Hi Chris,
They are all stunning. What turned out really nicely are the shots that reveal
the interior of the Opera House. I particularly like the first image and the
third image in the top row - right down to the reflected light off the wine
glasses in Bennelong. The HDR has given them a wonderful ambience
and these two shots in particular are reminiscent of computer rendered imagery
using radiosity techniques, yet you have managed to do it with a camera
in the real world with stunning results.
I see you asking yourself the same question, which is how the exteriors would
go with stopping down the lens further? Since some of the point sources are so
bright, it might be interesting to either stop down even further than you
proposed or even try some much faster shutter speeds.
It might be an interesting exercise to determine what is the fastest shutter
speed that resulted in some image appearing, namely that produced by the
brightest lights, then bracketing up to that point. That might even turn out
to be 1/1000s or faster.
Anyway, that is easy for me to say, as while you are out in the cold night air
experimenting with settings, most of us will be indoors warm somewhere awaiting
your results.
Once again, brilliant and thank you for sharing them.
Best Regards
Gary
Mt. Kuring-Gai