Lots of editing to get this look. I planned to get a sunset with the London Eye in the frame but with the sun going down so early this time of year I was running out of time to get there. I stopped and decided to use Westminster instead. The title is a loose reference to the Kinks song "Waterloo Sunset".
Editing Steps: Convert from RAW in exposures from -3 to +3
HDR
Tone map for the dramatic sky
Tone map differently for the buildings
Lay over copy over the other in Photoshop
Clone out elements such as a crane and things in water
Mask in second copy of image to lighten the buildings
Brightness +17, Contrast +18
Dodge/Burn layer for building
On Sky & Water
* Saturation +15
* Colour Balance 27,0,0
Brightness +2, Contrast +9
Cloning out tents by waterside and halos on edges
Dodge/Burn layer again
Contrast +9 on buildings
Flatten
Skew image to get buildings looking vertical
Noise reduction
Resize
Add border
USM
Save for web
Post Challenge: My first Honerable Mention, cool. It would have been a little funny if I'd got another yellow though! Anyway, to clarify some things about the image that some commenters made:
More of the bridge isn't in the frame because it was filled with tourists. I also had to cut of the left end of the buildings because that's all I could get with 24mm. I didn't have my 18-55mm with me. I've since purchased a 10-22mm so I won't have that excuse anymore.
It's quite funny that on two visits to London I've managed to get two Free Study Top 10's from the same bridge, just shooting from different ends and different directions on the river:
Thanks for the votes!
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not a set up you see every day. must have been a heated discussion to create a sky that dramatic :) The only real thing is that you can teall where you had your gard ND.May be with some careful dodging you could have brought the towers back? Lovely picture.
I love the overall picture. Strong colors, good choice of a subject, the sky is crazy. But for me the left side of the picture seems incomplete as it it cropped unexpectedly.
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