PLANET CHRONOS (Dubai Timelapse) - The Trailer

Over the past few months I have been working on a Timelapse project about Dubai and its futuristic architecture. It is still a long way to go until the final video will be released, but I have just finished a trailer and would like to share it with you guys.

Release of the film is planned for early 2014. Stay tuned and follow me on Facebook for the latest updates.

Some technical info:

Camera Gear:
- Nikon D300
- Nikon D700
- Tokina 11-16mm f2.8
- Nikon 14-24mm f2.8
- Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
- Nikon 80-400mm f3.5-5.6

Motion Control:
- DitoGear OmniSlider Servo 2m
- DitoGear OmniHead
- DitoGear LensDrive
- DitoGear Evolution

Software:
- LRTimelapse 2
- Lightroom 4
- After Effects CS6
- Final Cut Pro X
- Motion 5

Each scene is available at much greater length and in 4K resolution. For licensing and other enquiries please contact me through my website.

Cheers,
Sebastian

Cloud City (Dubai Fog Time Lapse)

I've been living in Dubai for over four years now and always dreamed of taking one of those rare shots from above the fog. This only happens on 4 - 6 days per year and when it happens it will be over by 9 AM. So one has to make sure to be up on the roof of a tower before sunrise and hope for the best.

Eventually, everything came together for me and I was able to shoot a Time Lapse movie of the sunrise and the fog rolling in to Dubai, as seen from the rooftop of a tower in Business Bay. Here is one of the shots:

The Time Lapse itself consists of 1,915 interval shots taken over a period of a little more than four hours. At 24 frames per second this makes for a movie of 1 minute and 20 seconds. I did not add any music, since I want to use the sequence in the context of a longer Time Lapse Movie.

If you have any questions about the details of shooting the Time Lapse, please feel free to drop me a comment.

Cheers,
Sebastian

Indigo Sunset

Today's picture was taken from my office at sunset. It was a foggy morning that day so I had taken my camera to work, because I would love to get a shot of skyscrapers sticking out of the fog. Well, the skies cleared just before I reached the office so I turned to taking pictures of the sunset instead.

I recently purchased a set of Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters from Lee Filters, specifically designed for use with my Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 wideangle lens. I look forward to using these in landscape photography, but also want to test their limits in architectural photography. I used a 0.6 GND filter in this pic and I think it worked out well.

If you have questions or would like to hear more details about GND filters and how they work please feel free to drop me a comment.


Here's the photo:

14mm, f13, 8s, ISO 400, Lee 0.6 GND filter

I only now realise I was using ISO 400. Whooops.... should have been ISO 200, of course.

Post-processing included the following steps:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 4200K
• Tint: +7
• Exposure: 0.00
• Recovery: 0
• Fill Lights: 20
• Blacks: 7
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +25
• Clarity: +20
• Vibrance: +10
• Saturation: 0
• Export to Photoshop

Photoshop

• Apply Lens Correction Filter: Custom --> Vertical Perspective +2
• Apply Spot Healing Brush
• Apply Smart-Sharpen Filter: Amount 40%, Radius 1.3px
• Save as TIF

CaptureNX2

• Apply U-Points: Slightly increase the saturation of bronze glow on medium left tower and of green lights at the base of central tower
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian

Welcome to my Blog

I have set up this blog in order to give more background information on the pictures you will find on AblazeWithLight.com and to introduce my personal way of post-processing images, especially long exposures. I will also give general information about photography and I will as well let you participate in the new techniques I learn along the way. Because I'm always crazy about getting the most from what I see and I try to learn new things about photography every day. I hope you might also be interested in getting some new insights into the wonderful art of photography!

So shall we begin? If you ever have any questions, ideas or comments please let me know! I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Sebastian