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This shot was taken from the observation deck at Q1, the 78-storey "World's Tallest Residential Tower" in Surfers' Paradise.

It was about 1.00pm, a hazy day with plenty of salt spray around and I was shooting through glass. (They wouldn't let me throw a chair through the window to get a clearer view. What's with that?!)

Is it a lost cause? Is the image even worth trying to tweak?

Your advice would be very welcome.

Here's another one...

Looks pretty good from here

Maybe just bump up the contrast with a bit of levels or curves? The colour looks a little cool as well, particularly in the sand. I love the angle though, great shot.

Thanks Rooboy - I tried both your ideas before posting but I should have been thinking 'selectively' rather than 'globally' ..

Contrast: when I got it right for the majority of the picture, the shadows under the buildings in the foreground went almost black - I'll try it again using a layer mask so I can leave those areas alone.

White balance: again, this was tricky one due to the differences in blues, greens and creams in the shot. I did push the WB quite a bit from the original - the haze plus the glass gave things a very blue tinge. I'll give it another go though.

Thanks for your response.

it would have been better taking a pic on the other side of the building with the sun behind you, maybe you could go back up at a different time ?
did you get any looking south ?
i will have to try and get up there soon myself to have a go.
looks like late afternoon might be a better time ... thanks for the heads up

Big Red wrote:it would have been better taking a pic on the other side of the building with the sun behind you, maybe you could go back up at a different time ?
did you get any looking south ?
i will have to try and get up there soon myself to have a go.
looks like late afternoon might be a better time ... thanks for the heads up

I got pics from all round but the southern ones were really washed out due to the haze.

You can get up for $15 during the day (which I thought was pretty reasonable) plus you can pay an extra $8 and go back for another visit any night. It's very impressive - I've been in a lot of 'world's tallest' things and this one feels the most solid!

The horizon's not straight Simon

Wow! that thing is high - I'm getting vertigo just looking at your pic...

leek wrote:The horizon's not straight Simon

I knew there was something about it that irked me! Gary must have taken that book out from under the corner of the server..

Manta wrote:

Big Red wrote:it would have been better taking a pic on the other side of the building with the sun behind you, maybe you could go back up at a different time ?
did you get any looking south ?
i will have to try and get up there soon myself to have a go.
looks like late afternoon might be a better time ... thanks for the heads up

I got pics from all round but the southern ones were really washed out due to the haze.

You can get up for $15 during the day (which I thought was pretty reasonable) plus you can pay an extra $8 and go back for another visit any night. It's very impressive - I've been in a lot of 'world's tallest' things and this one feels the most solid!

i think you can get a seasons pass for 50 bucks and i was thinking of getting one.

That's a good deal Shane, especially when you're relatively close by. Q1 would be a fabulous base camp for approaching storms, fireworks shows, aircraft flybys, all kinds of stuff that would look great from a heaven's-eye view.

stunning angle of vieiw,i dont see any glassdust or distortion either.very good.