Same as by Paris, I would call this more a list of nice locations, and a real Top spots list will require more visits to London (hopefully soon :) ). So for now, here is a temporary list.

To see all my photos from London, look into the London Category
Don’t forget to check out other available lists:

Tower bridge

Of course this was my first destination, and probably is for most people. Taking photos on the bridge is great, just in the area around the bridge, don’t be surprise if you get stopped by security guards. I was twice in a mater of minutes :) I would really suggest having a small tabletop tripod and a clamp as a backup, just so you can get the shots you want.

City hall area

This area is really close to the Tower bridge, and also give a great view of it. Again there is a big chance that you may be stopped by security guards (if you use a tripod) in this area, but that haven’t happened to me. Again a tabletop tripod could be real help in this area.

Westminster bridge

Surprisingly no security guards here, and a really nice view of the bridge and from the bridge. Also great spot for early morning, if you want to get a passing buss in from of the Westminster palace.

London Eye

Another spot where you should be prepared for security guards or police to stop you (that is a recurring theme in London, btw.). Still the view of the London Eye is great and the lights on the nearby trees are there all the time.

Leadenhall Market

As all the other spots are outdoor, I’m including one that is indoor. The market is only partially indoor, but the architecture is just stunning and looks wonderful. It’s a little harder to find in the middle of a very modern area, but really worth it.

 
There are of course many more (Canary wharf, Piccadilly circus, Westminster cathedral….), and I hope to update this list again
 
Other available lists:

This is such a beautiful bridge. It lacks the simplicity of the modern bridges, or the decorations of the classic ones, but it displays this RAW strength. I remember when we were approaching it, and it just popped out from behind a hill. For me, as a big fan of bridges in general, this was a wonderfull moment :). Of course the day I was there, the weather was horrible, and I froze my ass off. But that just means, I have to go back :)

This is a HDR from 5 exposures, created in OLONEO Photoengine, finished in Photoshop. I used a 10stop ND filter for this photo.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

And we came again to another Monday, so it’s time for another before/after processing post. And since I posted more fireworks shots in the last weeks, we take a look at one of those :)

But before we start, let me remind you, that you can download a free eBook on capturing firework photos from here.

So lets start with the photo. As it’s a fireworks shot, it was created from a single exposure. Here you can see the final edit and the original RAW photo.

I first started in Lightroom, where I removed the chromatic abberations, noise and brightened the shadows a little and darkened the highlights. From there I exported the photo as 16-bit tiff and opened in Oloneo Photoengine. There using the strength slider, I opened the shadows even more, and added contrast. Here you can see the Lightroom and Oloneo results (please note that the Oloneo result already has the lens corrections applied in Photoshop on it).

As always I continued in Photoshop. I loaded the Oloneo Photoengine result there, did a perspective crop and did the following edits (layers numbered from bottom up)
1. Oloneo Photoengine result
2. Color balance, as the photo was too purple.
3. Color effex Pro contrast filter to get more detail from the photo.
4. A very strong noise reduction, applied to the corner areas, as brightening the shadow areas resulted in too much noise.
5. Added more structure using the high pass filter, but just to the fireworks and the buildings.
6. Added more overall contrast.
7. Even more contrast, but just to the fireworks.
8. Warmed up parts of the photo.

And that’s all I did with this image. To find out more on how I edit, check out the guides and before after categories on this blog, or check out my video tutorial series here:

Durnstein is a really lovely city. It’s like made for tourists (and photographers). Almost no cars in the city, a lot of restaurants, beautiful church and a castle ruin with a really crazy view :) Really great for a day trip. I visited it few times already, and I hope I go again, as I still have few photos I want to take there. Maybe a panorama from the the castle could look great :)

This is a manual blend from 3 exposures, done in Photoshop. I also used a 10 stop ND filter while I was taking this photo.