Sheikh Zayed Mosque

[dubaiphil]

...

[4xxxx]

Love the architecture in this one. Was HDR or filter used on this as I don't recall your sky being so good. Looks to me like a perfect technical photograph with all the detail.


Cheers

[dubaiphil]

Thanks 4xxxx

You're right - the sky is usually a little more beige and pastel blue at the best of times. Once stitched, I used a few filters from Colour Efex software to add some contrast and Graduated neutral density effect.

Hand held using an grad ND filter could have been problematic with a stitched pano

[MrCliff]

I have a couple of questions Phil,
D700?
I had to decide if the crowd control posts added or took away. If they were all perfectly straight up and down, I'd still be thinking about it. Is there ever a day when they could move those for you? I suggest that with shots like this to offer, you'd have some sway with the custodians.
This is a remarkable 'you are there' subject and photo.
Can you pass the sun screen?

[dubaiphil]

There never used to be posts, but unfortunately I didn't visit before these were added. They do offer media visits so I'll have to see if I can blag a pass at some point. I would love to get more elevated views if possible. I tried cloning one of the posts out, but the reflections and post itself was quite troublesome, so I'll need a lot of patience to clone the remainder!

Not bad as a grab shot. If I were taking thinks really seriously I would have used the tripod to take multiple exposures of each compotition of the 6 frames so that I could then blend out people where I didn't want them.

[dubaiphil]

D700 and 24-70mm @ 42mm

[warth man]

Another great shot phil. Is the 24-70 your "go-to" lens? Reason I ask is that I am beginning to think that I might regret never trying full frame and the D700 seems to do everything I would need. I already have three lenses that will be OK with FF (50mm f1.4; 70-300 VR; 105 micro). I will probably keep my D7000 for the others and these lenses too, but I would want a decent FF zoom.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks warth man.

The 24-70mm is an ideal walkabout lens if you can take the relative bulk and weight. If I was only taking 1 lens during the walkabout for this last photo here then it would be with 24-70. I used pretty much everything in the bag for my mosque shots though, from 14-24 to 70-300 with primes inbetween as well. If I'm travelling light then I'll just take the zooms.

I've never tried the D7000 but was very used to the 'previous' sensor on the D90. There was a massive step up in capability to the D700, partially due to the low light capability when combined with primes. Also just going full frame with wide apertures. Suddenly my 35mm f2 Carl Zeiss is a favourite walkabout lens where before I found the focal length limiting at times. Not I have the 50mm f1.4 on Full Frame and love it - work that one out! Sure, the D800 is tempting, but file sizes are massive and video's something I'm not interested in personally. I may step up in the future but the D700's really all I'd need.

This shot would be perfectly possible with a 14-24mm or 16-35mm in one frame, but having been there before and shot the place to death I knew I'd want greater resolution and less perspective distortion so opted for the 24-70mm as close to 50mm as possible. I could just of easily have used the 50mm @ f8. If I'd used the 14-24mm the minarets would have leant towards the middle of the frame. This would be easy enough to minimise when shooting and correct in post processing, but the resulting stretching from distorting the image in Photoshop can lead to effects on tall object near the edges of the frame.

[dubaiphil]

So as a comparison for a couple of stitched shots and unstitched shots, to see the effects of stitching at differing focal lengths:


42mm (Full Frame) stitched - a relatively natural point of view





35mm (Full Frame) stitched - notice how the depth is accentuated





14-24mm (Full Frame) stitched - stitching this gives a de fished effect:

http://500px.com/photo/7779602


24-70mm @ 24mm (Full Frame) single shot - notice how difficult it is to correct the minarets

[warth man]

I have to say that I like all of them but, as you say, the 24-70 is a heavy beast to add to the D700. It's the size and weight of everything FF that led me to opt for the D7000 in the first place and it is good in low light too, not that I have done lots of that kind of work. The results you have posted from the D700, including the mosque shots, have always been an attraction though, as have others from people using the Canon 5DII. That is why I have been wondering about FF. However it would be in addition to what I already have, because I just know that there will be times when I don't want to lug the extra tonnage around. Like you, video does not interest me and the evidence that I see on this site from you and others proves that more megapixels aren't needed. Hence, the D700 still ticks the boxes for me.

I'll keep thinking about it - along with a desire for the opposite - a good compact!

[dubaiphil]

Well my D90 was gripped, as is my D700 - not a huge difference in bulk but the D90 does feel a lot cheaper and flimsier.

The thing to consider is resolution and what size and media you may print on. The 35mm black and white mosque shot above was a 3 shot stitch and was printed on fine art paper at 30" x 22" size and looks awesome. If I'm aiming to print that large I'll stitch and bracket anyway so a lowly 12Mp D700 is more than enough. Would still love a D800 but I can wait!

How many D800s are going to be used by pixel peepers and people printing to 8 x 10 max - slight overkill if you ask me!

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

Breathtaking piece of architecture they are amazing, looks like a great place to visit, thank you for sharing your photos, this is a truly magnificent sight.