Light Show

Perhaps the hardest type of landscape to capture is cityscape at night time. The lights from buildings are contrasted against the dark shadows and a lot of the time it doesn't turn out the way you want it.

The easiest way to capture a night landscape is to use a long exposure on a tripod. This was a 5 photo HDR merged with Photomatix Pro 3 and processed in Photoshop CS3. It's a slightly different representation of HK harbour, with much more contrast and mood than what you normally see. Personally I quite like the big white halo of light suspended above the main tower, I actually have no idea what it is (but it's in most of these photos).

In any major city there will be photo opportunities like this, but here's my list of what I think are the best for night landscape:

- Las Vegas (Casinoes, bright lights, interesting personalities ... what more do you want?)

- Macau (like a mini Vegas, great if you're not 21 or can't afford Vegas)

- Paris (Art, fashion, culture)

- Beijing (those Olympic buildings look great at night)

- Alaska (aurora borealis ... enough said)

So ... if you live in or near these places, what are you waiting for? If I were you I'd be out night after night trying to improve on my shots. After all, Sydney only gives you a certain amount of options before you get sick of it.

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Cokin neutral density filters ... not so neutral?

There is a saying that every photographer lives by. No matter what they major in, whether it be sports, landscape, wildlife or even paparazzi ... they all say "if I can get one good photo out of this shoot, I'm happy". After all, it only takes one great photo to make people say wow.

Today's shoot was pretty much based on one subject, and I worked mainly on one angle. Not something I normally do, I normally like to explore my options when I arrive on site ... but today I went there with one photo in mind and I wasn't going to go home without it.

This photo is actually not as photoshopped as it may seem. It is a 5 photo HDR (all photos approx 30secs in shutter speed). After merging the 5 photos, it was simply minor colour and levels adjustments to different parts of the photo.

One thing I should say though, that blue/purplish tinge in the sky and water are straight out of the camera. When I do landscape photos, I almost always use a Cokin graduated ND8 filter. Whenever I use this filter along with a long exposure, this colour cast always crops up. Some photographers hate this cast, but I quite like it, especially during the twilight hours.

p.s. This shipwreck is at Homebush Bay, Sydney. Yep, bet you didn't know that did you?

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A different light

How often do we see works of art, buildings, even fashion where its merely an appropriation of a previous successful model. When you look closely, there is often only one major change, along with several subtle alterations that give the impression of something fresh and unique.

The first example will show how correct cropping, levels adjustment and presentation will give the impression of a photo that's better than it actually is.

Shot taken with my ancient EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. It is also a 3 shot HDR, merged together with Photomatix Pro, then cropped and bordered in Photoshop CS3.

The second example shows how careful colours adjustment, levels, and masking can produce a very eye catching thumbnail. I said thumbnail because in sites such as flickr, the thumbnail in albums and group pools are tiny, so it needs to make people curious enough to click on it.

This photo was taken with the same gear as above. It's a 4 photo panorama, stitched together in Photoshop CS3, then minor colour, contrast, sharpening combined with a bit of masking. It almost gives the effect of an IR photo, which not many people do. I'd love to experiment with IR, but I'm just not game enough to mess with my 400D sensor (even though it's my 2nd body).

If anyone knows how to convert their sensors to IR, let me know and I might consider having a go at it haha.

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Pano Madness

Within photography there's a very minute niche market. A lot of people attempt it, most people play around with it, very few people are known for it. Yet whenever we talk about landscape photography, panoramas always come into the equation.

Most people will think about panoramas as long sweeping photos of landscape, and done mainly to fit more into a photo. And that's true ... in most cases. But the real reason behind panoramas (for me personally), is to increase detail in my photos. It doesn't make sense when I first say it, but it'll come to you eventually ... I promise. For example, my blog from a couple of days ago, that photo looks more or less like an ordinary photo with ordinary proportions. In reality it was 9 photos stitched into one ... 9 photos at 10mp each theoretically gives you a 90mp photo (in a perfect world). We all know that doesn't happen, but you get the idea and you can really see how detail is increased just by stitching photos together.

The panorama above IS a traditional panorama, but I did it to get sharper detail in the background. I quite like how the row of trees separate the peacefulness inside the area and the complete chaos on the outside (photographically speaking and in reality).

So my children, go forth and stitch up your photos, you'll be surprised with the results. But ofcourse, I can't end this post without mentioning the master of panoramics ... and he is indeed Ken Duncan.

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Holidays

There isn't too long until semester break in uni, so I thought I would process some of the photos taken from my last holidays.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Settings: 1.3 Sec, f/4.5, ISO 100

Location: On top of a rooftop in HK

I really like this shot because half the photo has the cars and minibus frozen in time while the other half of the traffic is doing its own thing. It depicts the usual industrial area in HK, which tends to be fairly busy no matter what time of the day it is.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamrom 17-50mm f/2.8

Settings: 10sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

Location: Rooftop in HK

Again, the view from up top is quite interesting, showing a typical skyline in the industrial areas of HK. The refraction and reflection of light from the dust/water particles in the air gave the photo a gritty glowing effect. This was a combination of 5 photos, stitched cylindrically using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Meanwhile, if your in Sydney, you should really check out Vivid ... a short walkaround the city during this time should get you some nice shots.

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