Otto Berkeley
Fading Light
This digital blend of Southwark Bridge at dusk was one I'd been planning for several months, but it was a trial of patience while I waited for the right weather conditions. I needed a clear sky and low wind speed for the scene I had in mind, but also a very low tide along the Thames to coincide with the sunset, and it wasn't until an evening in mid-September -- on one of the hottest days of the year for the UK -- that all of these elements combined.
Although a few photographers were visiting the same location to take advantage of the low sunset tide, most were shooting in the opposite direction, where Ik-Joong Kang's cube-shaped art installation "Floating Dreams" was spending its final few days moored beneath the Millennium Bridge. This gave me the opportunity to experiment with several compositions without getting in anyone's way, and before long I'd found a portion of the old embankment structure protruding out of the water which I felt created a nice sense of direction towards Southwark Bridge and the Shard in the distance. I was drawn to this scene because of its combination of textures and disparate high- and low-tech elements: there was a smooth, clean vibrance to the sky and the water, and the bright and intricate lights and colours in the buildings leading up to the towering might of the Shard, but also a gritty, desolate detail along the shore, where the traces of the old embankment hinted at a long-forgotten era.
The glow of the sunset against the bridge and the buildings was captured using three- and four-minute exposures, with a six-minute exposure providing a smooth and moody finish for the sky and the river, and nine- and 12-minute exposures capturing the city lights and beautiful dusk tones. Using the Pen Tool in Photoshop, I isolated the sky, the river, the buildings and the shore, and then gradually blended portions of these exposures into the final image using a combination of Lighten, Soft Light and Screen blend modes, as well as linear gradient masks to blend in the darker exposures in order to add some of the evening tones into the sky and to darken the shore, which I thought would help to guide the eye towards the centre of the frame.
Once the image had been colour-graded, I dipped into Colour Efex Pro to apply a sparing amount of Pro Contrast and Detail Extractor for the buildings and the shore, and finally Silver Efex Pro, where I selectively reduced the midtone structure within the sky and the river, as well as gently increasing their highlights, which seemed to enhance the ethereal mood of the image. The end result hopefully captures the beauty of the view along the Thames riverside during its transition from sunset to dusk and early evening, but at the same time my aim with this image was to capture a perspective that hadn't been seen before, and to explore some of the scene's subtler details.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.
Fading Light
This digital blend of Southwark Bridge at dusk was one I'd been planning for several months, but it was a trial of patience while I waited for the right weather conditions. I needed a clear sky and low wind speed for the scene I had in mind, but also a very low tide along the Thames to coincide with the sunset, and it wasn't until an evening in mid-September -- on one of the hottest days of the year for the UK -- that all of these elements combined.
Although a few photographers were visiting the same location to take advantage of the low sunset tide, most were shooting in the opposite direction, where Ik-Joong Kang's cube-shaped art installation "Floating Dreams" was spending its final few days moored beneath the Millennium Bridge. This gave me the opportunity to experiment with several compositions without getting in anyone's way, and before long I'd found a portion of the old embankment structure protruding out of the water which I felt created a nice sense of direction towards Southwark Bridge and the Shard in the distance. I was drawn to this scene because of its combination of textures and disparate high- and low-tech elements: there was a smooth, clean vibrance to the sky and the water, and the bright and intricate lights and colours in the buildings leading up to the towering might of the Shard, but also a gritty, desolate detail along the shore, where the traces of the old embankment hinted at a long-forgotten era.
The glow of the sunset against the bridge and the buildings was captured using three- and four-minute exposures, with a six-minute exposure providing a smooth and moody finish for the sky and the river, and nine- and 12-minute exposures capturing the city lights and beautiful dusk tones. Using the Pen Tool in Photoshop, I isolated the sky, the river, the buildings and the shore, and then gradually blended portions of these exposures into the final image using a combination of Lighten, Soft Light and Screen blend modes, as well as linear gradient masks to blend in the darker exposures in order to add some of the evening tones into the sky and to darken the shore, which I thought would help to guide the eye towards the centre of the frame.
Once the image had been colour-graded, I dipped into Colour Efex Pro to apply a sparing amount of Pro Contrast and Detail Extractor for the buildings and the shore, and finally Silver Efex Pro, where I selectively reduced the midtone structure within the sky and the river, as well as gently increasing their highlights, which seemed to enhance the ethereal mood of the image. The end result hopefully captures the beauty of the view along the Thames riverside during its transition from sunset to dusk and early evening, but at the same time my aim with this image was to capture a perspective that hadn't been seen before, and to explore some of the scene's subtler details.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.