Shanghai Skyline II

This is much-needed (and long-overdue) rework of , taken in June of 2009 on a cruise in Pudong, Shanghai.

The original work I submitted here (and displayed at several of my exhibits and other art shows) is actually quite dark and even a bit flat compared to this. In truth, this was actually done back in January, but I've not really been minding my artistic side all that much for the last few months (okay, this whole year). Sorry.

This piece also represents my initial foray into programmable photography; that is, instead of simply *using* computer programs such as Photoshop and Photomatix in order to enhance my pictures, I operate directly on the image file with scripts and programs I write myself. The possibilities are much less limited in that respect, although the degree of difficulty tends to increase exponentially.

For example, this is actually three different shots of the cruise from that night. They all looked about the same, but I'd made some minor adjustments in between (I think just f-stop, but possibly ISO as well) and somehow managed to get three photos that were almost identical despite being on a moving boat. Thing is, the original is only one of those images.

This is a composite - fundamentally, the image is the same, but lighting and tonal data from the other two were used to further complement the contrast and perspective. In total, seventeen bracketed images were overlaid for blending purposes, all minutely adjusted variants of three core photographs. In print, this particular piece seems to "pop out" at the viewer! ^_^

I do sell prints, but on a per-request basis. Prints of the original are not available at this time.