SF Landmark - The Sentinel

[anvilimage]

I grabbed this hand held HDR while walking back to my car in SF. Read about it on my photo blog. (http://www.anvilimage.com)

The Sentinel
http://anvilimage.smugmug.com/photos/520060353_Bcsxf-XL-1.jpg

C&C welcome and appreciated!

-joe

[redleash]

Fascinating image--lovely colors and lots of storytelling. Looks like the perspective is off some, especially on the left. Overall, I think it's an excellent shot.

How many exposures did you use?

[anvilimage]

I put this HDR together with 3 exposures that were shot hand held. When I was standing on the corner trying to compose the shot, I purposely stepped back to restrict the view to the left to cut out the Transamerica Pyramid building because I didn't want the Sentinel Building to fight for attention with it.

Does that describe some of what you feel in the imbalance in perspective?

-joe

[Andy]

Whoa, was just there tonight, you didn't see us? :ear

[anvilimage]

nope... this was yesterday (on Thursday). But I'll be back up there again tomorrow and Sunday for the Digital Days workshop.

[redleash]

Thanks for the explanation--I see why you did what you did. What appears to me is a bit of distorted perspective in the top half of the yellow brick building on the left. But the rest of the buildings look good, so I'm not sure how you would "fix" it. You could crop out the left side but I think you'd lose some balance in the image.

I'm interested to see what other folks write about it. Each time I look at it, I like it more!

Lauren

[dlplumer]

I like it a lot, in spite of its imperfections. :thumb :thumb

[anvilimage]

What appears to me is a bit of distorted perspective in the top half of the yellow brick building on the left. But the rest of the buildings look good, so I'm not sure how you would "fix" it.

ok... I tried to fix it and made the color difference more subtle and gradual. What do you think? Sorry, no before and after. I replaced the image on Smugmug because I didn't want it displayed in my gallery anymore.

-joe

[anonymouscuban]

Great shot... beautiful building.

I saw this building last time I was in SF, which was in December. We were heading out of the city, going back to San Ramon when I spotted it. I was going to circle back to find a parking space to photograph it but it was rush hour. My wife voted against it since she was tired and I wanted to get out of the city while we actually could.

[redleash]

I think it looks good--wouldn't change anything else.

Lauren

[Jack'll do]

g. Looks like the perspective is off some, especially on the left.

I think Lauren was referring to the leaning buildings on the left and behind right. I took the liberty to adjust it using CS3 Filter>Distort>Lens Correction... (Hope you don't mind).
This is a common problem with wide angle shots but not hard to fix (took about 3 minutes).

http://jackganson.smugmug.com/photos/523453040_Gwora-XL.jpg

You can even zoom in on the subject (not crop) with this filter like this...
http://jackganson.smugmug.com/photos/523466321_kshtU-XL.jpg