Haifa

[Jim Kuo]

Away on a conference in Israel this week, this is the view from my hotel room (one of the few perks of being an academic ).

It was a challenging shot. I don't have my tripod (as the main purpose of this trip isn't photography ), burglar bars were in the way, I had to place the camera outside the window and used a tea cup saucer to angle the camera down. Luckily I didn't lose the camera in the process.

X100's wide angle lens didn't help in keeping the distortion down. Lots of cropping and perspective fixes in LR afterwards... I hope this comes out ok.

Edited after Darren, Dan, Adrian's suggestions.

 

[Pete Askew]

Certainly worth the effort Jim. And what a great view (well, at least at night).

 

[Darren Turner]

that is an awesome view, and a bloody good image of it at that. Cant say i am a fan of all the orange light, i realise there is sod all you can do about that though.

Looks like the x100 has done a dam good job to me.

Great shot & thanks for sharing

Daz

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Nice one Jim - not sure I'd have trusted the tea cup saucer!

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Pete, Darren and Chris.

I did boost the saturation to get that strong colour tone, it looked ok to me at the time, perhaps I will take a 2nd look adjusting the white balance to get it toned down. (I just toned the while balance a tad cooler to make the colour glow less exaggerated, but I still left it relatively orangey as it was the scene I remembered from last night.)

I didn't trust the saucer but I didn't have anything else at hand in the room. I was holding on to the camera strap tightly thoughout the seemingly forever 20 sec exposure

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Fantastic view!
That's something stupid that I would do with my camera. Lol. The difference is tho, I think yours carries a higher price tag than mine, but never the less, the commitment (and the potential disastrous conciquences that could of occured) I admire to get a shot wins it for me!
The only thing I would say through a matter of taste is to maybe drop the saturation a touch..... But you already new that.
Very well done over all

 

[adrian jordin]

I wish I had this kind of view from the hotel window when I'm away on business....

Personally I would deepen the saturation of the blues, particularly at the top, rather than change to much of the overall saturation. But thats just my personal perference.

Excellent Picture, though.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Thanks Dan and Adrian. I had forgotten that I could adjust the saturation of different colour channels individually, I have just changed the colour saturation a little, pushed blue saturation higher, but I left some organy glow since I am a bit partial to that colour tone .

 

[Jim Kuo]

Facing a wonderful scene and not having the right kits to take a proper picture of it has driven me mad.

This is the window in question,

And the glass panel that blocks my view even if I could shift the furnitures in the room to use as tripod...

In the end, I hang the X100 over the glass panel, held on to its strap and used its weight to help keeping it stationary for the 30 sec exposure. This is the result.

I wouldn't recommend trying it at home if you had an alternative.

 

[Pete Askew]

Now, what you need is a lens skirt!!

LENSKIRT - Block reflections when taking pictures through glass

I quite like the result of your improvised 'support' though.

 

[Jim Kuo]

Haha, Pete, I thought you were making a photography related joke that I am not aware the context of. It turned out, you really seriously meant a skirt for lenses .

It looks useful, but I think the real fix for me is to still lug my proper kit next time when there is possibility of good photography, regardless what the main aim of the trip is .

 

[Pete Askew]

I often carry a Gorrillpod with me if my main purpose doesn't need a 'real' tripod. Handy for situations such as this. I've also ordered a Lens Skirt having seen some time-lapse stuff done using one. Should be handy for getting rid of reflections from hotel room windows etc.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Love the modified colour Jim - that blue glow is amazing

And you are certifiably nuts for hanging your X100 out of windows - in the best possible way of course!