Pic(k) of the week 11: JUST ANOTHER ROOFTOP SHOT from DUBAI

Many of you probably know that I have a real passion for aerial photography, not the drone thing but mostly out of an actual aircraft/helicopters/balloons which is much more fun! It is debatable whether rooftop photography is also a way of aerial photography but this is my first go at it in Dubai! 

"Just another rooftop shot from Dubai", is exactly that... we nowadays see so many of these images from Dubai Photographers but as an aerial photographer, I wanted to have my take on it!

It was taken at an undisclosed place on Sheik Zayed road; I'm sure one can easily do some research on Google Earth/Maps and find out where it was taken from, however I elect not to share the info here.

Shot during the blue hour (15min after sunset to be exact), looking southwest towards the Burj Khalifa (worlds highest tower), the Dusit Thani hotel can be seen on the extreme left. The Architecture of this hotel symbolises the "Wai", a typical Thai greeting where both hands are placed on each other in a prayer like fashion. 

I was particularly attracted to the complementary colours, blue and yellow and fascinated by the extreme dense traffic going towards Dubai, with an almost empty Sheik Zayed road going the other way. There is something to be said about the contrast of the mad rush downstairs and the calm on one of the rooftops; a place where I could easily have stayed much longer!


The large spiderweb of roads in the foreground is called "Defense roundabout"; a crossing that used to consist of a small roundabout, but that has changed drastically over the last 10 years. 

Image details:
  • Fujifilm X-T1 with the Fujinon XF10-24 f4 lens
  • Main image: ISO 200, f11, 10.5mm (16mm full frame equivalent), 28sec
  • RAW development in Lightroom CC
  • Photoshop CC to blend in a darker image (same settings but 3sec only), and obtain more detail in some of the light-panels  
  • Nik Software for a final optimisation of contrast
Exactly 20min earlier (5 mins before sunset), I shot an almost identical image, which can be found here. I would be interested to hear which one of the two you prefer. 
Thanks for leaving a comment below!

"Who said nights are for sleep" - Marilyn Monroe







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