A “Valley of 1,000 Hills” image from Flickr – click on the name of the photographer below to see more Durban goodness and to thank the photographer.
Late Afternoon Sun – Mutianyu Chairlift – 20111014
Photo by MomentsForZen
It was time to bid farewell to the Great Wall, and to China itself.
As the Sun sank lower in the sky, it was sadly time to descend down to the valley and travel back to Beijing. The following afternoon, I made my way to the airport to catch flights from Beijing-Shanghai-Sydney-Canberra – arriving home after 18 hours in transit.
It is quite a hike up to the Great Wall at Mutianyu from the valley car park that is at the level of the surrounding plains. The elevation of the Great Wall along the Mutianyu section varies from around 500 m A.S.L. at the lowest point to over 1000 m A.S.L. There is a chairlift linking the car park and the Great Wall that allows you to bypass the steep footpath and to better enjoy the view. This photograph was taken from the chairlift looking west towards the coastal plains on my way back down.
The view was magnificent – but I can tell you it was quite chilly! When back down in the valley, I managed to find a shop that served coffee and was still open at this late hour. I couldn’t really tell you how good the coffee was, but the hot drink was just what I needed to perk me up for the bus ride back to the hotel. There was plenty of chatter during this trip back amongst my colleagues from various Chinese organisations plus CSM, the USGS and UBC – a sign of a enjoyable shared experience.
When nearly back to the hotel, we went past the site of the 2008 Olympics. The Birds Nest Stadium (Beijing National Stadium) and the Water Cube (Beijing National Acquatics Center) were lit up in red and blue respectively, forming quite a stunning scene in the early evening darkness.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Stadium
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Aquatics_Center
Beijing, China.
Phone 4 – Photograph taken with the camera on an iPhone 4.
Camera – The native camera app was used with the HDR option.
Filterstorm – Opened the photograph in the native Photos app on my iPad3. Copied the image, opened the Filterstorm app, pasted the contents of the clipboard, and saved a copy of the image to the Camera Roll. This manoeuvre simplified the subsequent processing by having this copy as the most recent image in the Camera Roll.
Snapseed – Structure and Ambience filters applied. Overall lighting adjustments carried out.
Photo fx – Color-Grad "Cool Blue" filter applied.
Superimpose – Blended the Photo fx output with the Snapseed output using the Normal blend mode.
Pixlr Express Plus – Added a trace of black vignette.
Photoshop Express – Noise reduction and Sharpening filters applied with manual settings.
Snapseed – Some final small overall lighting adjustments applied.
ExifEditor – EXIF data from the original photograph transferred to the final image.
(Filed as 20130811_iPad3 008 Filterstorm-Snapseed-PhotoFX-Superimpose-PixlrExpressPlus-PSExpress-ExifEditor.JPG)
Click here to submit your News – free.
Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?
Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: Durban not only has a beautiful sea but further inland towards the Midlands we have beautiful valleys with waterfalls that run into conservation parks and even further inland we have the majestic Drakensberg mountains.
Watch a Video:
MultiNet Home Loans Helping South Africans Build Their Heritage