Hong Kong (and Kowloon) from The Peak

It has already been more than 3 weeks since my Hong Kong Sojourn and this is my first shot from the trip. My SLAs are getting weirder by the day. Thanks to work!

This is one view that any tourist to Hong Kong should not miss – unless you have a stormy day (or night) and there is absolutely no visibility, the very conveniently named “The Peak” (considering Tim Tsa Tsui, Tsing Yi etc.,) offers majestic view of both the Hong Kong Island (near end of the Bank) and the Kowloon Bay (across the water, far end). Words can’t describe how mammoth these structures are - You need to get up there to realize it! This is by far the biggest concrete jungle that I ‘ve ever seen – Chicago and Manhattan are dwarfs if you compare it in size.

This shot almost didn’t happen. I wanted to get down to this place in the morning essentially to shoot when the air is clean without all the smog and haze caused by pollution. I also read that the Sunrises are more majestic out here. But a hectic shopping schedule that took us well past 1AM every day didn’t help. The Weather wasn’t kind enough to us during the entirety of our trip either - It was too cold and windy for comfort, especially considering that I was only wearing a hooded jacket over my normal T-Shirt, and aptly I fell sick with cold and fever within a few hours of touchdown in Singapore. I would love to be here again, at Sunrise on a bright and clear summer morning.

This is also one of my first few shots with which I realized the power of the 5D Mark 2. In fact, this shot could’ve never happened without without it (i.e., on my Rebel XSi that is). The Super clean ISO 800 files are definitely godsend enabling me to shoot this scene handheld (providing me ample time to brace the cold). In fact, I do have a few other shots from my Rebel at the same scene and I’m fairly certain that I wouldn’t have posted this very shot from it. I would probably have set shop with my tripod and shot a longer exposure going for the traditional look. As I said in my 5D2 Hello World post, these are exciting times and I hope that this shot marks a step in the right direction.

To validate this, here is a sample: 

The first shot is the same as the above. Just a panoramic crop (I couldn't decide which of these two would work better, so went ahead with both)

Canon 24-105L at 24 mm on the Canon 5D Mark 2 | f/7.1 | 3 shot HDR | ISO 800 |

The Second is from the Rebel.

Canon 10-22 at 12mm on the Canon Rebel XSi (450D) | f/5.6 | 3 shot HDR | ISO 800 |

Both are post processed. Alright. I may not have spent exactly the same amount of time repeating the same brush stroke that I had on the 5D version on the Rebel one, but they are pretty similar for you to get the idea. #You Decide!

A better resolution from 500px: http://500px.com/photo/4907847