Petronas Towers-a New Look at an Old Favorite

No matter where you go in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia you can see the Petronas Twin Towers. At one time, they were the tallest buildings in the world but were quickly outdone in 2004 by Taipei 101 in Taiwan and this year the Burj Dubai will take the crown. At 88 stories, the Petronas Towers are still the tallest "twin towers" in the world.

More shots below.

They’re impossible to ignore. The towers are massive and metallic in color and the architectural lighting is very well thought out. Everyone gravitates to these iconic structures.

I had been to KL many times over the years and photographed the towers from as many angles as I could find. The problem is that the towers look good from every angle and most people tend to shoot the most obvious ones. In doing that, you end up with nice shots but they are exactly the same as everyone else.

I wanted something new and different. It’s not easy to find a new angle when photographing something that gets photographed thousands of times a day. I found this new look at the towers from the shelter of a large utility building. Funny thing is, I had walked past this spot a hundred times over the years (with camera in hand) and never thought about it. The building has always been there as it houses a huge ventilation system or something.

I had never seen a shot like this before and was happy to get something new.

Digital solution:

I wasn’t carrying a flash with me at the time. A flash would have helped me to add some light to the orange pillars and balance the exposure between them and the towers. So instead I created two different exposures from the properly exposed RAW file then blended them in Photoshop with layers and masks.

Here are the exposures I pulled from the RAW file.

This really brought the orange framing exposure up nicely while keeping the towers from getting blown out. I generally prefer to capture everything in the camera but in this case digital tools beautifully made up for my missing flash unit.

Gear: Nikon D2X / Nikon 12-24mm F4 lens / Manfrotto Tripod with Ball head / Aperture 2 / Adobe Photoshop CS3

Exposure: ISO 100 / F16 / 1/13th

I found a few other new angles that night too.

The adjacent waterpark is closed at sunset. So while a cute blonde girl (my girlfriend) sweet talked the security guard, I ducked under the waterfall with my tripod for a few quick shots.


Everyone gravitates to the towers.
As always, click any image for the large version. TR