"Cleaning up" your sign/road photos

[Mergingtraffic]

When taking road/sign pics, do you ever clean up your photos?

When I take button copy sign pics I usually add some tricks to make the buttons stand out more but usually I end up with some artifacts that appear because of the touch ups.
For example:
This pic, I altered to make the buttons stand out more by lowering the highlights but I think in return I noticed some artifacts/floaters or distortion around the button copy letters themselves.
In this pic there are shadows or dark artifacts above the word "YONKERS" as well as other letters.  Anyway to get rid of this?

Original non-reflective button copy. Bronx River Pkwy, NB. Yonkers, NY. by mergingtraffic, on Flickr

In this one they can be seen around the word "BREWSTER"
Original non-reflective button copy dating to about 1970 when I-87 became I-684. I-287 EB, Harrison, NY. by mergingtraffic, on Flickr
Or what do you do to perfect your photos?

[noelbotevera]

When taking road/sign pics, do you ever clean up your photos?

When I take button copy sign pics I usually add some tricks to make the buttons stand out more but usually I end up with some artifacts that appear because of the touch ups.
For example:
This pic, I altered to make the buttons stand out more by lowering the highlights but I think in return I noticed some artifacts/floaters or distortion around the button copy letters themselves.
In this pic there are shadows or dark artifacts above the word "YONKERS" as well as other letters.  Anyway to get rid of this?

Original non-reflective button copy. Bronx River Pkwy, NB. Yonkers, NY. by mergingtraffic, on Flickr

In this one they can be seen around the word "BREWSTER"
Original non-reflective button copy dating to about 1970 when I-87 became I-684. I-287 EB, Harrison, NY. by mergingtraffic, on Flickr
Or what do you do to perfect your photos?

I can't really tell. You could make the temperature a little cold in day photos, hot in evening photos, and hit up saturation at night photos. It makes it stand out a little more.