1st page on 500px

It’s always so nice to see one of my photos on the 1st page of 500px. With their recent change to the endless scrolling style (which I’m not really a big fan off) everyone’s photo is on the first page anyway, but being right on the top is nice anyway :)

Entrance to the Grand Mosque

I think this was the first time I was in a mosque. Luckily, I was with friends so I knew what not to do and what to do :) Still, walking in a building like this without shoes felt strange to me. Really unusual. This is a view right at the entrance, I looked more up, so I don’t have any people in my shot.

This is a HDR from 6 exposures created in Oloneo Photoengine and finished in Photoshop.

There are moments when I would so love to have a camera with many more megapixels than I have. Usually it’s when I’m taking a photo like this :) So much going on in one photo. As you can see, Dubai is very busy in the evening. I usually tend to go more with longer exposures for a shot like this, to get just the light trails from the cars, but as it was very windy where I was standing, I had to go with a shorter exposure as possible.

During my trip to Dubai, I actually stopped taking the +2Ev exposure. Recently I used it so rarely in my edits, that it just slowed me down. Especially in night shots, where the +2 can get into 16 and more second very quickly, and not taking it, gives one the ability to take so many shots in shorter time. Especially in places like Dubai, where the blue hour is over in few minutes.

This photo is a manual blend from 3 exposures, taken in center of Dubai.

It was so great to change Bratislava for a new city for a week. And so I don’t have to travel that much while in Dubai, I stayed right in the Dubai Marina. Actually a friend suggested AirBnb to look for an alternative to a hotel, and it just worked perfectly. I rather don’t imagine how much I would have to pay for a hotel in this location :)

This is the view from the top of the Cayan tower. It’s a HDR from 5 shots, created in Oloneo Photoengine and blended with original exposures in Photoshop.

Of course I also had to visit the Burj Khalifa. I just love these high up places. To bad, that the floor on the observation deck is covered with wood, and so shakes a little every-time someone walks by. But I opened my lens more and cranked up the ISO to get a little faster shots, and so the sharpness is still acceptable :)

Now I just have to hope that someone builds a higher building, so I have a new high place to go to, to beat this one :)

This is a HDR created from 4 exposures in Oloneo Photoengine and blended with the original exposures to correct the bright areas and moving cars.

This post is a little late, as after I returned from my trip, I decided to take a little nap, and haven’t woken up for 14 hours. Still feel a little like a zombie, but hopefully will be back to normal soon. I will write more about the trip in the following posts :)

This is a vertical panorama from two shots, each one from 5 exposures (but I used only 3 in the blend)