[Designosophy]

I had the opportunity to get some photos (with permission) from the roof of the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott last week. Sick as a dog, but I didn't want to leave this rooftop. The views aren't as panoramic as I'd have liked, but still fun. I've only uploaded one photo at this time.

[wtlwdwgn]

A fine shot and a nice job on the verticals!

[Designosophy]

A fine shot and a nice job on the verticals!

Thanks! Confession: I did have to tweak the perspective in post.

[wtlwdwgn]

Thanks! Confession: I did have to tweak the perspective in post.

No need for a confession. Unless you have a T/S lens you have to do some straightening in post. The rest of us have to as well.

[Michi Joel]

Thanks! Confession: I did have to tweak the perspective in post.

Awsome!! Can you explain how u processed this photo? lens correction on lightroom?

[Designosophy]

Awsome!! Can you explain how u processed this photo? lens correction on lightroom?

Well, when I took the photo, I leaned over the edge of the wall around the roof, but braced my arms on the ledge and used the camera's built-in levels to make the shot as square as possible. I auto-bracketed three shots for HDR because I knew the street was much darker than the tops of the buildings. In LR, I used autosync to make the same manual lens correction adjustments to all three images. I also cropped out a good bit of the sky, leaving an 8/10 aspect ratio. I combined the images in Photomatix, then added some contrast in Photoshop with a process I developed for the rather flat, soft-feeling images that Photomatix tends to produce.

You can still see some slanted lines in the photo, but I was going a bit crazy trying to get everything square, so I said, "Good enough."

[Michi Joel]

Well, when I took the photo, I leaned over the edge of the wall around the roof, but braced my arms on the ledge and used the camera's built-in levels to make the shot as square as possible. I auto-bracketed three shots for HDR because I knew the street was much darker than the tops of the buildings. In LR, I used autosync to make the same manual lens correction adjustments to all three images. I also cropped out a good bit of the sky, leaving an 8/10 aspect ratio. I combined the images in Photomatix, then added some contrast in Photoshop with a process I developed for the rather flat, soft-feeling images that Photomatix tends to produce.

You can still see some slanted lines in the photo, but I was going a bit crazy trying to get everything square, so I said, "Good enough."

Tnx a lot!

[calicojack]

<snip> so I said, "Good enough."

Actually, very nicely done

[nanhi]

Such an awesome shot of Downtown Philadelphia Designosophy Sir. Try as much as I could I am never able to get such perfect verticals on architectural landscapes of tall buildings, towers and spires with my Sigma 10-20.
I am tempted to say - tongue in cheek - with 56 years of experience - that this photo has undergone some kind of PP - HDR like editing, sharpening, clarity, shadow correction, straightening of the verticals and or lens distortion correction etc.
Look at the strange greens, blues and the browns + yellow-browns of the walls. I have visited this place and cannot quite relate to the colors. Of course my vantage point was at street level.
Sorry for my comments as I could be off the mark. But I do have a forensic photo software that can undo PP and point to some changes made to an original photo including malware hidden within the JPEG.
Regards.

[kengoh]

After sunset at the beach... (1st generation K5 + Sigma 10-20)



Citiscape - 1st night shot this year 2015 (K3 + Sigma 10-20, cross-post from K3 thread)

[calicojack]

Well, when I took the photo, I leaned over the edge of the wall around the roof, but braced my arms on the ledge and used the camera's built-in levels to make the shot as square as possible. I auto-bracketed three shots for HDR because I knew the street was much darker than the tops of the buildings. In LR, I used autosync to make the same manual lens correction adjustments to all three images. I also cropped out a good bit of the sky, leaving an 8/10 aspect ratio. I combined the images in Photomatix, then added some contrast in Photoshop with a process I developed for the rather flat, soft-feeling images that Photomatix tends to produce.

You can still see some slanted lines in the photo, but I was going a bit crazy trying to get everything square, so I said, "Good enough."

I can appreciate your viewpoint, but honestly, I've been to Philadelphia many times and actually been on the roofs of about seven buildings in the picture (I used to work for a company that manufactures, installs and services permanently installed window washing scaffolds). I firmly believe that most of the colors are very close to natural and the only real unnatural aspect is the changes caused by the HDR processing without which the street level would be very heavily shaded. I say excellent job.

[drivingback]

I had the opportunity to get some photos (with permission) from the roof of the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott last week. Sick as a dog, but I didn't want to leave this rooftop. The views aren't as panoramic as I'd have liked, but still fun. I've only uploaded one photo at this time.

This is a job well done! I love the composition, details and the processing! And again, as I have quoted in one of your posts before I am amazed by the front to back sharpness.

---------- Post added 01-09-15 at 11:51 AM ----------

After sunset at the beach... (1st generation K5 + Sigma 10-20)



Citiscape - 1st night shot this year 2015 (K3 + Sigma 10-20, cross-post from K3 thread)

Ken, both lovely shots! I am missing shooting in Singapore! Hopefully I can get back there for a vacation at least and shoot in those beautiful places.

[Designosophy]

Such an awesome shot of Downtown Philadelphia Designosophy Sir. Try as much as I could I am never able to get such perfect verticals on architectural landscapes of tall buildings, towers and spires with my Sigma 10-20.
I am tempted to say - tongue in cheek - with 56 years of experience - that this photo has undergone some kind of PP - HDR like editing, sharpening, clarity, shadow correction, straightening of the verticals and or lens distortion correction etc.
Look at the strange greens, blues and the browns + yellow-browns of the walls. I have visited this place and cannot quite relate to the colors. Of course my vantage point was at street level.
Sorry for my comments as I could be off the mark. But I do have a forensic photo software that can undo PP and point to some changes made to an original photo including malware hidden within the JPEG.
Regards.

It sounds like you read my post about how I processed the photo!

---------- Post added 01-09-15 at 03:33 PM ----------

Actually, very nicely done

Thank you!

[Designosophy]

Here's a non-HDR version that I processed with just ACR on my work laptop with a crappy TN screen while I was still at the conference.

[calicojack]

Here's a non-HDR version that I processed with just ACR on my work laptop with a crappy TN screen while I was still at the conference.

Now that is truly realistic, but is missing so much interseting detail from street level.

The HDR processing truly helps this situation.