DC Sunset
Pixel Popper
Registered Users Posts: 280 Major grins
I'm not sure if this is the exact forum for this image. I'm sure someone will advise me if it belongs somewhere else. I shot and processed this image last night. C&C always welcome!
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Where was this taken by the way? Lived in DC for 4 years and can't tell...
Thanks for sharing.
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This was taken from a rooftop deck on Kalorama NW. You're probably right. A different angle might have been better to capture the sunset, but it wasn't an option for me. I was in the middle of doing a photo shoot for a real estate agent, capturing images for their print brochures and online virtual tour. The assignment was to sell the house I was in. It was late in the afternoon when I made it up to the roof deck. I got the required photos there, and then, spur of the moment, I shot this one for myself.
The foreground could be distracting, I suppose, but in this instance, the rooftop and city scape were the subject (at least in my mind) with the sky being the icing on the cake.
This was a single shot (not a composite of multiple images.) I exposed first for the sky which made the foreground almost black, then masked off parts of the buildings, raised their luminance and added the color cast. I chose to do that color cast after realizing that there was basically zero color information in the original shot leaving the buildings an ugly, ghostly grey. I didn't really start with the intention of this image looking exactly like this. More of a "let's see what we've got here and make it work" kind of mode.
I wouldn't DARE do that, Howard, but I will point out that it has a pretty serious blue color cast. Actually, I suspect the color cast is a result of post-processing since I see some other color anomalies in there. Nice rooftop shot though.
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I have been doing a fair amount of 'rooftop' work myself lately (link) and understand what it takes to get these interesting vantage points. The rooftop in this photo is littered with A/C units and I think leads to a cluttered foreground that serves as a distraction from the rest of the photo.
I think I would have tried to zoom a bit and focus on the more distant part of the roof and buildings while incorporating the sunset colors. Just my 2 cents.
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Thanks for commenting. It was not so much a color cast as it was a color choice. Reality wasn't exactly my aim with this one!
I appreciate your two cents. In another circumstance, I probably would have done exactly what you suggest. However, I was on a shoot for a client at the time taking photos for real estate marketing, and when I'm doing that kind of work, I typically only have a very wide angle lens with very little zoom capacity. Also, I was on the clock for the client and only had a brief moment in which to grab a shot.
In this case with only a single image from which to work, it was one of those "work with what you've got" situations.
Also, I am just at the very beginning stage of learning to use Photoshop. I've only had the software for a few weeks and am in the process of educating myself. I took this shot simply as something to play with using Photoshop. Just a learning curve exercise.
As for the clutter in the foreground, I know it breaks the conventional rules for composition, but I don't care. That's all subjective anyway. I happen to like a glimpse of the jumble above that we never otherwise see.
I suppose trying a nice crop on the foreground wouldn't hurt. I might even like it better. I'll try that when I get back to my computer.
Does this one look more appealing?
I think the 2nd one has a much better feel to it.
Hopefully, this final version of the shot will answer all those nagging questions about composition, color casts, the surreal nature of it all, etc... It was all building toward this!
It is 2012, after all. We just don't know what the future might hold!
:s85
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You are correct, good sir. That was a poor choice of words on my part and was not intended to disparage anybody's point of view. It was an attempt at being comical that clearly missed the mark.