Estrela

The Story
November, 2008. I was home with nothing to do in that Sunday afternoon and wanted to get into the car and go somewhere to take some photos. I went to flickr to search for spots nearby that could be interesting. After some search I remembered the Portuguese parliament area in Lisboa. It was near and I've never been to that area (with my camera, I mean), so it was a good candidate. I searched for interesting spots around this area and noticed that, from there to the Estrela area it was very near. So I had found an itinerary: I would go to the parliament area, then go to Estrela and end the day in Belém.
We drove to Lisboa and parked near the Estrela basilica. First we went to the parliament and I took some photos. After that, we walked back to Estrela and while my wife went to a small fair that was in the Estrela garden that day, I stayed near the basilica trying to get some new angles.
I was, at the time, becoming somewhat interested in finding some spots where I could capture the pavement lines to guide the eyes into the photo. Before I left home, I scanned the area in google earth to see if the tram rails in the area could fit that purpose. In location I've started to get in the middle of the street (between cars, of course :)) trying to use that rails. They weren't in a great place that would allow me to compose the photo as I wanted to. But the lines in the pavement were. Another interest of mine at the time was the Dutch Tilt style of photos.
So, with both these styles in mind, I took some photos of the area and went to the next stop: Belém.

Equipment / Technical Info
Nikon D80
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC

Shutter Speed: 1/25 second
Aperture: F/8.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Original Photo


Post Processing
Went I got home from this small trip, I scanned some photo candidates and selected a few. This was one of my selections, and probably the strongest for the Estrela area. But it was too dark and without color.
So, I imported the NEF into Lightroom and done the following:
- Highlight Recovery
- Added some Fill Light
- Increased Contrast
- Applied the "Matt's 300 Look - Strong" preset (you can find it here: http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2008/monday-presets-the-300-look)
- Darkened the Oranges, Blues and Greens to the maximum
- Reduced the Vignetting (the 300 preset has very strong Vignetting)
- Increased the Saturation on Yellows, Oranges, Reds, Blues, Greens, Purples and Magentas to the maximum
- Increased the Sharpening, the Exposure, the Contrast and the Vibrance
- Compensated the Blue Chromatic Aberration
- Reduced some Color Noise
It was a very complete processing in Lightroom and the CS3 was ready to get in and do it's part.
In CS3 I've used the Virtual Photographer plug-in (you can find it here: http://www.optikvervelabs.com) with the setting "Fall Colors" and increased the Brightness.
And that was it. I think the result speaks for itself.

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/Estrela-102476272