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Cellpic Sunday—Chart House Restaurant Day-to-Night

The Chart House Restaurant.

February 2023.
Savannah, Georgia.

The Chart House in Savannah is situated in Georgia’s oldest masonry building, which was originally constructed before 1790. The building was initially used as a sugar and cotton warehouse, built from ballast stones salvaged from ships arriving in Savannah. Over the years, it has stood as a testament to the city’s rich maritime and trade history, surviving fires and renovations while maintaining its historic charm.

Today, the building serves as a waterfront restaurant, offering views of the Savannah River and blending modern elegance with its historic roots. Its brick and stone structure reflects the architectural style of early Savannah, making it a significant landmark on River Street. The Chart House remains a popular dining destination, where guests can enjoy Southern hospitality and a glimpse of Georgia’s past.

Chart House Restaurant Original
Original cell phone photo.

About the photos: This was a “drive-by shooting.” We were driving along River Street, and as we passed this beautiful old building, I took a picture with my Samsung S23U. When I first saw the image in Lightroom Classic, my inclination was to delete it. The geometric distortion from my camera’s low angle and upward tilt was too much. The perspective, lean, and vanishing point distortions were so great that I thought it might not be salvageable.

I tried to correct the geometry because I saw the lamps on the building and nearby lamp posts. I thought it might be a good candidate for a day-to-night conversion. After several attempts using Lightroom Classic’s Transform and Crop Tools, I finally found a composition acceptable for the project. It required cropping out the two lamp posts on the left and right extremes of the original photo.

This was a significant project, taking over two hours to complete. Once I finished the perspective adjustments, I used Lightroom’s Remove Tool to remove some newer electricals and signage around the building. I then sent the photo to Luminar Neo for exposure adjustments and sky replacement. After dropping the exposure by about 2.5 stops, I selected one of the skies from my Neo sky options, this one featuring a late blue hour light on the right.

I sent the image back to Lightroom Classic to work on the lamp lighting, which requires the most work. The original photo featured ten lamps, and to highlight their position in the image, I added light from the edges of the photo, representing the two off-camera lights.

After lighting the lamps, I thought I was finished, but the image appeared to show the restaurant as closed since the windows and doors didn’t have any light behind them. I couldn’t find any information about what might be located inside on the upper floors, so I left those windows dark. However, I used subject masks and raised the exposure to create the appearance of light shining through the window and door glass on the restaurant level. Finally, I enhanced the light in the sky on the far right to give the image a bit more “pop.” On my Flickr site here, I also posted the intermediate image with lamps lit, but the doors and windows not yet relit.

Credit where credit is due: I learned the techniques from a photographer on YouTube. Jamie R. Mathlin provides many example videos in which he teaches the concepts of lighting lamps and making the conversions more realistic. If you are interested in learning how the conversions are done, you can find his site here.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never assign a specific theme to this feature—the primary rule is that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule: link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post. Oh, and there’s no penalty if you don’t post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

42 comments

  1. I actually like the perspective of the original photo. To add lights in the program I use is quite easy.
    A good subject to play around with. Well done

    Reply

    • Thanks, Brian! I don’t mind some perspective lean, but for some reason, I like to minimize it as much as possible—maybe it’s just a quirk of how I see balance in an image. Still, I’m glad you found the original compelling.

      Reply

  9. John, I really like the way you were able to edit the building. I’ve seen that beautiful old building on River Street many times. Once upon a time we would go to the Chart House on special occasions but we haven’t been there recently.

    Reply

    • Thanks, Pam! I really enjoy refining and adjusting to make it just so. I had the image ready to publish, and I decided to tweak the sky again, adding that colorful and moody sky.

      Reply

  23. “Historic charm” indeed, John. I love the original and am happy that you didn’t delete it. A fantastic example of early Savannah architecture, new to me. Thanks for sharing it together with all the information on editing as well. So much to learn!

    Here is my very random shot (without any changes) of an impressive creature:

    📸Cellpic Sunday: Time for a Lizard Break…

    Reply

  24. John, the Chart house is just blocks away from our historic district apartment. We have enjoyed many delicious meals there. Savannah is full of beautiful places to photograph.

    Reply

  26. Interesting. The picture came out beautifully. I’m not sure I would ever have the patience to spend over two hours on one picture. But I’ve spent off and on all day on one post. So maybe I would. Yikes! How time flies. The picture was in the sunshine when you started, and it was night when your finished. 🙂 Give Lynn a big hug from us. xxxx

    Reply

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