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Great cityscapes… in two hours!
Techniques
24 October 2007 14:35
When light levels fall a city can come to life, bringing new creative opportunities and tricky technical dilemmas.
For consistently successful lowlight shots you must have a tripod, though you’ll need to be careful where you position it. Even with the tripod it was difficult to get sharp shots on the Millennium Bridge simply because the sheer numbers of tourists walking over it were making it shake as they marched along.
Invest in the sturdiest tripod you can afford. Flimsy tripods are a false economy, as they won’t hold your camera steady enough in a strong breeze or when traffic or pedestrians are likely to cause vibrations. When using a tripod in a public place, try to use the minimum amount of space and never obstruct people getting through. In many city areas it’s likely you will be asked to move or told that tripods are not permitted.
4.30pm, Central London. The last rays of light are filtering through a hazy sky and the temperature is plummeting fast. We’re impatiently shuffling our feet on the Millennium Bridge, which although no longer ‘wobbly’ still rattles under the constant flow of tourists rushing along between St Paul’s and the Tate Modern. We’re wrapped up for sub-zero conditions – fleece, hat, gloves – because you can’t take pictures if you’re too cold to think. As light levels fall, the dome of St Paul’s catches the last rays of soft evening light, while the foreground bridge is cast into shadow. With a 0.3ND grad filter over the lens to balance exposure between sky and bridge, we’re getting an exposure of 1.5 seconds at f/16 – just long enough to blur the tourists.
5.15pm and the sun has gone. St Paul’s is now illuminated artificially and the strip lights along the edge of the Millennium Bridge are glowing unearthly green. The sky above it has darkened considerably but not yet gone black.
5.25pm and the strip lights on the bridge are now in full ‘burn’ and the buildings along the Thames are twinkling beneath the remnants of the evening sky. We decide to use the pedestrians to add intrigue – with an exposure of just 1/2sec they record as a ghostly blur, although a more stationary high-heeled boot adds an interesting twist. With the sky darkening, it’s necessary to change to ISO setting to 400 to keep the exposure relatively short or the moving tourists won’t show at all on the pictures.
5.35pm. We can’t resist stopping to shoot the bridge from beneath. It’s a scene that’s been photographed many times but with the far bank of the Thames beautifully illuminated it’s definitely worth a few frames. All our night shots are taken with the white balance on our digital SLRs set to daylight. This makes street lights record with an interesting orange cast.
It’s also worth remembering to use the camera’s noise reduction option, if your DSLR has one. It does mean you’ll have to wait longer between shots (it takes the same time as the shutter speed used to process the image), so be aware this option could slow you down if you’re using very long exposures. However, it can make a difference and save you time trying to smooth out unwanted noise later in Photoshop.
5.40pm. Just along the Thames, a woman on the bench and the tree in the foreground help create a scene quite different from the bridge images. A passing cyclist adds a touch of movement as he glides through the shot during the exposure. Without the pink and purple night sky and glowing lights, this shot wouldn’t even be worth considering.
6.00pm. The black night sky has robbed detail in our shots of the London Eye, so by 6.10pm we’re shooting the Golden Jubliee Bridge instead – filling the black sky with lit up office blocks proves more successful.
6.30pm and the tripod police have spotted us. We’re politely told not to erect our tripods near the London Eye – unless it’s on the road behind a great big fence surrounding some roadworks. Nice! However, there’s a nice sturdy bollard sitting right were we wanted to erect the tripod anyway. A bunch of filter pouches are used to tilt the lens upwards, through the line of trees towards the Eye. With a final few pictures grabbed, we reckon we’ve had the best of it and pack away.