Pic(k) of the week 13: IT IS LONELY AT THE TOP - Burj Khalifa during Blue hour

Last week I got the opportunity to go on another rooftop in Dubai, but this time facing East for a sunset/blue hour shoot. With the sun setting in your back, this obviously allows to have the post sunset light reflect on the buildings in front of you. While a more classic rooftop shot might still make it into another Pic(k) of the week, I wanted to share an image that immediately stood out to me. 

Although Dubai is known for its amazing skyscrapers, once above floor 75, there are only a handful buildings around you that exceed the height. Such was the case when I went up to the roof of an undisclosed building the other day. 

The sun had set about 10 mins earlier on ground level, as the worlds tallest building, Burj Khalifa, was still getting a fair bit of reflected light. The sky turned blue and pink for a very short time span; just long enough to grab my second camera body (X-T20) with a longer lens and frame the image below. The first thing that came to my mind was that it gets pretty lonely at the top; it had to be the image caption!


Image details:
  • Fujifilm X-T20 with the XF50-140 f2.8 lens
  • 1/110s, f5.6, ISO 800, 61mm
  • Lightroom CC for RAW development
  • Nik ColorEfex Pro 4; gradient and skylight filter
As I did not have the time to set-up and second tripod, the image was hand-held; the reason for the ISO 800. It is definitively a case where the in body image stabilization (IBIS) of the new Fujifilm X-H1 would come in handy. Check out my X-H1 review here if interested in this new camera. 

While I normally make a conscious decision to allow sufficient time before adding images to my Architectural portfolio, this one was added pretty much straight away. I have a feeling, it will be one of my favorite Architectural images of the year...

Remember, "It is lonely at the top, so you better know why you are there" - John Maxwell.
BJORN



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