#project365 [day 85] Under the stars at the Grand Central Terminal

November 24, 2015

The ceiling of the Grand Central Terminal's Main Concourse is , arguably, the most striking feature of this iconic New York station. The astronomical ceiling was conceived in 1912 by Warren and French portrait artist Paul César Helleu, and executed by corps of astronomers and painting assistants working for the Hewlett-Basing Studio. The original ceiling was replaced in the late 1930s to correct falling plaster. In 1957, in an attempt to counteract feelings of insecurity spawned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, an American Redstone missile was set up in the Main Concourse. With No other way to erect the missile, a hole was cut in the ceiling around the image of Pisces, so the rocket could be lifted into place.Historical preservation dictated that this hole remain (as opposed to being repaired) as a testament to the many uses of the Terminal over the years. By the 1980s, the ceiling was obscured by decades of what was thought to be coal and diesel smoke. Spectroscopic examination revealed that it was mostly tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke. A 12-year restoration effort completed in autumn 1996 restored the ceiling to its original luster. he starry ceiling is astronomically inaccurate in a complicated way. While the stars within some constellations appear correctly as they would from earth, other constellations are reversed left-to-right, as is the overall arrangement of the constellations on the ceiling. Though the astronomical inconsistencies were noticed promptly by a commuter in 1913, they have not been corrected in any of the subsequent renovations of the ceiling.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye
-- Post
Lightroom : HDR photomerge, initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Manual layer blending, sharpening and colour blending
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 84] Down the corridor, at the NYPL

November 23, 2015

This is my last image from the inside of the Stephen A. Schwarzian Building, the epicenter of the New York Public Library. I just loved the paneling work of the ceiling of this corridor, showing it proved a bit more complex than what I had expected. Shooting into a dark corridor that has a strong natural light source at the end is never simple. And this was one of the busiest corridors in the building, since at the end you could find the ladies washrooms. So I decided to point my lens more upward, and get the nice stone arch to frame the ceiling, and waited until there was only enough people in the scene to give it some idea of dimensions but not to become a distraction. And of course using exposure bracketing to get enough information in the shadows and highlights for post processing.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : HDR photomerge, initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 83] On the move, Grand Central Terminal

November 22, 2015

Another one from the beautiful Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Where the main concourse is so finely detailed, even the passage to the tracks is a work of art. After you pass through this doorway though, and the industrial minimalism is king, This was another waiting game. Find a passage that had few distractions to create a nice frame, and wait until somebody gets to the position where it ties it all together.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 82] Running in Central Park

November 21, 2015

Even though it was -5˚C, most of the lakes still frozen, even the roads through Central Park were full of ice, it seems New Yorkers have a unstoppable will to run and exercise in the great outdoor gym that is the Central Park.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 81] Upstairs, Downstairs at the NYPL

November 20, 2015

Another product of my wanderings along the Stephen A. Schwarzian Building of the New York Public Library, in Midtown Manhattan. And another stairwell, but this building is full of lovely details it's hard to stop rising the camera and creating another image. When I stopped here, there was a lot of people going up and down the stairs. So I waited a while until I had the stairs completely empty, but felt that the image was too sterile. After a few more minutes I could get a single figure walking up on the opposite side, this gave the scene some scale and a bit of movement. This only lasted a few seconds, as more people followed him. Here we have some very tricky lighting to contend with. The artificial light coming from the chandeliers is not strong enough to light the whole scene, and the natural light is very strong at the window, but very faint everywhere else. So I used exposure bracketing to try and get as much of the scenes details exposed correctly and some very light HDR techniques in post-production.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : HDR photomerge, initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 80] Hello, from the Grand Central Terminal

November 19, 2015

Late morning commuters hurry about NYC's Grand Central Terminal trying to get to their lines, or getting out of the station. These public telephones are ignored by everyone that passes by. In some ways akin to fossils, a remnant reminder of an era long gone. A time where thinking about carrying your own phone seemed futuristic or just ludicrous. Even when mobile phones started to appear most people couldn't afford their price, or would refuse to carry around a briefcase sized phone that weighed more than most briefcases. Before the ubiquitous pervasion of the mobile phone, these would be essential and almost mandatory in all places where groups of people would gather. A lifeline at times, or just to tell your significant other that you would be late for dinner. I loved the golden color of the metal plates where the phones are secured to, making them feel high end. And also the lack of signs of use on the handsets, that seems like they have just been refurbished. Probably a side effect of the lack of usage, since no one approached any of them while I was there. Not even to check for leftover change from previous users.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 79] World Trade Center Memorial

November 18, 2015

Visiting the World Trade Center site in NY is a bit of surreal experience. Doubt that anyone in the world hasn't been affected in someway by the tragic events that happened more than 14 years ago. Even for those of us that had never visited the Twin Towers when they existed, the NY skyline seems to miss something. In their place two gaping holes exist extending to the former foundations. Transformed into two great fountains, surrounded by the names of all who lost their lives in the horrible attacks. This is a place of remembrance, a certain quietness is easily felt across the whole site, although it was still a construction site when I was there. And towering over it all the new One World Trade Center building, showing that the spirit of the city refuses to be broken.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye
-- Post
Lightroom : HDR photomerge, initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and colour blending
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 78] Manhattan from the porthole

November 17, 2015

Taken from the Brooklyn Bridge Park, in NYC, looking over downtown Manhattan. I have described this view a couple of times before, but I really wanted to show it again with this image. It's not really taken through a porthole, just a cheap variable Neutral Density filter that was not big enough not to block the extreme wide angle field of view of this lens at 10mm. But it did allow me to get an exposure time of a couple of seconds at the middle of the day, which in turn allowed for a softer water, it was very choppy this day, and also a blurry New York Water Taxi coming in from the right. Thankfully I had my trusted MeFOTO Backpacker with me, It was actually brand new at the time, a very nice little travel tripod that has become a fixture of my camera bag. I will do a small review of the tripod very soon.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Fujifilm XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
MeFOTO Backpacker Tripod 
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening, colour blending and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 77] love-locks at Brooklyn Bridge

November 16, 2015

Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge I made an unexpected discovery. Thousands of padlocks with romantic inscriptions scattered around the length of the bridge. These are called love locks which sweethearts lock to a bridge to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts' names or initials are inscribed on the padlock, and its key is thrown away to symbolize unbreakable love. Since the 2000s, love locks have proliferated at an increasing number of locations worldwide. They are now mostly treated by municipal authorities as litter or vandalism, and there is some cost to their removal. But saying that, they provide some interesting photos, either by creating a different perspective of a known subject or by becoming the subject themselves. I had these four photos, which I couldn't decide which one to show, since I didn't think any by itself would convey message I was trying to get. So combined they clearly show a collection of details that frame the iconic bridge and these locks.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Compositing, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 76] Down the stairs at NYPL

November 15, 2015

Wandering through the Stephen A. Schwarzian Building of the New York Public Library, in Midtown Manhattan, was one of the unexpected pleasures of this years visit to the Big Apple. The building has great architectonic details that really impressed me, and being surrounded by books is always a great feeling. This is a detail of one of many stairs that you can find inside, this is not the most ornate one, but the clean lines and elegant curves really appealed to me. That and also the symmetry, including the double light lamp beneath me.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Perspective correction, clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.