Framed view of the Grand Mosque

I revisited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, while in Dubai, and got quite a lot of photos. Now, with many more lenses available than I had before, I can also get quite different views there. Especially the tilt shift came in handy. But as the Grand Mosque was quite full of people the day I was there, I also took few more zoomed in shots. And here is one of the main entrance. This is quite a popular composition here, as you can really nicely frame the main tower of the Grand Mosque, with the arch of the entrance. You just have to step away a bit and zoom in your lens :)

This is a blend of two exposures, done in Photoshop.

Sunrise at the top

I’m trying a bit to relax these few days, as I’m still quite tired from running around for a whole week. And the 30 degree temperature difference between Dubai and Bratislava is also not so easy to get used to. I don’t want to get sick, as another trip is not far away.

But I did already edited quite a few photos, so the updates here will keep on coming :) For today, here is sunrise shot, taken from the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa, the At the top visit. Regrettably, the slits in the walls there, are no longer big enough to get the lens through. But I was prepared, and had the Lenskirt with me. With it, I managed to get a nice, reflection free photo through the glass wall. Had to only remove the few glass scratches that were still visible :)

Btw. I you plan a visit, they still allow tripods there, and even my, bigger camera bag was not a problem. Also, the sunrise visit has much fewer people than sunset, they just stay there longer.

This is a two shot blend, one shot for the city, second one for the sunrise.

Palms under the Burj Khalifa

I used the Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero-D lens quite a lot in Dubai. With a city with so many huge buildings you can always use a ultra wide angle lens, and the wider the better. Same here, right under the Burj Khalifa. I really like the palms at the sidewalk, but I wanted also to have the whole Burj Khalifa in the shot. I wanted to get a nice framing, and also to keep the feeling on how massive the tower is. That’s why I like the perspective distortion here.

It was quite windy the evening I took this, and you may see that on the leafs of the palms. I did do a second shot at a high ISO, planing to mask it in and get rid of the blur. But as it was already quite late in the evening, I had to use ISO over 6400 to stop the movement at all, the results were quite noisy to be useful. So I left it as it was. But somehow it works fine in this shot :)

This is a two exposure blend. The second exposure was only used to darken few highlights in the shot. Edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

What’s in the bag

So while punting this together, I thought I show you what I plan to use. Just the main stuff, not all the little things, as that would make for a very long list :)

As you can see, I’m using three cameras. My main camera will be the Canon 5D mark IV. Then there is the Sony a7R with Metabones III adapter, which I use as a backup. And in the corner you can see the Sony RX100 that I like to use for the behind the camera stuff and some quick snaps. I prefer it to a mobile phone, as the quality is better and it has a F1.8 aperture.

On the lens side, going from widest to telephoto, there are the following: Canon 8-15 F4 Fisheye, Laowa 12mm f2.8 Zero-D, Canon 16-35mm f2.8, Canon 17mm TSE, Canon 24-70mm F2.8 and Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS II. Yes, that’s a lot of lenses, but I like to vary them, as they give different views. And of course I don’t carry everything at all times :) I would take fewer lenses, like for instance leaving the 16-35 behind as I have a 17 and 24-70, but, I cant put filters on the 17, so I can’t. And so on :)

The last thing visible here in that small Vanguard pouch is the Nisi V5 pro filter holder, with a reduction for the Laowa 12mm lens, standard lenses and a polarizer filter. Yes, the filter holder has a very nice leather case from Nisi, but I find it’s needlessly big.

Btw. This bag is the Lowepro Vertex 200 AW.

Busy Charles Bridge in Prague – Plotagraph

I’m in the middle of packing for my next trip and trying to decide what I need and what I can leave behind. It’s funny how quickly one reaches the airline limits for baggage :). But I’m still here, so for today I have for you another Plotagraph. This one from a photo taken from one of the towers of the Charles bridge in Prague. The clouds, water and the moving people really work nicely here.

You can check out my Plotagraph Pro review here, and a guide how to create them here.

(if you use an older web browser, you may only see a static image, if you are on a mobile, please hit the play button to see the Plotagraph in motion)