Its fairly tough trying to get a decent night shot when on top of the Empire State Building in New York. Its hard to use a tripod up there with the limited space, but they also have zig-zag fencing going all the way round which makes it tougher.
Nonetheless I spent about an hour or two up there taking shots, weaving my way in and out of the masses of crowds.
This is St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is located on 5th Avenue opposite the Rockefeller Center.
I took this shot from the garden on one of the Rockefeller buildings. There are some wonderful views of midtown Manhattan from here and it also provides a singular view of the historic cathedral and the soaring tower of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
The atmosphere in Birmingham City Centre, England can be superb at night. As I walked around Brindley Place, I found small cafes and restaurants scattered in midst the office buildings, each with their own architectural style and ambience. A lot of them are situated nicely along the canalside…a wonderful setting for a meal.
The aroma of good food soon started filling my nostrils, so off I went to grab a bite to eat.
I took 3 handheld exposures (I misplaced my tripod at the time…again…arghhhh) for this image and then processed them with Photomatix.
Then in Photoshop;
- I first straightened and cropped the image
- Got rid of the clouds in the sky
- Sharpened the image a little
- Slight curve adjustment layer was added
- Duplicated the layer and set the blend mode to overlay, reducing the opacity and fill to around 25%.
Getting bored and sleepy waiting for my flight at Heathrow Airport in London, I decided to have a quick wander round the terminal to keep me awake. As soon as my eyes made contact with this Ferrari and other collection of supercars on show, I was fully awake with excitement.
I soon started snapping away and the security guard even let me sit inside it
) …..probably the only time I will get to do that.
As well as this Ferrari, they had a Porsche Carrera 911 and an Audi R8 on show. They were all part of a competition that passengers could enter.
Thank you for all the kind emails and comments regarding the tutorial. I hope it has helped.
Apologies if I haven’t replied to anyone or added you as a contact…I am in the process of sifting through my emails which currently stands at 700 unread. :-S
"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit."
- Kahlil Gibran
This is an image of one of the interior rooms in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York. Definitely a place to visit ,as it is awesome in there and believe it or not they are still renovating most of it. This is the image I go through in my HDR tutorial. You can find the tutorial here.
I have finished the HDR tutorial I have been working on and will be uploading it next week. It will be the 1st of 4 tutorials I am creating, detailing the main processes that can/could be undertaken with different types of HDR imagery ranging from interiors, cityscapes, architecture and landscapes.
The first tutorial will involve working on an interior church image similar to this one.
This was taken in Exeter cathedral in England.
"It’s not the skyscraper you look at, it’s the architect."
- Anonymous
Another shot from Top of the Rock looking east. The observation deck there is spread out over 3 different levels. The queues to get to the top are virtually non existent, compared to the 2 hours waiting time for the Empire State Building.
Before I left for New York, I had applied for a permit to shoot with a tripod at Grand Central Terminal. After doing a little digging on their website, I found instructions on where to apply for permission to shoot with a tripod inside the terminal (I found this in their FAQ section).
They did want to know what the purpose of the shoot was, and I told them it was for general photography, and they approved my request. They wanted specific times, dates, but the lady I spoke with was very friendly and helpful.
Armed with my brand spanking new tripod (I had an unforunate accident with my old one when shooting in Times Square..more on this next week), I headed over to Grand Central Terminal.
As I had heard, the security officers and NYPD were out in force as always, suspiciously eyeing the movements of the dodgy folks and those people with tripods. I got stopped a few times about the usage of mine and I just flashed my permit card and they happily went on their way.
Its amazing how tripods have gone from simple stands that hold your camera steady, to terrorist-related devices that raise suspicion. I had a right time when I tried to use my tripod when I went for my ‘Top of the Rock’ experience.
