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

Example: RAW Processing in Lightroom 4

In the future I want to give you a few examples of how I process my Dubai Night Cityscapes in Lightroom 4. When I first got into working with Lightroom I was actually quite surprised at how much can be accomplished just by carefully working with the Basic Panel and the HSL Panel when developing RAW files. The following examples are to encourage you to get more confident of working with Lightroom and messing about with the sliders. Don't worry, you won't break anything! Everything you do in Lightroom is non-destructive, the original data of an image is not altered and no information is lost. If you are not happy with your changes just double-click on the center position of a slider and it will go back to its default setting.

Today's example shows Downtown Dubai at night. My intention, when processing the RAW file, was to enhance the purple glow in the sky and to somewhat desaturate the yellow street lights. The image below shows the final result after applying some changes in Lightroom 4:

ISO 200, 14mm, f11, 25s

So how to go about this? Here is a screenshot showing what it looked like straight from the camera compared with the final version:

The camera was set on Automatic White Balance when I took the picture. Night shots tend to have a rather warm, orange look when taken with Automatic White Balance. This is the Basic Panel right after importing the photo into Lightroom. It shows the original Color Temperature and Tint for this image:

Below is the Basic Panel after developing the RAW file to my liking. Note that I have significantly changed the Color Temperature and the Tint. 

For a more elaborate guide explaining the purpose of all sliders please see my blog post about RAW Processing in Lightroom. 

Now let's turn our attention to the HSL Panel of the Develop Module in Lightroom 4. This Panel allows you to change the Hue, the Saturation and the Luminance of eight different Color Channels. This offers great possibilities in terms of giving your photo a distinct look and leaving your own footprint on its appearance. Note that the default setting is 0 for all sliders. This is the HSL Panel after I had applied all changes:

I don't think it makes sense to elaborately explain all changes in detail (unless you have a question, of course). Above all, this post should encourage you to start playing with the sliders and to see for yourself what effect they will have on the image you are working on. The great thing about HSL is that you can target specific shades of color in your image to enhance what you feel should be more emphasized.

Have fun! If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a message.

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

New Dawn

Hi friends,

This morning I took pictures of Downtown Dubai shortly before sunset. And again I hoped you might just be interested in the details of how I have edited the image.

29mm, f11, 6s, ISO 200

Steps of post-processing the RAW format image:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 3600K
• Tint: -6
• Exposure: 0,00
• Recovery: 100
• Fill Lights: 0
• Blacks:5
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +35
• Clarity: +30
• Vibrance: +20
• Saturation: 0
• Export to Photoshop

Photoshop

• Apply Healing Brush (removal of lens flares and dust)
• Crop some of the foreground
• Smart Sharpen Filter (Amount: 40%, Radius 1.3px)
• Save as TIF

CaptureNX2

• Apply U-Points to increase and reduce local brightness
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian

Tropical Island

Here is a picture from this year's first photo tour. It's the view of Dubai Marina and the Tallest Block from a tropical island somewhere in the infinite vastness of Interchange No. 5

20mm, f13, 30s, ISO 200

Steps of post-processing the RAW format image:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 2200K
• Tint: -2
• Exposure: 0,00
• Recovery: 70
• Fill Lights: 0
• Blacks: 6
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +35
• Clarity: +35
• Vibrance: +15
• Saturation: 0
• Export to Photoshop

Photoshop

• Apply Healing Brush (removal of lens flares and dust)
• Smart Sharpen Filter (Amount: 40%, Radius 1.3px)
• Save as TIF

CaptureNX2

• Apply U-Point to the street lights (Brightness: -30)
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian

Calendar

Looking for a calendar? How about

"Vertical Dubai 2012"

... now available on Redbubble ! Keep track of the year 2012 swiftly passing by...

Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Sebastian

Slideshow

I have uploaded a slideshow of my latest collection of Dubai images on YouTube. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Sebastian

Crying for the Moon (Part 2)

After taking a few pictures from my previous post's vantage point I moved on to the Tallest Block. I arrived just in time for shooting the following picture with the full moon at its center:

14mm, f11, 30s, ISO 200

Steps of post-processing the RAW format image:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 3700K
• Tint: +26
• Exposure: 0,00
• Recovery: 10
• Fill Lights: 0
• Blacks: 6
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +25
• Clarity: +30
• Vibrance: +20
• Saturation: 0
• Export to Photoshop

Photoshop

• Apply Healing Brush (removal of lens flares)
• Smart Sharpen Filter (Amount: 40%, Radius 1.3px)
• Save as TIF

CaptureNX2

• Apply U-Point to the upper right corner (Brightness: +10)
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian

Crying for the Moon (Part 1)

Last week we had perfect weather conditions for shooting cityscape images here in Dubai. The air was calm, crisp and clear and an incredibly bright full moon lit up the scene. I visited Jumeirah Islands again, since I always wanted to shoot a particular version of the view I presented in my post from October 17. I had already tried to take pictures including the rocks in the foreground on several occasions, but it never worked out. This night, however, the full moon finally allowed for taking the picture in a way I had always wanted it.

32mm, f9, 30s, ISO 200

Steps of post-processing the RAW format image:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 3300K
• Tint: +12
• Exposure: 0,00
• Recovery: 100
• Fill Lights: 20
• Blacks: 6
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +25
• Clarity: +20
• Vibrance: +20
• Saturation: 0
• Export to Photoshop

Photoshop

• Apply Healing Brush
• Smart Sharpen Filter (Amount: 40%, Radius 1.3px)
• Save as TIF

CaptureNX2

• Apply U-Point to the foreground (Brightness: +10)
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian