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Sydney Celebration


Sydney Celebration
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 855 W: 204 N: 1036] (3121)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-03-18
Categories: Architecture, Event
Camera: Nikon D200, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 VR
Exposure: f/11, 30 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-03-19 21:44
Viewed: 782
Points: 32
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
It’s been 75 years since the unofficial (with Francis De Groot, with his horse and sword) and the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (aka "The Coathanger"), and Sydney had to celebrate. There were festivities all day on and around the bridge, involving various groups and demonstrations, involving thousands of people, on, above and below the bridge. The bridge was jammed with well wishers.

The thing about the Sydney Harbour Bridge that makes it such an icon in this city is that it is central to everything, and can be seen from just about anywhere on the harbour. Everything is deemed north, south, east or west based on it’s proximity to the bridge. The bridge is the focal point for everything happening here. Being several miles west of the bridge therefore, and shooting over Balmain, was not a problem. I still had front row seats to some of the festivities, and one of the activities planned was a light show. This wasn’t to be any ordinary light show; there was some decent candle power in use here, with strobes, floods shooting in different directions etc. Shooting pictures with 30 second bursts doesn’t allow one to show all of these different effects, but I could show some of the colour, so that is what I chose to do here. What you see before you then in this composition is 5 different shots, taken at various times over 3 hours, where different coloured lighting showed most consistently. I was looking for an RGB effect and was getting frustrated for the first hour when all I saw was blues. Then the green and red came on (which gave us yellow in the shot, so much for the RGB). We then had the red and green and finally in the final hour it was lit up very nicely with the white.

Workflow was as follows:
Various shots were taken in Raw throughout the night, most at f11, 30 sec, 170 mm.
5 were selected for this composite – the NEF files for these were adjusted very slightly for highlights and shadows (together)
A levels layer adjustment and curves layer (RGB) adjustment was created for the first, saved, then the same one was used for the other 4, to maintain consistency between all.
Each was cropped to the same landscape format, and resized.
Using the eyedropper for each, colour was selected for a colour band at the bottom of each
They were placed on a new file in a portrait format, in the order in which they were shot.
The layers were merged in this new file and a brightness / contrast layer was added to beef up the overall compilation
A separate neutral black frame was added, the file was sharpened using smart sharpen and saved as a jpeg for this posting.
ribeiroantonio, deblink, Cormac, UnTrained, gypsygirl58, Propofol, nels, gunbud, bakes888, robsz, MLINES, Marcelo_Almeida, PixelTerror, jusninasirun has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To jusninasirun: This was a tough OneJPlumb 1 06-20 01:30
To gypsygirl58: Fun to be ThereJPlumb 1 03-20 05:19
To deblink: Layers of Paint on the Bridge?JPlumb 2 03-20 02:42
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Critiques [Translate]

All colours in one. It is really an excellent sequence and a very good idea to show it. It makes a very nice picture for a post card. Try to sell it to a post cards company. It is worth the try. Well done.
Antonio

Hi John,
Great, unique, colourful idea. I wonder how many layers of paint out bridge has now. You have done well in recording the celebration.
Cheers,
Debbie

  • Great 
  • Cormac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3245 W: 56 N: 5986] (25032)
  • [2007-03-20 1:04]

Nice idea - I really admire your creativity in coming up with a composite instead of just a regular single image. The different colours lend this a festive or celebratory feel. I also like the note, which is interesting and also gives us the inside story on life in Sydney and how the bridge fits in. Timely and Excellent!

Hi John,
I had a short TV report on that bridge and the celebrations around its birthday, therefore the importance is at the moment a bit familiar to me. And as time (events) are also a part of TE, I appreciate this a lot. Thanks for this impression of the festivities. The several colours together in one picture is for me the pleasant way to present this.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Hi John,
Great image! I like the composition and the different colours are great! Would have been great to be there for the 75th birthday of the "Coathanger"! Well done and captured, TFS
Cheers Tina :-)

Nice montage. You were lucky to get such a good viewpoint during the celebrations!

Hi John,
Sounds like a great show, and you have done a good effort to give us idea of it. Form of the coathanger is clear also from this angle, colours are strong and composition original.
Kari

  • Great 
  • nels Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 780 W: 18 N: 434] (2423)
  • [2007-03-21 10:51]

hello john,, love this unusual and creative way of showing the famous bridge they are all well focused and colourful tfs

adrian

Hi John. Nice stack of coathangers. Great compilation. You have captured the colours and atmosphere of the celebrations well. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

  • Great 
  • robsz Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 58 W: 1 N: 115] (707)
  • [2007-03-24 8:21]

Very creative presentation and to get just the right shots a photographer often has to play the waiting game. Glad you sat it out on this one. I think the combination of the different colors gives a more complete feel for the light show. A single shot would not have been as effective. Thanks for the informative post processing notes.

Nice collage with some great colors. Nice work. I like it very much. TFS
Donna:o)



thanks for your comments on my photo " Smokey Mountains (20)
" :o)

Hello John,
I don't hold too much with collages. However that said I think this is an interesting presentation of a rack of Coathangers...

I wanna call this the Dionne Version... Tfs,Jay

Hi John,
Good creative work to produce this record of rainbow bridge. Good clarity and excellent note about how you achived this fine result. TFS. Murray.

hi john

as emblematic as the bridge is, it is also quite handy as a backdrop. the bridge has been used for all manners of celebrations, new years, olympics and its own birthday. it's been lit up, had fireworks shot off it, lasers burned around it and as you have demonstrated, turned into almost every imaginable colour. quite an interesting series of shots. i'm sure people who haven't seen the bridge for themselves would find it quite interesting. great work and well presented.

Hi John,
Excelente ideia, muito bem executada, ótimo resultado.
Well done,
TFS,
Marcelo Almeida

Hi John,
Interesting collage, we can see that the coathanger is a first class subject when it comes to creating nice lighting (or for fireworks), the variety of colors is nice in the darkness, you might have tried to add some fill light on some of them (blue ones) and compensate it on the low lights by strengthening the blacks.
Have a nice day JY

Hello John. I like your effort on this one. All five shots are to perfection with excellent sharpness and detail. Pleasant colorful set and very well framed in negative color. Thanks for sharing and best regards. Jusni

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