Electric Dreams by Otto Berkeley

Having photographed London from southeast of the Thames twice over the past few years -- from Butler's Wharf, and then again from Tea Trade Wharf -- it was nice to return to the area, albeit from a much higher vantage point. I had become aware through several fellow photographers of a residential block providing a breathtaking view from its terrace, and on a recent evening I was lucky enough to be able to take in not only the view of the city but the stunning sunset over it. This image is a blend of nearly 30 exposures, captured over 90 minutes and combining elements from sunset, dusk and twilight. Despite heavy and slow-moving clouds which had threatened to snuff out the light at the end of the day, the sun emerged above the horizon for a few minutes, setting the sky alight before blue hour began and as the lights across the cityscape began to switch on. Identifying the moments that best conveyed these stages of the evening from a selection of more than 200 exposures, and using luminosity masks to balance the shadows across the cityscape with both the sunlight and the lights inside the buildings, I edited three images and then merged them, taking the sunset from the first image and the colourful dusk tones in the clouds from the second and blending these with the night lights from the third. Achieving this required a tailored workflow for each of the three images, including three sets of luminosity masks and a number of blend modes and gradient masks to make the mixture of exposures as seamless as possible. With this phase of the editing process complete, the colour-grading phase was straightforward. I left the sky almost unchanged, emphasising the reds and magentas in the clouds by using a Colour Lookup set to Soft Light and using the Fall Colours preset. I wanted to keep the light trails in the lower-left of the frame without them becoming a distraction, so I gently desaturated the yellows and reds in the foreground and brought out the dusk tones using a combination of Colour Balance adjustments and a Colour Lookup using the Foggy Night preset, which, at low opacity, had the benefit of softening some of the immediate details and hopefully guiding viewers' eyes towards the landmarks along the horizon. Finally, using a Gradient Map, I tweaked the colder midtones and shadows and the warmer highlights until the colour and exposure across the image felt balanced. Inside Nik's Colour Efex Pro, I targeted the Pro Contrast filter to the clouds to emphasise their texture, as well as a sparing amount of Tonal Contrast to the cityscape to give it a little more definition. Conversely, I applied very minute amounts of the Glamour Glow and Sunlight filters to the setting sun, creating a hazy and ethereal glow on the horizon that seemed to convey the romanticism of the scene. My aim with this image was to convey the mood at the same time as the details: the vivid transition of light and colour during sunset as well as the densely packed detail of Rotherhithe's buildings in the foreground and the vibrant energy of the cityscape in the distance, with Tower Bridge and St Paul's at the centre of the frame and flanked by the Shard and the City on either side of the Thames. I couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions on this warm summer evening, and as happy as I am with the end result, I think the experience -- both of taking in the view and witnessing such a colourful end to the day -- is the part that will stay with me. You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+. http://ift.tt/2wnU2il