Need your help on a night portrait shot

[trav.cunningham]

Here is a picture of my wife and I after a mile and a half hike up Usery Pass in Arizona. It is taken with a T1i and a 18-135mm 3.5-5.6 lens at 28mm and f4 for one second. I had a third party flash mounted on the hot shoe with a diffuser and set it on second curtain. Here is the picture:


NightHike by trav.cunningham, on Flickr

Couple of questions

1. Sound I have stopped down to try to get the lights in the background in focus or are the lights better out of focus?
2. The sky is kind-of orange I guessing from the Phoenix haze. Is that something I should change in post? To be honest, I am not a very good Photoshoper. Any quick tips?

I wish I could have had my flash off camera but I didn't want to hike a lot of equipment up there.

Other suggestions? I was hoping this shot would turn out better but I was pretty disappointed. What could I have done differently to improve on this shot?

Travis

[NFLD Stephen]

For future reference, you could try gelling your flash to try to match the color caste of the background. That would make the lighting seem more natural and less like it was provided by a flash. Might take some trial and error to find the right gel color match, but on the plus side gels are really small, light and portable to take while hiking!

Stephen

[trav.cunningham]

Thanks jrw and Stephen.

I will remember to have my wife wear a colored shirt and I will bump up the flash output. I have never tried a gell, but it is something I have thought about trying out.

Thanks again.