[Rob Barron]

Almost mono shot but I haven't actually taken the colour out. I have adjusted the contrast and tonal balance to get the moody feel but the sky is entirely genuine.... just got one of those days where the sky was more interesting than anything else!

Hope you like it. C&C as usual please.

Cheers,
Rob

[fionaB]

that is probably the darkest shot i have ever seen from you Rob, and its an awesome image. the bot and the wake just adds a touch of class to a lovely silouette of the buildings!
fantastic stuff!

Fi

[Charlotte]

I like the composition + balance of this shot Rob, and I love the shapes which the line of rooftops + chimneys make against the sky. Also, the cloud detail is excellent. However, it's very underexposed so that there's very little tonal range within the sky, which looks very grey all over. The image has quite a strong blue tinge, which I quite like, but it leaves me confused as to the time of day you shot this It looks like twilight, except the blue cast doesn't seem to fit with this time of day, and the sky is so well lit.

Apart from the colour + exposure issues, I really like this

[Dave]

Great shot Rob & the boat really makes it !!

[Rob Barron]

Thanks for the comments Charlotte. The only bit that is confusing me is your comments that the sky lacks tonal range. On my monitor it has the full range from bright, almost white, to dark grey (not going to get black in clouds hopefully!) and there is plenty of detail in it. Could you explain what you mean when you say there is a lack of tones?

As I said, this isn't a monochrome shot, it just looks like it. The colour that was in that sky are still there and the reflection in the water gives it the blue tinge. This is not a monochrome nor a tinted shot. I used Curves to take the buildings down to as dark as possible (they were already close to black due to them being silhouetted against that sky and the bright water reflections which makes the camera under-expose (deliberately in this case). It is not a night shot, it was taken late afternoon when the sky was incredibly dramatic as there had just been one helluva storm, hence those clouds.

The sky itself contained very little colour, just a mild hint of some blue, mostly grey but with plenty of variation. I took loads of pics of the sky and other parts of the skyline as it was so dramatic. It was the most dramatically moody sky I have seen on any of my trips to London in recent years.

Hope that gives you some idea of what I was working with. Thanks for the feedback and your thoughts, it's good to see what the picture looks like to other eyes. :o)

Cheers,
Rob

[Charlotte]

I made a selection of just the sky in your image Rob, + the histogram shows a lot of detail, but the tonal range is mostly in the middle, with a spike at the shadow end but no highlights at all. It doesn't help that the clouds are the same colour as the clear patch of sky, i.e. they are all shades of grey, + I can't see any white in the clouds at all.

[brokendalek]

That's a very stong shot, I love the silhouette of the skyline and Big Ben's face. Yeah really good

[Angela]

I think you've captured that brilliantly Rob - the fullness in those clouds is something I strive to capture and always fail miserably!

[danpen]

Clouds are great and there's a good strong outline to the silhouette, I really like this.

cheers

Dan

[JMitchell]

Great image, the buildings almost look too dark, but it works! The boat adds too, fantastic clouds!

[skipper954]

I agree, tis a lovely shot, Rob.

And I agree with you that there is a wide tonal range in the sky, but with charlotte that most of the sky is in the middle range.

On the other hand, it is a cracking picture, and the tonal range of the sky doesn't matter.

skip

[Markulous]

I would've preferred a little more detail (just a touch!) in the buildings and less detail in the clockface.

But overall, the image has a nice feel to it - and as a view of the London skyline works very well