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 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

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

Jumeirah Islands

Weather conditions are crucial for shots of the Dubai skyline. Other cities in the world might be picturesque in various conditions, but in Dubai all we have for most of the year is a slight shroud of mist and sand. Usually it is not even really noticeable, but once you take your camera and point it at the horizon frustration begins.

However, sometimes, just a few days per year in total, the skies clear off and it is literally possible to identify individually lit windows of Burj Khalifa from a distance as far as 20km. Recently there were two of these nights and I managed to go on a hunt for good skyline shots. The second night was perfect and I got the chance to shoot this wonderfully clear image:

66mm, f13, 30s, ISO 200

Once again I've learnt: No matter how good your equipment may be, if you want to shoot a nice picture of a land- or a cityscape it all depends pretty much on the weather.

Post-processing included the following steps:

Lightroom

• Temperature: 3000K
• Tint: +8
• Exposure: 0,00
• Recovery: 30
• Fill Lights: 0
• Blacks: 6
• Brightness: +50
• Contrast: +25
• Clarity: +10
• Vibrance: 0
• 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 blue-lit tower (Brightness: -10)
• Convert to sRGB with perception based rendering intent
• Save as JPG

Photoshop

• Insert watermark
• Save as JPG

Cheers,
Sebastian