Please critique - more skyscrapers!

SkyscraperSunset · Jan 13, 2005

Taken 12/27/04, looking west from the Philadelphia City Hall observation deck.

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

Scott WRG Editor · Jan 14, 2005

Interesting. the two left hand ones look digitally inserted but I assume they aren't. I like how the reflections make those two look almost transparent.

I watched one of the skyscrapers in Boston "disappear" one morning. I was viewing video from a tower cam and the angle as the sun came up turned the mirrored windows the same color as the horizon and the building faded to faint outline, almost like the Predator alien in that movie.

meotter · Jan 14, 2005

that's a nice shot... but i would have loved to seen a shot from that boston thing you were just talking about... that would have been hella sweet!

messier · Jan 14, 2005

breathtaking does look digitally altered.

axom · Jan 14, 2005

Good ol' Philly. I never knew City Hall had an oberservation deck.

Adrian Wilson · Jan 14, 2005

needs straightening verticaly and I would crop the tall brown building off on the right. It is too distracting and reduces the height effect of the buildings on the left.

Adrian Wilson

mentos_007 · Jan 15, 2005

whoa! are they real?!?! I have never seen such buildings! ok ok... only in the movies

SkyscraperSunset · Feb 13, 2005

First of all, thanks for the comments everyone. I neglected my own thread for a while here....

Scott WRG Editor said:
Interesting. the two left hand ones look digitally inserted but I assume they aren't. I like how the reflections make those two look almost transparent.

Nope, they're real buildings.

One Liberty Place - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117928
Two Liberty Place - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117968
Liberty Place Complex - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=101153
(By the way, all photos by Matthew Johnson on those pages are mine.)

They're among my favorite buildings in the world. Beautiful and impressive postmodern architecture, in my opinion.

axom said:
Good ol' Philly. I never knew City Hall had an oberservation deck.

Yeah, it's only open from like 9-4 during weekdays, making it a bit difficult to get into if you work those regular business hours. But it's free and the views are amazing.

Adrian Wilson said:
needs straightening verticaly and I would crop the tall brown building off on the right. It is too distracting and reduces the height effect of the buildings on the left.

I always rotate in an attempt to keep the horizon horizontal and the middle of the picture (in this case the white building) vertical... maybe I missed it a bit. Do you think it's leaning to the left?

I took a photo with crop you're suggesting, but the darkness in the bottom is then too noticeable, and I don't think it's as good of a photo because of it. Either way thanks for your comments.

mentos_007 said:
whoa! are they real?!?! I have never seen such buildings! ok ok... only in the movies

Thanks, pretty unique buildings, huh? I photograph them CONSTANTLY.

Thanks again everybody.

Jon K · Feb 13, 2005

SkyscraperSunset said:
First of all, thanks for the comments everyone. I neglected my own thread for a while here....

Nope, they're real buildings.

One Liberty Place - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117928
Two Liberty Place - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=117968
Liberty Place Complex - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=101153
(By the way, all photos by Matthew Johnson on those pages are mine.)

They're among my favorite buildings in the world. Beautiful and impressive postmodern architecture, in my opinion.

Yeah, it's only open from like 9-4 during weekdays, making it a bit difficult to get into if you work those regular business hours. But it's free and the views are amazing.

I always rotate in an attempt to keep the horizon horizontal and the middle of the picture (in this case the white building) vertical... maybe I missed it a bit. Do you think it's leaning to the left?

I took a photo with crop you're suggesting, but the darkness in the bottom is then too noticeable, and I don't think it's as good of a photo because of it. Either way thanks for your comments.

Thanks, pretty unique buildings, huh? I photograph them CONSTANTLY.

Thanks again everybody.

Used to do some work in One Place... liberty mall is kind of neat too

Wondercapture · Feb 13, 2005

great color! maybe move the lens to focus higher up towards the sky

Unimaxium · Feb 14, 2005

Hmmm, that looks kind of familiar

The colors look a bit digitally touched up to me but I know sure well that those buildings are really there. I walk by all of them on my way home from school. I am always forced to look up at them as I go by them just for their sheer height and size. I am always amazed by human's ability to build such tall structures. Philly has some really nice buildings in its skyline, but I think there should be more of them. Our skyline just doesn't seem big enough to me; at least in comparison to near-by New York or Chicago. They have so many huge buildings it amazes me. But I think Philadelphia has more attractive architecture overall. While New York and Chicago have a lot of really tall buildings, we have some good-looking buildings, but fewer of them. Although, it does seem as if the skyline here has been growing quite a bit recently. There is an almost brand-new building practically directly in the opposite direction of this shot that's a very tall residential building (not as tall as these four, but still pretty tall) that's pretty noticeable in the skyline. There's also another one you can see in this shot that is under construction, and probably something like 3/4 completed (visible in the distance beteen the white and brown ones). It's actually pretty tall, too despite this shot. And they've also started construction of a new tower that's going to be taller than all these (almost 1000 feet) that's actually going to be right between that white one and the brown one (on the same street even). Should be finished in 2008 or something I think. That will be cool.

PS: my favorite place to get a shot of the skyline is at the art museum.

railman44 · Feb 14, 2005

Neat shot! You were high enough you didn't break the camera plane and hence no keystoning. It would be neat if when you are back at that spot on a perfect day to try a wider angle lens and then maybe a panoramic shot.