Hasn't the London skyline changed!

[brian1208]

We went to Eltham Palace for the first time today and had the chance to see the London skyline (albeit spoilt by heat haze and smog) but I was gobsmacked by how much the city has changed (mind you, it is about 25 years since I was anywhere near enough to see these buildings )

Its strange to think I remember when the skyline was dominated by St Pauls and the Houses of Parliament, so much change in a lifetime

There may be some better ones hiding in the smog as the light conditions were changing minute by minute (has anyone been here and shot on a cold, clear sunset, I suspect it could look magical?)

The Shard looked like something out of a Sci-Fi film, its difficult to comprehend the scale of all this, I was told it was 7 miles away!

Shard skyline from Eltham Palace by BrianWadie, on Flickr

I was amazed to see the Wembley Arch through the London Eye, pity about the haze and the cranes though

London eye with Wembley Arch through from Eltham palace by BrianWadie, on Flickr

and some more strange shaped objects (I recognise the Gherkin but that's about it)

gherkin skyline from Eltham Palace by BrianWadie, on Flickr

The colours balance in these shots is all over the place as I squeezed every slider I could in LR5.6 to try to get some detail out of the hazy mess, it was a sort of greyish, bluish, brownish haze, constantly changing as the clouds rolled in then cleared away momentarily

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Possibly the best one so far, I think its from the Houses of Parliament on the left to the Eye on the right and is a JPG file, SOOC then resized for posting.

Still lots of haze although the foreground is not too bad I think

Houses of Parliament to the Eye from Eltham Palace by BrianWadie, on Flickr

[Wee man]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

The shot with the arch and eye is a cracker!

[cliff]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Here's one from the e-group London meet in 2012


I also like the arch in the wheel shot..

Cliff

[OlyPaul]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Brian I am sure you could do something about the haze in post processing.

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Thanks Ed, Cliff and Paul, I can't claim any credit for the composition of Arch & Eye shot (or either of the others) as there was only one angle from which to shoot these images

Cliff, I wish we had conditions like yours, lovely blue sky and fluffy clouds - nice

Paul, I thought so too, but so far haven't found anything better than what I have shown (it was pretty difficult to make out the skyline at all at times it was that hazy / smoggy) I'll have another look though

[OlyPaul]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Thanks Ed, Cliff and Paul, I can't claim any credit for the composition of Arch & Eye shot (or either of the others) as there was only one angle from which to shoot these images

Cliff, I wish we had conditions like yours, lovely blue sky and fluffy clouds - nice

Paul, I thought so too, but so far haven't found anything better than what I have shown (it was pretty difficult to make out the skyline at all at times it was that hazy / smoggy) I'll have another look though

Here is a quick go I had it Brian but working on a low res web image is not ideal, plus I.m not seeing to well so forgive the quality.

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

thanks Paul, I see what you are saying - that's the SOOC jpg file so yes, it does seem worth having another look at it.

As I said, the conditions were changing constantly so maybe there is a better starting point in there too, I'll have another look

[Rawcoll]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Indeed, hasn't the skyline changed! The curvy block building to the left of your gherkin skyline is what I think is called the walkie-talkie, the cause of the melting Jag. If only architects understood basic physics they'd realise that the front is essentially a concave mirror, and will focus sunlight on the street below.

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

than Ian, I heard of the problem but didn't make the link

(that's an impressive "Selfie" you have there by the way )

[Rawcoll]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

(that's an impressive "Selfie" you have there by the way )

Thanks Brian, and as we all know, the camera never lies

[Actually it is James Clerk Maxwell, who proposed the theory of electromagnetic radiation, and apparently was also the first to present a durable colour photograph, amongst many other accolades.]

[Gwyver]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Possibly the best one so far, I think its from the Houses of Parliament on the left to the Eye on the right and is a JPG file, SOOC then resized for posting.

Still lots of haze although the foreground is not too bad I think

Brian,
If you use Photoshop or PS Elements this image would be an excellent candidate for experimenting with the "Neutralhazer" plugin produced by Kolor.com. You can download a demo version.
See http://www.kolor.com/neutralhazer-ha...op-plugin.html for more info.

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

thanks Chris, I'll have a look

[Homer Simpson]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

If only architects understood basic physics they'd realise that the front is essentially a concave mirror, and will focus sunlight on the street below.

But he did and designed in preventive measures. These were removed to save costs.

[brian1208]

Re: Hasn't the London skyline changed!

Going for a simple solution I scanned the remaining images and found this .orf file which was simply put through the Auto process in LR5.6, in Daylight White balance with Natural colour profile

I think its a better solution (more clarity and foreground detail although the heat haze is pronounced)?

The real answer, of course, it to try another day when the air is cold and crisp, ideally toward sunset (fat chance from down here in Dorset )

Eye to HoP from Eltham by BrianWadie, on Flickr