I kept the best aerial view of NYC for last. Featured is the Empire State Building, hands down the most famous and celebrated skyscraper in the world. It didn't take a lot of research to realize where was the best place in NYC to photograph it. All leads pointed to the roof deck of the Rockefeller Plaza, popularly known as the 'Top of the Rock'. After the bitter experience at the roof deck of the Empire State Building, I was determined to prepare myself for every scenario. I was going to get my shot, no matter what. First I checked the Top of the Rock's website which states very clearly that tripods are a no-go. It did however say that professional photography can be permitted in certain cases with approval of the management. So I did the right thing I wrote them an email. I introduced myself, presented my references, stated my intent and basically asked them for an exception in order to allow me to shoot with the tripod. My email was professional, polite, descriptive and to the point. It was about 1/4 page long. I was convinced it was going to work. Who could resist my charming grammar and stellar references, right? Their reply came just second after I hit the 'send' button. "Sorry but we cannot accommodate your request". BAAAAM!! Me and my ego didn't like that reply very much. So I wrote to them again. "What if I use a baby tripod, no bigger than a pencil? No one will be bothered by it." Reply came 1 minute later. "Sorry but we cannot accommodate your request". - "What if I gave you my photos as a gesture of appreciation?" - "Sorry but we cannot accommodate your request". It was clear to me at this point that I got shot down by a robot copy/paster!! That of course meant war. I packed my biggest tripod and biggest head, baby tripod, spare heads, all damn gear and tools I had on me and went on a collission course with the security of the Top Of The Rock. While I was in the cab, I planned all the bullshit lines and excuses for the security guys I had in my repertoir. I was ready to own it. I got out of the cab and with a poker face, walked straight to the reception. No queues, no people anywhere. I was a bit suspicious about that. The box office lady at the Rockefeller Plaza told me "sorry sir, but the weather is bad, visibility up there is zero" gesturing a zero with her forefinger and thumb. Imagine my face. I was ready for a physical violence at that point. I said "I don't care. I'm going up". -"Sir, visibility on deck is zero. Rain. High wind. Fog.". -"I don't care. I. Am. Going. Up.". She gave me a long, confused look and decided I was the wrong guy to f* with. I grabbed the ticket and up I go. No people in the elevator. I get to the roof, I look in the distance and what do I see? It was just after rain and clouds were extermely low, cutting through the skyline and skyscrapers. Sun was shining through the breaking cloud cover, creating bright patches of light across the most densely built-up, complex looking maze of buildings, streets and avenutes I've ever seen. It was crystal clear and you could easily see 50 km away. You couldn't ask for better cityscape photography weather conditions. And I could NOT use a tripod. Riiiight. 3 uniformed security guys and a couple of cops were standing right behind me, observing my every move with hawk eyes. They wore tazers, stick and guns. You know, the less-than-average communications skill types. I placed the camera bag on the ground, really slowly. Then I carefully reached for the tripod which was strapped to its side while maintaining the eye contact with the cop. It felt like a Mexican standoff. He didn't say a word but his head shook a 'no'. My hand moved away from the tripod, really slowly. My eyes still locked with his. I slowly unzipped the top of the bag and reached for the baby tripod while looking for his reaction. He wasn't reaching for any weapon. So far so good. I placed the tripod on the ledge and secured the camera. I had to ask at that point. Turns out, he didn't care the baby tripod, as long as the big one wasn't standing on the ground. For that, he probably would have tazered me till Sunday. Other than that, we were good. Just kidding - security guys were great and the roof was almost entirely empty. Perfect shooting conditions of the best view in the world. What else can I guy like me hope for? tech: I used Canon 5mk3 and Canon 70-300mm lens. Camera was set to expose with Mirror-lock feature. That prevented any vibrations during the exposure bracketing which resulted in super-sharp images. Exposure bracketing was triggered by the excellent Promote Remote Control. This panorama was stitched from 12 overlapping vertical frames, each one a blend of 5 bracketed exposures in a total of 60 RAW frames. Entire panorama is 22,300 pixels wide and 5,300 pixels high. It's a 117 mega-pixels monster. It took close to 2 days to finish it, using my 4-core i7 Intel machine. Detail is tremendous; at 100% magnification, you can see Statue of Liberty which is miles away, people in the apartments as well as furniture in the adjacent apartments. I am going to print it 3 meters large and I think it'll be a centerpiece of my new home! Software used: Adobe Lightroom 4.4, Photoshop 5.1, Photoshop CC, NIK Software plugins. Processed on Win 7 x64 powered HP Pavilion laptop and Wacom Intuos 3 tablet via 500px http://j.mp/1ET139k
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