Otto Berkeley
Threshold
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, otherwise known as the LSE Library, is steeped in history despite the architecture looking far ahead of its time. The century-old building was converted into a library by LSE in 1973 and redeveloped in 2000 by Foster and Partners. It is the world's largest social sciences library, with 50km of shelving and more than 4 million items housed around a light-filled atrium and a helical ramp. I was recently fortunate enough to be able to visit and shoot the location with fellow London photographer Peter Li, and my first shot was this look-up from the bottom of the atrium.
My main aim with this image was a high-key finish that would convey the minimal and futuristic aspects of the architecture. Shooting outside the university term and early in the morning meant the location was almost empty, and renovation work in the lower ground floor meant the glass lifts at the centre of the atrium remained unused long enough for me to capture both of them at ground level. While this would usually be an ideal opportunity to let the shutter speed run for longer, I opted for a higher ISO to control the glare of the bright lights surrounding the atrium, as I felt these had the potential to become garish if they were too large. I bracketed nine exposures, and these were later blended in Photoshop using luminosity masks. This made it possible to gradually raise the exposure of the midtones and shadows and create a clean high-key finish without overexposing the skylight or the dome, which both contain portions of my darker exposures.
With the exposures blended, I gently desaturated traces of yellow and orange and used Colour Balance, Colour Lookup and Gradient Map adjustments to shift towards a colder tone, which helped to emphasise the surfaces' pristine finish. There was a small amount of glare from the interior lights along the metal on the right lift, and as I felt the lifts in the foreground would be one of the first places that viewers' eyes would be drawn to, I wanted it to be clear of distractions, so the glare was removed along with the fire sprinklers dotted around the building.
Inside Nik's Silver Efex Pro, I increased the highlight structure to give the edges of the walkways more definition, as well as gently increasing the Dynamic Contrast, before setting the layer with these adjustments to the Luminosity blend mode to retain the original blue tones from my workflow. Using Colour Efex Pro, I then used small amounts of the Pro Contast, High Key and Glamour Glow filters to adjust the tonality across the image and to add a final bit of emphasis to the soft and airy atmosphere of the building.
The postprocessing phase for this image was straightforward, which I hoped would complement the location's streamlined design and the grace of its architecture. Watching students go back and forth through the building, I couldn't help feeling a little envious of anyone able to visit this awe-inspiring location as part of their research and learning.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.
Threshold
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, otherwise known as the LSE Library, is steeped in history despite the architecture looking far ahead of its time. The century-old building was converted into a library by LSE in 1973 and redeveloped in 2000 by Foster and Partners. It is the world's largest social sciences library, with 50km of shelving and more than 4 million items housed around a light-filled atrium and a helical ramp. I was recently fortunate enough to be able to visit and shoot the location with fellow London photographer Peter Li, and my first shot was this look-up from the bottom of the atrium.
My main aim with this image was a high-key finish that would convey the minimal and futuristic aspects of the architecture. Shooting outside the university term and early in the morning meant the location was almost empty, and renovation work in the lower ground floor meant the glass lifts at the centre of the atrium remained unused long enough for me to capture both of them at ground level. While this would usually be an ideal opportunity to let the shutter speed run for longer, I opted for a higher ISO to control the glare of the bright lights surrounding the atrium, as I felt these had the potential to become garish if they were too large. I bracketed nine exposures, and these were later blended in Photoshop using luminosity masks. This made it possible to gradually raise the exposure of the midtones and shadows and create a clean high-key finish without overexposing the skylight or the dome, which both contain portions of my darker exposures.
With the exposures blended, I gently desaturated traces of yellow and orange and used Colour Balance, Colour Lookup and Gradient Map adjustments to shift towards a colder tone, which helped to emphasise the surfaces' pristine finish. There was a small amount of glare from the interior lights along the metal on the right lift, and as I felt the lifts in the foreground would be one of the first places that viewers' eyes would be drawn to, I wanted it to be clear of distractions, so the glare was removed along with the fire sprinklers dotted around the building.
Inside Nik's Silver Efex Pro, I increased the highlight structure to give the edges of the walkways more definition, as well as gently increasing the Dynamic Contrast, before setting the layer with these adjustments to the Luminosity blend mode to retain the original blue tones from my workflow. Using Colour Efex Pro, I then used small amounts of the Pro Contast, High Key and Glamour Glow filters to adjust the tonality across the image and to add a final bit of emphasis to the soft and airy atmosphere of the building.
The postprocessing phase for this image was straightforward, which I hoped would complement the location's streamlined design and the grace of its architecture. Watching students go back and forth through the building, I couldn't help feeling a little envious of anyone able to visit this awe-inspiring location as part of their research and learning.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.