Tuesday Thunder - St. Paul's and Gherkin

I have a bonanza of FIVE pictures today, albeit of the same place, but in different shades. The setting is South Bank view of St. Paul's and Gherkin. I love this view – am not sure if it was better without the cranes that seem to be omnipresent throughout London nowadays, but nevertheless, I have used them to my advantage in some of these pictures.

Firstly, I should thank Ian and Carolyne for waiting patiently while I took this picture in their company. Next, lets put the feast on the table. J

1. Unedited version. It was dusk time with clear sky and good natural magic hour lighting.

(taken with Canon IXUS 310HS)

2. Monochrome. There was drama in the scene with both water and sky in ample abundance in the frame; also, the tall cranes accentuated the dramatic story. All these elements are compelling enough to convert this picture into a Monochrome.

(converted in Noir Photo app)

3. Cinematic. The shot looked fit to be part of a Hollywood movie – so, I added some cinematic effect to it.

(applied Drama filter in Snapseed and thick vignettes in Bleach Bypass to give the spotlight effect)

4. Artistic. No explanation required here. The photo effused so much of artistic flare that I felt it natural to apply an artistic filter to it.

(applied Clarity and Magic Hour filters in Camera+; added some sharpness in PS Express; concluded by adding a gritty black border in Camera+)

5. Sunset Enhanced. I used Sunset Taker app to enhance the evening colour in this version of the photograph.

I hope you like today's post and there is at least one version which manages to hold your attention – tell me which one!

St. Paul's Panoramas

Continuing with the past two day's theme, we have some more of St. Paul's today – this time in the shape of Panoramic pictures. I haven't dabbled with this part of photography before, and have started experimenting it recently.

On this occasion, I took some pictures from the terrace of the One New Change mall – on recommendation from Ian (you get the credit again J). Basically, I took some 16 pictures spanning from Shard to St. Paul's part of the view and then stitched them together in Autostitch app. I loved the result and hope you like it as well. Then, I took a second panorama of the front side of St. Paul's, which has come out more like a fisheye picture but that's the best I could create from such a short distance.

(taken with Canon IXUS 310HS and stitched together in Autostitch)

(taken with iPhone and collated in Autostitch)

P.S.: Yesterday's voting result: Cinematic version (#3) won hands down, closely followed by the Monochrome version (#2).

Canary Wharf as seen from Greenwich Park

Now that we have established a sort of pattern for Fridays, why break it, huh? At least not this Friday, maybe next…

Please feast yourselves to three pictures of Canary Wharf as viewed from Greenwich park – you get a pretty impressive view from there. I took these pictures with three different cameras – you can vote for one you like the most.


(taken with Nikon Coolpix P80 at telephoto zoom; edited for brightness, contrast, saturation in PS)


(taken with Nikon D5100 SLR, 35mm lens; unedited)


(taken with iPhone and then converted into an artistic image in Camera+ and PS Express apps)

An eyeful of eye

A simple and satisfying click of a very famous landmark of London.

(taken with IXUS 310HS and applied the vintage filter in FX Photo Studio)

(taken with IXUS 310HS, left unedited except for converting into monochrome in Noir Photo app)

Deserted Newspaper Boy

Deserted Newspaper Boy, a photo by girish_nayyar on Flickr.

Clicked with iPhone using nofinder app: edited for central focus in Snapseed

Canary Wharf Sunset

Canary Wharf Sunset, a photo by girish_nayyar on Flickr.

Taken with Canon Ixus 310HS and then edited for selective colouring in iQuikSplash.

Greenwich Clock Tower

Greenwich Clock Tower, a photo by girish_nayyar on Flickr.

Taken with iPhone and then converted into Black and White in PS Express.

Bus on the bridge

Bus on the bridge, a photo by girish_nayyar on Flickr.

Selective coloring added in iQuickSplash: vintage effect added in PicTools

Book Reader at the station

Continuing with my strangers series, today I have a anonymous Book Reader at Greenwich Rail station. I see paper printed books disappearing at an astonishing rate and being replaced with all sorts of e-readers – iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, etc. I welcome the change, and photos like this will probably have a nostalgic effect in a few year’s time.

I caught this image on my iPhone using the nofinder app (its like blind man photography, where you just aim and shoot without seeing in the viewfinder). I applied a few effects to get the final result:
Converted into a monochrome in Snapseed
Added a vintage effect in FX Photo Studio
Added a vignette and border in Iris app

Canary Wharf station

Canary Wharf station, a photo by girish_nayyar on Flickr.

Grunge effect added with PicTools app