Two by the Thames

Two by the Thames. I liked the idea of framing these two tiny people under the great bulk of the Royal Festival Hall, on the South Bank of the Thames in London. I saw the picture as I walked back towards the river from the Hayward Gallery, and I took several shots on the Nikon Coolpix P5000, pausing as people passed through the corner of my frame, and hoping that my two subjects wouldn't move. The lens focal length works out at 62mm equivalent on 35mm, so just slightly longer than a so-called 'standard lens'.

Inevitably some post-processing in Photoshop: I wanted all the verticals vertical, and the right hand edge of the building to be absolutely parallel to the edge of the frame; plus there was a hint of distortion to be fixed (though come to think of it the edge of the wall might actually be slightly curved – I must check next time I'm there). Then a bit of work to pretty much even out the colour and brightness of that smooth wall of Portland stone, which was added in the 1962-64 refit. Rather like using a massive fill-in flash, except they don't make 'em that big – slightly artificial, but it looks better that way.

Technical: COOLPIX P5000, f=12.9 mm, ISO100, 1/190 sec @ f4.9

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