Southbank (c) Tim Morland

Another inspiring image a from fellow Camera Club member with lots of "wow factor".  This is a stunning example of use of HDR (see previous reference to HDR), which Tim created from three different exposure conversions shot in a RAW file (so no need to take three images on a tripod as previously thought!).  I love the light in this image illuminating the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, the fact that the people and dog actually appear to be in motion and the way the eye takes you round the curved building of City Hall to the same point on the horizon that the river and banks take you to.  The sky is also very dramatic with the clouds appearing horizontal from the wide-angle lens effect and the darkening effect at the top of the sky (polariser or n-grad?).  If you look closely at the river you can see ripples also, which appear to be moving - this is the HDR effect.  The effective horizon line is only just below the vertical halfway point, yet this does not matter.  There is so much drama in the sky and so much movement in the lower half of the image with the movement along the South Bank that the overall effect is still dynamic.  In addition, the composition is broken up by the City Hall structure occupying a good chunk of the left-hand side, breaking up the horizon.  I am also drawn to this image because I used to work in St Katharine's Dock, just behind Tower Bridge, and so used to regularly walk this route from London Bridge and then crossed the river at Tower Bridge to get to work.

Southbank (c) Tim Morland

This view is not too dissimilar to a shot I had taken previously using a fish-eye lens for my work on contrasts in section 1 of TAOP to illustrate the contrast between old and new architecture, which in fact I didn't use in the end, although I much prefer Tim's composition, lighting and sky - well the whole thing really!

But, I am now tempted to go back to the same location and have another go!  And I have to learn how to use my software (keep saying this) to have a go at HDR! (I have just realised that my software doesn't support HDR, so I now have an economic conundrum to resolve....)