Reducing urban glare

[greenc0102]

Hi there,

I've just begun playing around with photography and lightroom recently and have taken a liking to night photography and long exposure shots. I went to Coogee beach in Sydney last night and took a few shots which I played around with when I got home. Here is one that I quite like however can't seem to get right.

Original

Edited

I probably overdid a lot of the changes as I really liked the colour on the water and the mist that the waves had caused. However I don't like the house and street lights. How can I counter the effect they have had whilst keeping a natural flow to the image (it looks very artificial when I drop values that reduce those lights)

 

[clee01l]

Welcome to the forum.
Some thing to try: The Dehaze filter might help with the glare. Worth a try at least.
Split toning might be another option.

Another thing to try might be to move the image into PSCC and works with different layers.

 

[Jimmsp]

You can also use the adjustment brush on the houses & lights - then just adjust all the sliders to your liking. There are some well defined edges, so it shouldn't be too hard to create the mask.