Cityscape sunsets, especially from the famous skylines, are very popular and probably my favorit. A mistake I experience quite often, people show up far to late and leave far to early. One of the best moments is the blue hour which is 20-30min after sunset. Check out this tutorial to learn about the different phases of a sunset and the post-processing.

PICTURE EDIT

Original Image Original
Modified Image Modified

As in quite some of my pictures, I tried in this picture to compress the whole period from sunset to total darkness in one picture. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that good at that particular day, so that there was a big cloud at the horizon minimizing the color in the sky. This is why I chose to use a long exposure for the sky and the water. I like the dynamic effect and it compensates a bit the missing colors. The reason why you should stay until blue or even back hour is the light in the windows. As if it gets darker and darker more and more windows are illuminated. Thanks to the "lighten" blend mode, it is super easy to put it afterward together with your baseline layer. After finishing my blend, I decided to correct a bit of the perspective. My camera was pointing a bit down to capture more of the foreground, causing converging lines. So if your camera is pointing up or down and you want to correct that later, choose your frame a bit wider. If you use the photoshop adaptive wide angle filter, you have to crop a bit afterward. The last steps are contrast, color correction, sharpening, and noise. Always do these steps after your blend is done. This helps to make it look as if it was always only one image.

Location

I found my favorite spot in Brooklyn, New York. Right next to the Brooklyn Bridge there is the Old Pier 1. The only thing left from the pier is the basement, the old wooden posts. I just love them as my foreground of the picture. If you are already in Brooklyn just go to the east river. The Brooklyn bridge should be on your right side when you look in the direction of Manhattan. The spot with the old pier posts is pretty unique, so it's not that hard to find. If you come from Manhattan, use the chance to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot. Even if a huge number of tourists can be annoying, the view is worth it. After crossing, you have to go a bit back to come to the waterfront. If you leave the bridge on the left side and go straight to the water you are crossing another famous photo spot. You can shoot the Empire State Building framed by one of the bridge pillars of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Camera Settings

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm ƒ/2.8L II @27mm, ƒ/11, 6 frames 4s-120s, ISO 100, on tripod, triggered by remote control, two frames with Lee ND Big Stopper


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