Over the weekend I took a quick mileage run to Hong Kong and had a blast. Sorry for the shortness of this post, but I know I’m running a day late. Many of you have seen my favorite picture of all-time: a sunrise over Hong Kong that I took just over a year ago.
I think I may have a new favorite.
Every night at 8pm there’s a light show on Victoria Harbour, where various lights and lasers are synchronized to music. It’s not the most mind-blowing thing imaginable (it’s similar to the light show at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands) but it always draws a massive crowd. For cityscape photographers there’s little better, Hong Kong has an amazing skyline and if you shoot the light show right you’ll end up with images that are unique from the hundreds of other pictures from the same location.
This time I brought the absolute wrong lens with me to shoot the light show (d’oh). Not wanting to waste the opportunity I noticed the Aqua Luna boat traipsing lazily through the harbour and thought it represented a cool contrast of the old and the new. The result is this week’s picture of the week!
(Which one do you like better, the sunrise or this one? Leave the answer in the comments!)
The Old and the New, by Andy Luten
For the photographers: this one was shot with my 90mm macro lens at f4, ISO 100. I took a few different exposures and blended them together in photoshop (not technically HDR or anything like that, it was a manual blend). I think I combined four different images to get it where I liked it, then used Nik Color Efex Pro 4 to bring out some juicy contrast.
Yeah, insta-favorite. I’ve been Hong Konged in the face.
Can I get the full picture to put on my desktop ? We were in Hong Kong in November, but none of my pictures are that good ! Bob!
That’s my correct email address ! Bob!
That’s a tough choice – but I think the sunrise photo is my favorite, if I had to pick only one. It’s the photo that brought me to your blog and is a perspective I haven’t yet had an opportunity to see for myself. The night time light show is fun though – and this photo with the red sails is beautiful too!
Loved your shot of Hong Kong harbor at night. Super composition / positioning of the elements of the scene. I de-noised the image using Neat Image and ran Adobe Camera Raw de-haze. These steps turned hazy dark gray sky into a deep blue. Then a little local brush retouching to cut flare around some of the brightest neon signs so that they would stand out sharp against the dark sky. Result will be one of my favorite screen backgrounds.
That’s awesome Ron! Shoot me what you ended up with if you want, I’d love to see it!
Don’t know how to attach a file to these comments & your response was a “do not reply” email address. I think I need a “normal” email address for you.
Oops! Sorry about that, shoot it to andystravelblog@gmail.com if you don’t mind.