Low-Light London

[KevinKal]

Wheew, I am exhausted! Just got back from a whirlwind tour to London over the weekend, and have been trying to process a few of my pictures. Prior to my departure, I had been in contact with Luben Solev who was kind enough to offer me more than enough advice on shooting this great city - unfortunately the weather didn't quite cooperate with me on the evening of these nightshots, but they seem to have come out reasonably well.

Any suggestions for improvement with respect to cropping and color would be greatly appreciated....

1. London Eye & Council Hall
http://kalwerisky.smugmug.com/photos/20076066-L.jpg




2. Big Ben & Parliment
http://kalwerisky.smugmug.com/photos/20076068-L.jpg



If the framing of these two shots looks familiar, that is because I was specifically trying to recreate the same shots done brilliantly and far more professionally by Luben (www.solev.net (http://www.solev.net/)).

Cheers,
Kevin K.

[Khaos]

Excellent shots. The first almost has a 3D effect where the ferris wheel almost looks like a actual wheel on top of the photo.

Great colors in the second.

[Andy]

nice work :thumb

i shot with luben, and we had a blast. i have the same shot of parliament, 3' x 2' hanging on my wall, i did it up in b&w and it looks gorgeous - i highly recommend printing that big!

thanks for sharing

[KevinKal]

Hi Khaos,

Thanks for the comments - I agree that the wheel does have a 3-D appearance. It turns quite slowly actually, taking 30 minutes to do 1 revolution.

Cheers,
Kevin K.

[KevinKal]

Hi Andy,

I look forward to having the opportunity to shoot with Luben one day, but alas while I was here in Europe he traded places with me and was in the States. He helped me plan my shots via email though, and was a great help. I will definitely try print a large version of the Big Ben shot to hang on my wall.

Cheers,
Kevin K.

[RevcoMan]

Kevin,

First of all, those two pics are outstanding. :thumb

Did you use Solev's technique of stacking multiple exposures to create that first pic? It's almost an exact reproduction of his version on his website.

Very nice.

[KevinKal]

Thank you for the compliments Revco. For the second shot, I used Luben's technique of stacking/blending multiple exposures in order to (1) reduce noise and (2) increase dynamic range.

For the first shot, I simply took 25 pictures with the same settings (f/8, ss=20 sec), selected the best (about 16 shots), blended two sets of 8, then blended the resulting 2 images. After that, I did a fair amount of PS work to try and replicate the original (the one on Luben's website).

I give all credit to Luben for his help with these shots, as he gave me quite detailed information on where and how to shoot each one - he is a terrific teacher.

Cheers,
Kevin K.

[USAIR]

Wow both are very nice:thumb
I think #1 is my favorite ...cool shot :):

Thanks
Fred

[rahmonster]

:huh WOW

Really great shots! I LOVE the water and the colours. You have done REALLY well:clap:thumb