeable.
I then adjusted the mask I created in black and white to adjust the brightness of the surrounding areas so the main character wouldn't stand out too much.
After adjusting the overall colors, I used AI noise reduction.

Photoshop
I sent the file to Photoshop, converted it into a smart object, and duplicated it. I added a blur by using the "Move Blur" filter with an angle of 90° and a distance of 302 pixels. 
I added a layer mask to the blurred object and used the brush tool to erase the blur from the main character and the surrounding area.
This is to draw the eye to the main character. The brush settings were 24% opacity and 24% flow.
I was conscious of creating a gradient so that the blurred areas and the areas where the blur had been removed would not be clearly defined.

=> Lightroom: I returned to Lightroom and adjusted the overall brightness. In this case, I made it a little darker, setting it to -0.34.

=> Nik 8 color effects: I sent the file to Nik8 Color Efex and added the "Glamour Glow" filter, setting it to the default.
I then added "Pro Contrast" to correct color cast. Next, I added "Skin Softening" to the default setting.
I went back to Lightroom to check that it was what I had in mind. Since the overall color tone was yellow, I added a little blue in the WB and reduced the clarity a little.
Finally, I cropped the image to fine-tune the position of the subject.

Biography
I live in Chiba Prefecture in Japan. I mainly take photos in Tokyo. 
I started taking photos around 15 years ago. Before that, I wasn't particularly interested in photography. 
One day, I saw a Nikon camera that a friend had — I forget the model — and I wanted one for myself, so I bought one, and that's how I got into photography.