Steps to the Park Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is an early morning view, taken from the steps of the Sydney Opera House towards the Royal Botanical Gardens and the CBD. The Royal Botanical Gardens are like an oasis in this city, close, and comfortable. From where I was standing for this shot, you can turn to the left and walk through one of the main gates, or you can ascend the rock steps you see in front of you and walk up past the back end of Government House. I sometimes prefer to go this way, separate from the crowd. It’s quieter, and you never know what you might see up there, (please see workshop).

Workflow for this shot was as follows:
Shot taken in Raw with JPG reference – (ISO 100 38mm @f9.5, 1/20)
NEF files adjusted for exposure, shadow, vignetting, brightness and contrast
Levels – tweaked manually
Curves – S-curve for contrast
Added saturation layer +20 to master
Saved as a tiff
Cropped, resized, selected on sky and selectively reduced noise, inversed the selection, added a layer for sharpening with USM, modified sharpening with a layer mask (50% opacity black brush), framed and saved as a jpeg.

Dyerco, rjb874, bracasha75, hispic, angela926, MLINES, Wanda1, pierrefonds, Oldtree, gary91, jusninasirun, pablominto, siolaw, kevinos, robertosalguero has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ribeiroantonio (21921) 2008-04-23 18:09

Two very nice pics, one of the city skyline and the other of those noisy but yet beautiful birds. I like both photos. The early sun light just gave very nice warm colours to the buildings. Well done.
Antonio

Dyerco (9104) 2008-04-23 20:54

Hi John
You have a wonderfully sharp and crisp image here. I find the trees could use a little more exposure unless there is some clutter you were trying to eliminate. I've been to the botanical gardens and it's well worth the visit.
Phil

skippy007 (7111) 2008-04-23 21:40

Hello John,
A well balanced scene of the Sydney Skyline softened by the trees in the FG. The early morning sun has given it a beautiful warm glow. Detail & clarity perfect as always.
Nice shot well done.
Thanks
Santo.
Nice shot of those white sulphur crested noisy buggers. You might not believe this but I owned a house in the hills just north of Melbourne & those beautiful talking birds would come & eat my window frames. Just as well they didn't learn & repeat the choice words I had to say.:-))),

bracasha75 (22139) 2008-04-23 23:03

Hi John
The most beautiful city in South hemisphere and one excellent modern metropole
I dont need ask ,i know that you have speend excellent time there,right?
Cheers,Braca

hispic (7399) 2008-04-24 1:57

Hi John,
Beautiful light in the early morning, it is pleasant that a line that should be vertical is vertical.
Marvelous shot with outstanding sharpness!
Best wishes, Hisashi

UnTrained (0) 2008-04-24 4:40

Hi John,
the warm light and good clarity make this one very appealing. The inclusion of the darker trees lead to a good balance with the brighter tops of the skyscrapers.
I like your good workflow description.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

alftrek (2819) 2008-04-24 6:16

Hi John,

I remember this familiar view from the opera house, except that it was quite different from what it is now. Several new buildings have been added since the last time I saw it years ago, John.

The morning light on the city buildings is very beautiful indeed with the trees as a silhouette.

TFS

Regards
Alfred

Rosa (4593) 2008-04-24 8:32

Bonjour,
bonne idée de faire cette photo en y insérant une diagonale qui divise en deux ta prise, la moitié au dessus de la diagonale représentant des buildings et la moitié sous cette diagonale des arbres, des buissons etc.

Amitié
Rosa

quillo (7180) 2008-04-24 14:15

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Hello John, an interesting work of composition, I like as you combine the structures of the buildings with the green zone of the park, it is an image with delight that shows the attraction of the city of Sídney.

Best regards.

-

angela926 (1882) 2008-04-24 16:53

Hello John,
Very nice shot, excellent comp0sition
and point of view, superb sharpness and
depth of field, beautiful colors, lovely
cityscape.
Angela

MLINES (10884) 2008-04-24 17:48

Hi John, You have found an excellent POV to show the rather unusual and interesting tops on some of these CBD buildings. The inclusion of the ppark in the foreground gives an excellent juxstaposition of soft and sharp. One of the best of Sydney i have seen recently. Idyllic blue skies, which is something i miss in China at present. TFS. Murray.

Wanda1 (10989) 2008-04-24 23:01

Hi John,
Warm morning light, some of my favourite and it really brings out the details on the buildings in this nice cityscape. It is good to see that there are still a few green spaces left in cities and I think that more and more cities are incorporating that.
Regards
Wanda

pierrefonds (26353) 2008-04-25 6:01

Hi John,

The point of view is leading our eyes towards the Royal botanical garden and to the highrise buildings of downtown Sydney. The light is giving nice colors and a set of shadows to the buildings. The subject is well framed. have a nice day.

Pierre

Oldtree (2457) 2008-04-25 8:57

Beautiful light and a stunning sharpness.
Your composition is also very good.
The lower right corner is a fraction to dark, I think.
Wonderful shot John. Thanks also for the detailed PP - steps in your note.

gary91 (15321) 2008-04-25 14:41

Hello John
Beautiful composition under this beautiful morning light. I like the way you splitted the image between the vegetals and these huge constructions.
Have a nice day.
Best regards, Christian

jusninasirun (10209) 2008-04-26 3:47

Hello John. When it comes to capturing cityscapes, you are the man John. You have capitalized the light brilliantly with the golden glow of diagonal light shining on the buildings. The trees with handsome canopy adds perspective to the shot, I like it and have a wonderful weekend. Best regards. Jusni

dvlazar (6488) 2008-04-26 17:42

A good sunset over the city. The steps, are hard to see on my monitor - its quite dark in that region. They dont seem like the focus of this photo - rather the tall sun washed buildings.
Cheers!
Dave

capthaddock (28640) 2008-04-27 13:39

I love the low light, the architecure is not exactly pretty, but the green almost jungly fg is nice, I wonder if it was possible to take a few steps to the left to detach the TV tower (almost hidden in this angle) from the buildings.

crckt (7076) 2008-04-27 13:43

Hi John,
Gorgeous shot! What strikes me most here is the sharpness. Really nice quality.
Well done,
Shaeri

pablominto (40788) 2008-04-29 2:03

Hello John,
You pick the right time for this fine capture!
The light really adds warmth and makes the details stand out well, a very attractive composition with the trees in front...
Excellent work, can't get better!
Greetings,
Pablo -

siolaw (25774) 2008-04-29 23:47

Hi John,
Early lights are often the best, and here you got a nice one, enhancing textures and details, with nice colors and intersting modern architecture
Good work
Laurent

Matthew-Watt (4465) 2008-04-30 19:29

Hello John,

I admired this photo the other day, I had to come back to critique it. I know the vantage point well; I used those stairs in the FG to take a series of unsuccessful night photos of the Opera House with my old camera. Will have to return with the tripod. The early morning lighting here is unmistakable, illuminating those glassy skyscrapers from the eastern sides in a wonderful golden hue. The image is so crisp and detailed, very good. From this perspective Sydney Centrepoint Tower seems to be dwarfed by the surrounding buildings, an interesting view. Good to see the workshop of the raucous cockatoos, wonderful to see wildlife so close to the CBD (I recall seeing a flying fox colony in the domain also).

Matt

MarcT (21099) 2008-05-01 4:57

Hi John,
Beautiful light and great use of the contrast between the trees and those buildings.
It works pretty well under the blue sky.
Cheers
Marc

Greg1949 (8507) 2008-05-20 3:41

John, this is a wonderfully stark shot, the deep shadows and hard contrasts are super. The composition, the mix of heights and textures is also super, and the birds in the ws are a hoot. Nice presentation, well seen and captured.

Greg

kevinos (6927) 2008-05-23 18:36

Ah John! I know this place so well and you have captured it very well, in a crisp and nicely composed shot. You have a wonderfully harmonious color and tone. I was interested in the pp work you did, which, I think explains the individual character of this iamge. regards kevin

robertosalguero (110) 2008-06-23 22:40

Hi John,

This city seem beautiful, specially under the warm light of the morning. The buildings truly add a nice combination of styles and details. Very nice and effective point of view to capture the park on the foreground and give the view a more relaxed mood. Thanks John.

Roberto