NYC - Times Square

The Story
April, 2008. After more than a year after the original planned date for visiting New York, we finally managed to go there. One year before we had to abort the trip for professional reasons, but this time all was set and we did went there. New York was the first stop of our trip. We stayed there for 4 days and the headed to DC for 3 more days.
Before we go, I've visited the B&H Photo website and made a shopping list. In this list was a lens that I was flirting for some time: the Sigma 10-20. I had seen beautiful photos taken with it and decided that the Sigma would be my next buy. At this time the dollar / euro exchange rate was very good to the euro side so, even being aware of the potential problems I could face with Portuguese customs when landing back in Lisboa, I decided that I would by the lens in the States. Even with the potential tax that I could pay in Lisboa, it was still worthy. So I visited B&H Photo (note for photo freaks: this IS The Photography Shop. It's large as a supermarket, has dozens of employees and a big queue on the door before it opens in the morning. And no, there were no promotions on that day :)), Adorama and a handful of small stores all around Manhattan. For my big disappointment, the Sigma 10-20 for the Nikon mount was sold out everywhere. In the third day of our stay in New York, by accident, I found a small store that had one copy of it. I couldn't believe! It was a bit pricey, comparing to the values I've seen on the net, but I couldn't care less. I was in NY and I needed that lens (I could have bought it before going to the States, but I preferred to save some money and buy it there).
So, with my new toy mounted on the D80, I walked the streets, fascinated with all that could fit inside it :)
The sun was setting and that night we had planned going to Times Square. We headed there and I was distracted looking through the 10-20 all the way when we arrived. I started taking photos in all directions and after a couple minutes I decided to look back. The main screen of the square had been all the time in my back. I can't put to works the feeling I had that moment. This place must be one of the greatest places I've ever been to. New York itself is a old, dirty, ugly city, but it has some places that make the trip worthwhile. This is one of them (another one is the view from the Top Of The Rock or from the Empire State Building at night).
This was the first photo, taken with the 10-20, that I published.
To finish, let me just say that this photo was taken hand held (no tripod whatsoever).

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

Shutter Speed: 1/25 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Original Photo


Post Processing
As you can figure out, there was almost no post processing on this one.
I just imported it into Lightroom and slightly increased the Exposure, Recovery, Clarity and Sharpening.
I usually publish my photos with 1024px in the largest size and use a great Photoshop action by Manyk to do the re-size.
You can find it here: http://manyk.deviantart.com/art/Web-Sharpening-with-Photoshop-29038461

Final Photo


Link to image
http://jpgmn.deviantart.com/art/NYC-Times-Square-82858284