Burj Al Arab - Dubai

Yvonne_Dubai · Apr 7, 2012

I went out early this morning to make sure there was nobody there to spoil my shots

I thought I'd show you some images of Dubai, or more specific, the Burj Al Arab. It's one of those spots where bus loads of tourists get dropped off for 5 minutes to be able to take 100 pictures before they hop back on the bus. But... it was just me this morning... bliss! (The Burj Al Arab is the only self proclaimed 7 star hotel in the world, with a standard room starting at $1700 per night)

Ok, so this morning was my first try with Manual settings (don't laugh, I'm still learning). I really enjoyed playing around with it, but to be honest, I didn't do very well. I shot 91 pictures and there are only 2 worth showing you. Well, that's not exactly true, but only two that you might like. I'm having another go at critiquing my own work too, so again, patience is key

. Thanks again for any comments.

All pictures are taken with my Sony DSC HX1 that cannot change lenses but does have Manual setting. I didn't use a flash or tripod for any of the pictures, but I did put the camera on the bridge for #1. The sun was out and it was quite bright so I put the ISO at its lowest which is 125 on my camera. None of the pictures have been edited as I don't own and don't know how to use proper editing programmes.

#1
f/3.2, ISO 125, WB manual (maybe I should have set that on Auto?) Exposure time 1/2000 (camera doesn't always let me change that for some reason)

My thoughts: Burj should not have been in the middle although I do like the symmetry in front of it. The sky looks a bit too blue, but then again, it does enhance the white of the Burj. I like the way I got the entire reflection in the water, but what I really don't like is that the picture isn't sharp

The solid white colour on the Burj is a menace when you see it in real life. It looks like plastic foil and always reflects too much. I'm happy with the way it's not reflecting too much in this picture.

#2
same settings as no. 1

My thoughts: I actually quite like this one. The Burj Al Arab is set to the right and not in the middle and the palm trees in the front make the picture interesting (?). Again, it's not sharp and the sky is somewhat blue (it wasn't actually that blue this morning) but I don't think it's too bad. Please be honest and tell me if you think I'm hallucinating.

For both pictures, I quite like them but next time I'd like to get them sharper. Can someone tell me what I did wrong?

Well, that's it for now. Thanks again for any comments.

LaFoto · Apr 7, 2012

I think you chose an aperture that was too wide open at f3.5. For photography into the distance, a smaller aperture is better, something like f8 or f11. With that, you wouldn't have achieved a short shutter speed like you had (1/2000th), but such short shutter speeds are not necessary, either, unless it is sports you want to capture, or insects/hummingbirds in flight or such something moving fast.

Composition is nicer, indeed, in the second, and you play with the reflection, which I like.
White balance is "too cool", the pictures are a tad too blue, but once you get yourself used to some post processing software, you'll find ways to work on this.
Exposure is good, from what I can see, more so since you say the building is difficult to capture because of its glare.

GregB · Apr 7, 2012

Hi Yvonne

Congratulations on these two shots. You have requested feedback, so here it is.

Sharpness. Photographs from digital cameras are inherently not that sharp due to the filter which is across the
sensor. For that reason, post processing - even at the simplest level - will help when you apply some sharpening.

The other thing is the f stop. F stop plus shutter speed (+ ISO) = exposure. However the f stop will also affect
sharpness. You are shooting at f 3.2 and 1/2000 here. You would get a sharper photograph by closing down the
f stop as much as possible, say to f 8. This would give you a shutter speed of around 1/400, still plenty fast
enough, and you would be using the sharpest part of the lens (the middle) and increase your depth of field.

Manual settings. Using manual settings is great but in this case you have manual exposure, good, but unfortunately
the first shot is over exposed, I would guess by a stop or more. I would let the camera judge the exposure and you
can tweak it by giving it less or more exposure using the ev setting. You also have used manual white balance.
The result is a blue cast. I suggest that leave white balance on auto until you are more comfortable with
the other stuff - let the camera decide.

You have said it is OK to edit, so I have taken the liberty of a quick and dirty edit of the first shot. I have used the unsharp
mask (which sharpens despite the weird name), reduced the brightness and changed the colour balance quite a bit. This
is by no means perfect, but I hope you can see what I am getting at.

I like your composition and the shot in general.

Keep shooting!

Yvonne_Dubai · Apr 7, 2012

Thanks so much for your feedback and editing guys

Wow, edited, it actually looks pretty good! Ah, I wish I could go back right now, change the settings and try again, but now, at noon, there will just be tooooo many people. When it cools down a bit, later in the afternoon, I'll go out again and try some other pics in the distance and change the settings.

Thank you, thank you, again much appreciated!

Diffuser · Apr 7, 2012

How did you get the sky so blue? All I see since weeks is a dusty and sand dirty sky ;-)

Just too many sandstorms this winter and now the heat is creeping up slow again ... let's hope we can get a few more good shots beforehand ;-)

Yvonne_Dubai · Apr 7, 2012

It was great weather this morning

I set the camera to what it says above and voila, there is your blue sky. It was really, really nice out.

Diffuser · Apr 7, 2012

Yvonne_Dubai said:
It was great weather this morning I set the camera to what it says above and voila, there is your blue sky. It was really, really nice out.

Maybe I should have gotten out of bed before 11am