Melbourne Southbank skyline

Posted by Editor - Jimmy McIntyre in Cities, Featured Photo | 1 comment

Title – Melbourne Southbank skyline

Photographer name – Andrew Haysom

Description of place
A night city skyline of the Southbank precinct and the Yarra River, Melbourne, Australia

Technical information

Camera – Canon EOS 60D, shooting RAW only

Lens – Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 EX DC @ 10mm

HDR Software – Photomatix Pro 4.2

ISO – 100

Aperture – f/5.6

Number of exposures – 3 exposures (-2, 0, +2)

Tripod/handheld – Tripod

Extra processing information:
Normally I like to try to create an image that is as close as possible to what I saw when I took the photo.
My HDR workflow is a bit disorganised and a little different each time, so I re-did this image so I could faithfully record the steps. I have replaced the image on Flickr with the re-done one as I think it is slightly improved.

All intermediate files between steps saved as 16-bit TIFFs. The steps were;

• Remove noise from the original three RAW images using Topaz Denoise 5 (in Photoshop Elements).
• Use DxO Optics Pro chromatic aberration removal function.
• Merge in Photomatix using selective ghosting feature on the three floating buoys, used the “Enhanced” preset with Lighting Adjustments set to “Natural”.
• Use DxO Optics Pro to adjust perspective (using the Force Parallel feature with automatic crop turned off).
• Crop in Photoshop Elements
• The image at this point was a bit brighter and yellower than I remembered so I applied the  Topaz Adjust Toned Brown preset and was happy with the result
• Finally remove noise again using Topaz Denoise and save as JPEG

Photographers bio
I am a fifty-something IT Manager who bought his first DSLR just over a year ago and has been active on Flickr since January of this year. I have been trying to teach myself photography techniques and am finding it a very relaxing and inspiring pastime. My main areas of photographic interest are nature phorography (mainly the local birds and kangaroos) and the beautiful city of Melbourne (with a special passion for the many alleyways and wonderful street art).

Check out Andrew’s photos at http://flickr.com/ajhaysom