Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed a great weekend.
Sports fan should be really enjoying the Olympic Games in London, they have been outstanding and it is a wonderful experience for those making those “Olympic Moments”.
In the previous post I highlighted a hotel in the desert and today that theme continues. The Luxor is yet another beautiful example of architecture and like so many of the buildings on the strip, has been photographed in practically every way imaginable. So therein lies the challenge, coming up with something different, something that does not have “tourist shot” stamped upon it.
Many visitors to tourist attractions generally photograph the entire scene in a single frame, or at least a good portion of it. There is certainly nothing wrong with that but if you want something a bit different, you may have to go for a tighter shot and make an element or two the main focus of your image.
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For this image the Sphinx and the Pyramid were used to tell the story. Across the bottom are the tracks for the monorail system which I chose to leave in as a bottom frame of sorts.
The image was taken about 45 minutes after sunrise and completely processed in Lightroom 4. Since the building faces east it soon fell under harsh lighting conditions.
Adjustments to the white balance (“WB”) and “Presence” sliders provided most of the work, and lesser adjustments to the “Blacks” and “Hue” sliders were also made, rendering quite a different image than the one I started with.
As a user of LR 3 I found that tool to be adequate but nothing spectacular. It never really became my go-to package for photo management and image development. Perhaps I never dove in deeply enough. Lightroom 4 on the other hand, (be sure to upgrade to 4.1) has some marked improvements and truly feels like a digital darkroom. I have been quite happy with this product, I must say. 
Do you use Lightroom 4 and if so, what are your experiences?
nice to see it all again, after been there
Chantal recently posted..Lipton 10/11
Excellent composition Jimi. I remember seeing the Blue Man Group for the first time at the Luxor. I use LR4 for all of my images and the changes Adobe made to the develop module are super.
Len Saltiel recently posted..Inviting
What a great shot here Jimi! And agreed, LR 4 rocks!
Dave DiCello recently posted..Around the ‘Burgh
I’m moving to LR4 this week. Definite improvement over 3.
Rick Louie recently posted..Sunrise at Mesa Arch
Nice image, Jimi. Really like the bold composition. I tried LR4 beta. Nice software but I’m too invested ($$$) in Adobe CS6 and Nik.
Mark Neal recently posted..Flaming Ford – pseudo-HDR
Great shot Jimi. I’m upgrading to version 4 asap. I’ve heard good things about it for sure.
Marc Collins recently posted..Ponte Scaligero
Very cool shot Jimi. I’m still using LR3, but need to upgrade soon.
Steven Perlmutter recently posted..Have a Seat
Beautifully composed Jimi. I’m not using LR4 yet. I need to get it.
Edith Levy recently posted..The Margaret Todd
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Vegas!! It’s so funny that you posted this, I was just having a conversation about the Luxor a few days ago. I totally forgot what it looked like.
Also, I just got the newest (i think) version of Lightroom, and so far I really like it. I think it is just great for editing a batch of photos, although I still prefer photoshop for most edits.
Emily recently posted..Happy Anniversary
Sweet composition, Jimi! I like the idea to use the monorail track as the base frame. As I mentioned in one of my own posts last week, I have been revisiting some of my old images and reprocessing them in LR4 and cannot believe how much more this new version can extract from the old RAW files – it is quite amazing!
Mark Summerfield recently posted..Vale United Methodist Church
Great shot – the contrasting shapes and colours have worked out really well
LensScaper recently posted..Like Father, Like Son
[...] Vegas and shows an entry point just to the right of the main entrance, only steps away from this previously posted Luxor image. I had pretty much forgotten about this shot until going back through a catalog of files yet to be [...]