The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

Today I chose an interior shot from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It really is an impressive structure. Outside and inside. And you can take photos, which is just great.

But it’s also quite difficult for me to edit photos from here. Never sure how they should look. There is a mix of natural, yellow, and white (a bit bluish) lights all over the place. And on top of it, most of it is white or shades of grey. I never know if I should leave it more yellow-colored or push it more white. But in the end, usually, I wouldn’t say I like both. So this is somewhere in the middle.

For those curious, this is a three-shot vertorama, taken with a 17mm Tilt-Shift lens. Each shot from 3 exposures, blended in Photoshop. I also used the Generative Fill to remove a few people. Yes, it’s not really that empty.

Framed view of the Grand Mosque

I revisited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, while in Dubai, and got quite a lot of photos. Now, with many more lenses available than I had before, I can also get quite different views there. Especially the tilt shift came in handy. But as the Grand Mosque was quite full of people the day I was there, I also took few more zoomed in shots. And here is one of the main entrance. This is quite a popular composition here, as you can really nicely frame the main tower of the Grand Mosque, with the arch of the entrance. You just have to step away a bit and zoom in your lens :)

This is a blend of two exposures, done in Photoshop.

Growing white pillars

How about another Plotagraph :) This one is of the white pillars in the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. As there are this flowers on every pillar, I thougth, it would be cool to have them look like they were growing. So I animated it that way.

It took a bit of masking, as I wanted also animate the reflections to fit the overall look. But I think it came out quite nicely. What do you think? I’m also including a screenshot to the side, so you can see how it was done in Plotagraph Pro.

(if you are on a mobile or use an older web browser, you may only see a static image)

The pillars reflection in the Grand Mosque

For todays daily photo I went back to my photos from UAE, and chosen one from the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. If you ever are in the area, you just must visit it. And their great approach to photography (tripods are allowed !!!) should be an example to many other places :)

This is a blend of two exposures for the base, and then I used another two to remove few of the people present. I still had to brush out few in the end.