Since a lot of people say there aren’t many photos of us…
Victoria Peak, Hong Kong.
Macau, Portuguese Fortress overlooking Grand Lisboa Hotel & Casino.
Aug 302010
Jul 262010
October 7 – 20, 2011. This departure is limited to a maximum of twelve participants. It is intended for people of all levels of interest and accomplishment in film, or digital photography. While the emphasis will be on photography, this is also a cultural journey, which we believe will enhance your ability to capture the essence of Hong Kong in your images.
From the bustling street markets, cosmopolitan metropolis and all the way up to the lookout on Victoria Peak, Hong Kong offers a very distinct journey into architecture, east meets west and religious retreats. Join us as we explore a city entrenched in Chinese tradition, grown on colonial influence and now shining as a jewel of the modern China. Prepare to be dazzled by a breathtaking symphony of lights in cosmopolitan Hong Kong. City-lovers worldwide rank Hong Kong among their must-see destinations, and for good reason.
A former British colony perched on the edge of mainland China, Hong Kong is a fascinating city of contrasts—a place where East meets West; where the modern blends with the traditional; where shiny skyscrapers stand next to narrow alleys crammed with traditional vendors’ stalls; where new technology flourishes alongside ancient Chinese customs. With its glorious harbor, excellent shopping, renowned restaurants, and some of the best nighttime skylines in the world, Hong Kong has it all.
For more information, contact us or visit our Photo Expedition page for more details.
Jun 212010
The Peak Tower 凌霄閣 is a leisure and shopping complex located at Victoria Gap, near the summit of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It also houses the upper terminal of the Peak Tram. Both the Peak Tower and the Peak Tram are owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group, the owner of Hong Kong’s famous Peninsula Hotel along with many other properties. The tower and tram join promoted by the collective branding known as The Peak.
The Peak Tower is located at an elevation of 396 m, 156 m below the summit of Victoria Peak. Because the architects sought a design which would be prominent on the skyline but would not interrupt the natural line of the hills, they chose a site in a dip along the line of the hills, and restricted the tower’s height to 428 m above sea level
May 052010
Explore the Victoria Peak Giga Image like never before, check out the virutal tour using GigaPan technology;
Nov 032009
I’ve received some e-mails since I posted the Victoria Peak panorama asking how it was done and how big. Here’s an insight into the workflow involved in the creation of that image.
The image was taken on Findlay Path just east of The Peak Observatory. It’s a composite of 29 images, 15 megapixels each with a Canon EOS 50D and a 50mm f1.4 lens. The camera was supported by an Induro AB2 tripod with my camera bag and jacket acting as a weight ballast to help combat the wind gusts.
The images were shot in RAW format to try to capture as much dynamic range as possible while still allowing leverage in developing the image for optimum detail. RAW offers a better workflow solution when making a composite panorama because it retains everything that the camera sensor captured instead (over 65 thousand shades) compared to the compression of JPEG files which retain only about 1/3 of that information. Here’s a shot from Digital Photo Pro of some of the composites involved in the panorama;
The images were developed in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional with the goal of resolving any color correction, peripheral vignetting and lens distortion. They were exported at full print resolution of 350dpi to TIFF files.
The multiple TIFF files were then thrown into Kolor Auto Pano’s wonderful software called GIGA which automates the stitching of the images together and helps cut down the time involved in lining up and manually stitching the image together. The composite of what the program kicks out looks something like this;
As you can see, the contrast and liveliness of the image isn’t quite there yet. There is also a great deal of “missing” material from the top as well as the right hand side as a result of data that was thrown away during the stitching process. At this point, it should also be noted that the overall image size is 27375 x 9600 pixels, or, enough for a 92″ x 32″ print. The overall file size has also ballooned from the original 29 images which came in at 547MB to a whopping 1.95GB!
Now the real work begins. The listing of corrections performed on the panorama is as follows;
- Final color correction and balancing to remove the overly yellow color cast as a result of tungsten lighting
- Free rotation to square up and level the buildings
- Selective burning the highlights to reduce the “glare” as a result of the spotlights on rooftops
- Selective dodging to bring out some texture and detail in the tree lines that lead into the middle of the frame
- Cropping to straighten the frame and eliminate the areas of no information
- Gradient layering to bring out the background buildings which are a little enshrouded in mist
- Sharpening to bring out the fine detail
You can see some of the differences in color and detail compared to the previous screenshot;
After approximately 20 hours of retouching work, the final composite is what you see on the Victoria Peak post. And keep in mind, even that is a 75% downsized version of the original file!
Download the desktop image here
Oct 232009
Full Size Panorama 6.3MB Download
Looking down at Hong Kong from Dragon’s Lookout, Victoria Peak.
