Royal Victoria Docks
By Leigh Cousins 28/12/2016
Canon 5D Mark II 16-35 USM 35mm F/11 30seconds ISO100

A 4 shot panoramic taken from the Royal Victoria Bridge near Excel London. The view overlooks Canary wharf, The O2 Arena and Central London Skyline in the far distance. The Sunborn Yacht hotel sits prominent on the water while the red glow from the Emirates cable cars can be seen travelling towards Canary Wharf. The day was foggy at first but by the time I took these it was starting to clear, I found that it really added a nice effect. One tip for this shot : The bridge vibrates when someone is walking near you and with a 30 second exposure you really need to be alone, a close to freezing day helps tremendously!

The Shot in Post.
This is a combination of 4 30-second landscape shots taken at f/11, simply merged in Photoshop. It took very little processing as it was a spectacular view and I always try to keep my photos looking the same as I saw it. There were a couple of issues as there always is, firstly a pack of crazy birds were swimming in circles creating a whirlwind effect in the water, and secondly there was a break in the water, a stream coming from a water outlet near the top that ruined the overall reflection but I managed to get a shot where the Sunborn Yacht Hotel is well reflected and that being key to this shot.
The colour combinations in the sky I found harder to blend then first thought, making a panoramic at blue hour spanning a 170 degree angle offers varied colour formations and sometimes this can look a little odd when compressed into a single picture but that is nature, you can see the single shot of the Sunborn Yacht below where the sky is blended well.