[nitewalk] Beauty of Our (Lion) City
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nitewalk
Senior Member
#123
Reliving the Old Days
Manually blended 3 exposures of the same ISO, aperture and shutter speed to extend the human trail in foreground with the use of ND0.9 and GND0.9.
Rarely included human element in the foreground in my architectural shots. Aligned the verticals properly and realised that there is quite a fair bit of foreground with no foreground interest to anchor the shot. Decided on the concept of "Reliving the Old Days" for the abandoned architecture and the inclusion of human element will bring out the idea "relive" by showing a person visiting an abandoned building which used to hold much fond memories for the older generation.
A couple of years ago, there were many shooters flocking to photograph this building, mainly from the front. This is probably because they are familiar with the front of the building from passing by the building on the main road. However, I felt this angle is better and able to bring out the architectural intent, plus the inclusion of the cinema name will retain the memories for years to come. The inclusion of MRT trails will also give a context in terms of location and vicinity.
The dark clouds were gathering towards the east and over the radio it was reported that there was heavy rain in the north and the east late afternoon today. However, behind me the skies were clear and the sun was out and casted from the right side to this building.
Reliving the Old Days
Manually blended 3 exposures of the same ISO, aperture and shutter speed to extend the human trail in foreground with the use of ND0.9 and GND0.9.
Rarely included human element in the foreground in my architectural shots. Aligned the verticals properly and realised that there is quite a fair bit of foreground with no foreground interest to anchor the shot. Decided on the concept of "Reliving the Old Days" for the abandoned architecture and the inclusion of human element will bring out the idea "relive" by showing a person visiting an abandoned building which used to hold much fond memories for the older generation.
A couple of years ago, there were many shooters flocking to photograph this building, mainly from the front. This is probably because they are familiar with the front of the building from passing by the building on the main road. However, I felt this angle is better and able to bring out the architectural intent, plus the inclusion of the cinema name will retain the memories for years to come. The inclusion of MRT trails will also give a context in terms of location and vicinity.
The dark clouds were gathering towards the east and over the radio it was reported that there was heavy rain in the north and the east late afternoon today. However, behind me the skies were clear and the sun was out and casted from the right side to this building.
Kit
Senior Member
#117
#120
Let the Light Enter
Watch out for those barrel distortions at the extreme edges.
motionstills
New Member
Very nice work, many interesting perspectives of common landscapes :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Kit
Senior Member
Curvilinear distortions i.e. barrel and pin cushion distortions can be corrected when you edit your photos. When you have straight lines stretching across the edges of the frame, curvilinear distortions will be more visible.
If you are using Lightroom or CS, profiles for some of the more popular lenses are available. However, if you get complex distortions, its not a striaght forward fix. So if its critical in your work, getting a lens with better curvilinear distortion control will be useful. The 17-40mm is unfortunately, not one of them but still decent.
Lining the buildings parallel to the sensor plane is to prevent converging / diverging verticals aka keystone effects. This is not the same as curvilinear distortions.
nitewalk
Senior Member
#129
Majestic
The post-processing was inspired by edutilos. I learned a few things trying to figure out how to process this shot. Managed to overcome the barrel distortion. Also, my black and white attempts had very little black and appears weak. Managed to figure out how to do this without external plugins like Silver Efex Pro. Quite a satisfying process, afterall it took me almost 2 hours to process this, mainly because of the experimenting and realising did something wrong and had to redo the post-processing. The actual workflow should be rather fast, like most single RAW exposure, so in future I would hopefully cut down the time taken as I never believed in spending much more time behind the computer than conceptualising and recording the shot.
现代建筑讲求节能的设计，即使建立几十年的美年城也不例外。屋顶在建筑里的功能除了让吴宗宪和周杰伦轮流和温岚上去唱着她的歌，也是个盖头保护着里头的人与物也让整个建筑有个完整的结构。
学生常问我为何要学几何。几何之美，完美呈现于现代建筑设计。线条和形状驻在每个建筑的构造。另外，对称能强化照片的结构也往往能扣住观者的眼神和注意力。对称也能锁住结构里的个别元素，不让个别元素显得分散，也因此照片结构得以加强。
Modern architectural designs place emphasis on energy efficiency, the decade old Millenia Walk is no exception to that. The purpose of a roof is to function as a shelter for the objects and people within the building and serves as a completion to the structure.
Students often ask me, "why do we learn Geometry?". The beauty of Geometry is perfectly exhibited in modern architectural designs. Lines and shapes form parts of the structure of buildings. Apart from that, symmetry has the ability to make the composition of a photo stronger and is also able to capture the eyes and attention of a viewer. Symmetry is also able to lock different elements in the frame into the shot and not let the elements appear scattered, thus strengths the composition of the photo as well.
Above was a bit of my humble views which I hope to share with all.
Majestic
The post-processing was inspired by edutilos. I learned a few things trying to figure out how to process this shot. Managed to overcome the barrel distortion. Also, my black and white attempts had very little black and appears weak. Managed to figure out how to do this without external plugins like Silver Efex Pro. Quite a satisfying process, afterall it took me almost 2 hours to process this, mainly because of the experimenting and realising did something wrong and had to redo the post-processing. The actual workflow should be rather fast, like most single RAW exposure, so in future I would hopefully cut down the time taken as I never believed in spending much more time behind the computer than conceptualising and recording the shot.
现代建筑讲求节能的设计，即使建立几十年的美年城也不例外。屋顶在建筑里的功能除了让吴宗宪和周杰伦轮流和温岚上去唱着她的歌，也是个盖头保护着里头的人与物也让整个建筑有个完整的结构。
学生常问我为何要学几何。几何之美，完美呈现于现代建筑设计。线条和形状驻在每个建筑的构造。另外，对称能强化照片的结构也往往能扣住观者的眼神和注意力。对称也能锁住结构里的个别元素，不让个别元素显得分散，也因此照片结构得以加强。
Modern architectural designs place emphasis on energy efficiency, the decade old Millenia Walk is no exception to that. The purpose of a roof is to function as a shelter for the objects and people within the building and serves as a completion to the structure.
Students often ask me, "why do we learn Geometry?". The beauty of Geometry is perfectly exhibited in modern architectural designs. Lines and shapes form parts of the structure of buildings. Apart from that, symmetry has the ability to make the composition of a photo stronger and is also able to capture the eyes and attention of a viewer. Symmetry is also able to lock different elements in the frame into the shot and not let the elements appear scattered, thus strengths the composition of the photo as well.
Above was a bit of my humble views which I hope to share with all.
SomeFormOFhuman
Senior Member
Hmm, 2 hours? In my opinion I find that's a little bit long for a single image exposure but you experiment it and that's pretty good! Hopefully you had coffee breaks in between. Haha.. Well for me I take roughly about 8 - 10, and max 15 minutes for my HDR panos to post process and put my stuff up together. 
I have to agree about actual work flow and efficiency as well. I find some photographers take up hours just for one photo, I think it's a bit of an overkill IMO. From time to time, people ask me whether I spent more time on my PP or photos, just because they mostly consist of multiple images involved but that's not entirely true actually. I agree as well that it's pointless acquiring good PP when the actual conceptualization and storyflow of the shot is sub par or mediocre. It becomes meaningless.
PS, BTW are you practising architecture?
I have to agree about actual work flow and efficiency as well. I find some photographers take up hours just for one photo, I think it's a bit of an overkill IMO. From time to time, people ask me whether I spent more time on my PP or photos, just because they mostly consist of multiple images involved but that's not entirely true actually. I agree as well that it's pointless acquiring good PP when the actual conceptualization and storyflow of the shot is sub par or mediocre. It becomes meaningless.
PS, BTW are you practising architecture?
nitewalk
Senior Member
#130
Stretched
Of the many ways I've seen to present the ceiling of Millenia Walk, I dare say I have only seen it being presented in a way that emphasises symmetry. These framing are symmetrical if you do not nitpick small elements within the frame. I was walking around with my heads up (in the process, many people also look up wondering what is this lunatic looking at) and searching for ways to present the ceiling.
If the design implies symmetry, it is difficult to jump out of the thinking, and as I mentioned, I feel that symmetry helps to lock in elements preventing them from appearing scattered. In this case, I felt my thinking is being locked. Every time I tried looking elsewhere and re-look at the ceiling in hope for fresh ideas, I find myself seeing it in a symmetrical sense. The way I had chosen to frame the ceiling, is also a departure from the rigid way I present structures.
The conceptualising of this shot began from the four pairs of pillars. I did also want to avoid presenting it in a typical geometrical figure manner, in a sense if you look at it in this orientation, I could have chosen to align it in a way that it looks like a kite with the longer diagonal across the kite being aligned horizontally. The diagonal of the kite is aligned at a small angle to the diagonal of the frame. This is to prevent the two pairs of pillars at the bottom right and top left corner to be placed at the corners of the frame, yet still retain the idea of the kite (colourful roof) being stretched by these pillars.
Stretched
Of the many ways I've seen to present the ceiling of Millenia Walk, I dare say I have only seen it being presented in a way that emphasises symmetry. These framing are symmetrical if you do not nitpick small elements within the frame. I was walking around with my heads up (in the process, many people also look up wondering what is this lunatic looking at) and searching for ways to present the ceiling.
If the design implies symmetry, it is difficult to jump out of the thinking, and as I mentioned, I feel that symmetry helps to lock in elements preventing them from appearing scattered. In this case, I felt my thinking is being locked. Every time I tried looking elsewhere and re-look at the ceiling in hope for fresh ideas, I find myself seeing it in a symmetrical sense. The way I had chosen to frame the ceiling, is also a departure from the rigid way I present structures.
The conceptualising of this shot began from the four pairs of pillars. I did also want to avoid presenting it in a typical geometrical figure manner, in a sense if you look at it in this orientation, I could have chosen to align it in a way that it looks like a kite with the longer diagonal across the kite being aligned horizontally. The diagonal of the kite is aligned at a small angle to the diagonal of the frame. This is to prevent the two pairs of pillars at the bottom right and top left corner to be placed at the corners of the frame, yet still retain the idea of the kite (colourful roof) being stretched by these pillars.
Justintime
New Member
#130
Stretched
Of the many ways I've seen to present the ceiling of Millenia Walk, I dare say I have only seen it being presented in a way that emphasises symmetry. These framing are symmetrical if you do not nitpick small elements within the frame. I was walking around with my heads up (in the process, many people also look up wondering what is this lunatic looking at) and searching for ways to present the ceiling.
If the design implies symmetry, it is difficult to jump out of the thinking, and as I mentioned, I feel that symmetry helps to lock in elements preventing them from appearing scattered. In this case, I felt my thinking is being locked. Every time I tried looking elsewhere and re-look at the ceiling in hope for fresh ideas, I find myself seeing it in a symmetrical sense. The way I had chosen to frame the ceiling, is also a departure from the rigid way I present structures.
The conceptualising of this shot began from the four pairs of pillars. I did also want to avoid presenting it in a typical geometrical figure manner, in a sense if you look at it in this orientation, I could have chosen to align it in a way that it looks like a kite with the longer diagonal across the kite being aligned horizontally. The diagonal of the kite is aligned at a small angle to the diagonal of the frame. This is to prevent the two pairs of pillars at the bottom right and top left corner to be placed at the corners of the frame, yet still retain the idea of the kite (colourful roof) being stretched by these pillars.
This is really nice, especially the tonality ( not sure if description is correct ? ) from the gradual lightness to dark from the window panes. Could you share briefly what tools you used in photoshop to achieve this ?
Thanks !
Justintime
New Member
Hi, thanks! Glad it works for you.
I'm sorry i cant recall the exact workflow. I remember I reduced the highlights slightly. Normally I will adjust this in RAW then if necessary do adjustment in shadow/midtone/highlight. Unless necessary, if not I try not to bring out details in shadows. In this case, I think I had opened up the RAW in photoshop and under the second section call tonal adjustment (highlight, light, dark, shadow), I reduced the highlights and as you reduce it gradually using the slider, you will see the change and transition of the "glare", so I reduced till I felt comfortable with the transition. Hope that helps!
Hihi thanks for replying so quickly
I think I roughly get the idea will try it out Thanks !! :bsmilie:
edutilos-
Senior Member
Hi, I think the diagonal comp is a nice try here as an alternative take on the usual straight lines comp - though I would still try my best to maximize the "symmetry" (of course sometimes it's easier said than done - here you can try to crop more of the bottom). You can also try to vignette (perhaps selectively) to draw the attention away from the unavoidable distractions. Just a few suggestions, cheers!
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