how to make building signage sharper

So I recently did shoot for an architect company as a trial run. A great learning experience. One of their complaints was that the signage wasn't sharp. I agree. The entire image although is very sharp including the brick wall.

My question is: is there a way to shoot this to create sharper signage?

I'd like to re-shoot, but not sure what i'd do differently?

thanks.

I would try exposing for the sign which is a lot brighter than everything else. It would mean underexposing the rest of the photo so recovering shadow detail is required. I think the rest of the photo could stand up to less exposure as the window, white shirt and the sidewalk are all a bit bright. My two cents worth.

I wonder (don't know) if a grad ND might not do the trick. Will have to give it a try next time I'm in the city.

I think, its also the haze generated by the UV light from the fluorescent sign. Camera lens cuts out some UV light, but not all. Try using a good quality UV/Haze filter which might improve the results somewhat. However, there's also the problem of overexposure, which may be addressed by exposure bracketing and combining several shots into one.

Is there some way to get the entire sign in the photo? B&W might look good here. Edited July 13, 2017 by Sanford

What Sanford said.

Sometimes it doesn't take much of a ladder to get enough height for a better POV.

A agree with everything Supriyo said.

Just fooling around with your photo to see what it looks like as a B&W. Under "File Info" is says you used an exposure of 8 seconds at F19 without flash! Can this be correct? How did you get those people to stay still for so long. I can see that flair around the sign growing bigger by the second.

Overdone HiDef is passe, but a separate exposure for the sign and for the rest of the picture is needed.

...exposure of 8 seconds at F19 without flash! Can this be correct? How did you get those people to stay still...

 

One of the first things I did was to look at the water, so I knew it was a "long" exposure; clearly the guy at the door was holding his position for the photo. I'd guess that the people on the bench were just there.