A Night at the Opera
Dec, 2015Views
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Awards
Zenith Award
Honorable Mention in Night Time Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Night Time Photo Contest
Legendary Award
People's Choice in Iconic Places and Things Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Iconic Places and Things Photo Contest
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Achievement in Originality
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photograph from a rooftop of a nearby office building on a recent trip to Sydney, with the building owner's permission.Time
This was shot at 7 pm, the very last bit of light in the day, at the tail end of the blue hour, which you can just about see in the water.Lighting
The lighting was tough. The detail of the interior of the SOH, the surrounding city lights, as well as that spotlight all required a different exposure. So the only way to recreate the view that I was actually seeing with my eyes was to use a series of five bracketed exposures.Equipment
This was shot with a Canon 6D at ISO 100, the Sigma "Bigma" 50-500mm lens @ F18, for 8 seconds, mounted on a tripod.Inspiration
I learned in April that our conference was to be held in Sydney in November, I knew I would have some free time for photography and started to think about the locations I wanted to shoot. The iconic Sydney Opera House was obviously going to be right at the top of the list, but I also wanted to find a different perspective on it.Editing
The five bracketed successive exposures were blended together in Adobe Photoshop using a variety of luminosity masks.In my camera bag
I borrowed the Sigma "Bigma" lens from a friend for the trip as I had planned on going whale watching, so this just happened to be in the bag, so it was a bit unusual. My normal kit would be the 6D, Canon L 24-105mm mk1, Tamron 15-30mm, and the Tamron 70-200.Feedback
I prefer to access rooftops with the owner's permission, and it is possible if you understand what their concerns are. The last thing building owners want is the tragedy of someone falling off their roof, which sadly seems to be happening quite a bit lately. So as soon as I heard about the trip I started to plan my shoot. I used google maps to identify properties with good vantage points and began to reach out to my contacts and some building owners to arrange legal access to the rooftop. I knew that security was going to be tight. Negotiations took about 3 months, but persistence and compromise paid off. I agreed to not to consume any alcohol for 24 hours prior to the shoot and to pay for the cost of a security guard to ensure my safety. It didn't compromise affect where or what I wanted to shoot, and the cost worked out to be about the same as the cost of walking the Harbour Bridge, where you can't even take your camera!
