3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Final3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Final

This is a shot of the Lloyds Building in the City of London. The inside out nature of the building extends to the elevators and at night each one has 2 red lights underneath which makes for good potential for light trails. I had tried taking this shot from the pavement and although possible it does bring in a very bright light at the top. I noticed that an open basement area extended under the elevators and unlike other areas it did not have a private – no admittance sign. Tripod was set up and I spent nearly 20 minutes tucked away under the Elevators taking pictures until a Security Guard spotted me from above and shouted out that I needed permission so I moved on.

The picture was taken with a Sony A700 on a tripod with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens at 10mm. The image is comprised of a 3 shot HDR with 2EV spacing. The images were opened in Photoshop first and each image saved as tiffs. HDR processing was in Photomatix using Fusion Real Estate for a natural look

Photoshop

To start Topaz DeNoise and then Topaz Detail were used on the HDR. Next each of the 3 images were pasted together in layers and layer masks used to remove the ghosts of the elevator as it moved up through the images leaving in the light trails. Selections and the clone tool were used to fill the gaps in the light trail

BEFORE AND AFTER

Below are the Before and After images. First the original image, then the image with HDR and images layered in and then the final result.

Original

3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Original3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Original

HDR and Layered

3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Layered3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Layered

Final Image

3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Final3.2.1 Elevator Lift Off Final

Edwin Jones