Long exposure

Long exposure view from the Rialto Bridge

The view from Rialto Bridge is world famous, and not without reason. It is stunning. I tried to capture a slightly different scene, than the classic Canal-Grande seen-from-the-Rialto-Bridge photo (though I shot that one too). I love that Mahony taxi boat in front of Hotel Rialto, and that restaurant with the golden light.--Jacob SurlandPhoto by Jacob Surland, www.caughtinpixels.com Licensed creative commons non-commercial v4.0. No derivative Work. Protected by Pixsy.com.

A long exposure from a classic block buster photo location in Venice. From the top of the Rialto Bridge.

The view from Rialto Bridge is world famous, and not without reason. It is stunning. I tried to capture a slightly different scene than the classic Canal-Grande seen-from-the-Rialto-Bridge photo (though I shot that one too). I love that Mahony taxi boat in front of Hotel Rialto, and that restaurant with the golden light.

I shot this HDR photo using a 6 stop filter, to increase the shutter time. The longest exposure was 30 seconds, which explains the smooth water. The Mahony taxi was kind enough to stay still long enough to be sharp. Some things you can’t control as a photographer, and needs to rely on luck for. I got lucky this time.

I was waiting for the city lights to be turned on. I had an idea that the three armed lamp would look awesome. What I hadn’t noticed, at this time, was that the large spotlight to light up the Rialto bridge was placed there too.

Rialto bridge lamp

A large spotlight ruined the intentions I had with this frame. I am glad I shot this before it was turned on.

While shooting from the Rialto Bridge there was live music.

 

Artistic freedom

Don't worry, River Thames was just as muddy as ever. One of the reasons I love post-processing so much is because I can do whatever I like. I am not married to reality, like a documentarist. I am an artist. I process my photos until I get something I like. I don't particularly like a muddy river, and the blue one looks much better. Photo by: Jacob Surland, www.caughtinpixels.com

A long exposure photo of the London Tower Bridge just around sunset.

Don’t worry, River Thames was just as muddy as ever. One of the reasons I love post-processing so much is because I can do whatever I like. I am not married to reality, like a documentarist. I am an artist. I process my photos until I get something I like. I don’t particularly like a muddy river, and the blue one looks much better.

But how did I make the water blue?

I made a virtual copy of the image in Lightroom. I now had two identical photos. On one, I started to play with the HSL panel to make the water blue. This made the rest of the image look terrible, but that’s OK, that is why I made a virtual copy.

When I was happy with the water, I selected both images, and exported them to Photoshop as Layers, and then I blended the water into the normal photo, and the result is this image.