OK...you did a great job exposing for the lights on the rail and framing it. But see how dark everything else is? Try shooting this photo earlier in the night, probably 20-30 minutes after sunset. You'll still get great results from the lights on the rail, but there will still be enough ambient light to actually show us the scene.
@jasonbarnette Here's the deal - the original background was probably underexposed, but it was also ugly. I cloned it out completely and went for a floating effect - though that leaves the stairway with no context I see. If I could change anything about this it would be to improve the view of the tree at the top. Thanks for critique.
