Otto Berkeley
Deliverance
While visiting Scotland during a recent trip with three fellow photographers, I was fortunate enough to be able to capture a moody sunset from the top of Arthur's Seat, the main peak of grass-covered hills that form Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. The climb to the peak was steep and exhausting, but the view from the top of the 822ft hill made it worth the effort, with Edinburgh Castle rising above the city and flanked by the spires of St Giles' and St Mary's Cathedrals. Rain, cloud and haze had covered the city throughout the afternoon and early evening, but shortly before sunset the sun appeared from behind the clouds, covering the northern half of the city with a soft glow and carving an outline along the hills on the horizon. It was one of those moments that can't be predicted, and the kind that's a true joy to photograph.
This image is a combination of eight exposures which were combined in Photoshop using luminosity masks along with a Pen Tool selection to isolate and brighten Salisbury Crags, the hill in the immediate foreground. I tried to apply my brighter exposures with the intention of emphasising detail in the cityscape, but not so much as to lose the ambience of the scene, which was the aspect that delighted me most. With this in mind, I kept the final image slightly underexposed, focusing instead on the warm tones along the hills and the glow that was bathing the city in light.
I felt that only minor changes were required when colour-grading the image. The palette was predominantly made of warmer tones, and I tried not to veer too far from this, using only a Selective Colour adjustment to increase the red and magenta tones in the sky, and a Hue/Saturation adjustment to remove some of the cyan and green casts in the city buildings. My main aim when editing was to strike a balance between preserving the hazy finish in the distance and adding clarity and tonal contrast to the hilltop and buildings in the foreground. I wanted to convey the soft and dreamy atmosphere over the city that evening, but at the same time I wanted the image to remain true to the view from the hilltop (and hopefully to avoid a finish that could seem unnatural or overprocessed). I used Nik plugins to gently increase the tonal contrast, applying the Detail Extractor filter in Colour Efex Pro to emphasise Edinburgh Castle at the centre of the frame, and the Low Key filter to soften the exposure and contrast to the left of the frame, with the intention of guiding viewers' eyes towards the hilltop in the foreground at the same time as the light on the horizon and the highest points across the city.
The final result hopefully encapsulates Edinburgh's architecture and natural beauty, and perhaps also the fleeting Scottish weather that can make photographing its scenery both unpredictable and riveting.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.
Deliverance
While visiting Scotland during a recent trip with three fellow photographers, I was fortunate enough to be able to capture a moody sunset from the top of Arthur's Seat, the main peak of grass-covered hills that form Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. The climb to the peak was steep and exhausting, but the view from the top of the 822ft hill made it worth the effort, with Edinburgh Castle rising above the city and flanked by the spires of St Giles' and St Mary's Cathedrals. Rain, cloud and haze had covered the city throughout the afternoon and early evening, but shortly before sunset the sun appeared from behind the clouds, covering the northern half of the city with a soft glow and carving an outline along the hills on the horizon. It was one of those moments that can't be predicted, and the kind that's a true joy to photograph.
This image is a combination of eight exposures which were combined in Photoshop using luminosity masks along with a Pen Tool selection to isolate and brighten Salisbury Crags, the hill in the immediate foreground. I tried to apply my brighter exposures with the intention of emphasising detail in the cityscape, but not so much as to lose the ambience of the scene, which was the aspect that delighted me most. With this in mind, I kept the final image slightly underexposed, focusing instead on the warm tones along the hills and the glow that was bathing the city in light.
I felt that only minor changes were required when colour-grading the image. The palette was predominantly made of warmer tones, and I tried not to veer too far from this, using only a Selective Colour adjustment to increase the red and magenta tones in the sky, and a Hue/Saturation adjustment to remove some of the cyan and green casts in the city buildings. My main aim when editing was to strike a balance between preserving the hazy finish in the distance and adding clarity and tonal contrast to the hilltop and buildings in the foreground. I wanted to convey the soft and dreamy atmosphere over the city that evening, but at the same time I wanted the image to remain true to the view from the hilltop (and hopefully to avoid a finish that could seem unnatural or overprocessed). I used Nik plugins to gently increase the tonal contrast, applying the Detail Extractor filter in Colour Efex Pro to emphasise Edinburgh Castle at the centre of the frame, and the Low Key filter to soften the exposure and contrast to the left of the frame, with the intention of guiding viewers' eyes towards the hilltop in the foreground at the same time as the light on the horizon and the highest points across the city.
The final result hopefully encapsulates Edinburgh's architecture and natural beauty, and perhaps also the fleeting Scottish weather that can make photographing its scenery both unpredictable and riveting.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.