This was taken on the same evening as this one, and while the viewpoint is similar – they were both taken from the same section of beach near the Burj Al Arab in Dubai – the processing is quite different. For the previous shot I exaggerated the sodium light pollution creating an unnaturally 'warm' image. For this one I manually altered the white balance when I converted the RAW file. Technically then, this is the more accurate of the two, but I think I prefer the previous one.

As always, let me know what you think.

On a totally different matter: don't expect too much sense from me for the next week or so. After thirty-odd years, on and off, I've stopped smoking. I had my last cigarette just over nine days ago and I'm not in the least bit tempted to have another. I will be pleased when I finally get over the withdrawal though: at the moment I can't think straight, can't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, and could fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

captured camera lens focal length aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO flash image quality RAW converter image editor plugins (etc) cropped?

8.56pm on 8/3/12 Canon 5D Mark II EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM 35mm f/9.0 30s aperture priority -1 evaluative 200 no RAW Camera Raw Photoshop CS5 none minor