Digital Photographer - UK (2020-06)

Capturesharpandimpactful

Work with lighting cityscenesatanytimeofday

Timingiseverythinginoutdoor-based

photographicshoots.Weareatthemercy

oftheelementsforfavourablelightingand

weatherconditions,andit isextremely

importanttobeabletoadapttoany

conditionsthatcanchangequicklyand

unexpectedly.Justaswithlandscapeimaging,

sunriseandsunsetarepreferredtimesamong

cityscapephotographers,astheseprovide

Sergesays:I’veshotthisrestaurant

manytimes.It isa veryfamous

placeinMontmartre,andI’vetried

manycompositions,althoughthisis

theoneI likethemost.Youcansee

it onInstagrama lot– it issucha

beautifulplacethatit’sreallyhard

nottotakephotosof!Thisphoto

wastakenduringbluehour.The

trickisthatassoonasthecitylights

turnon,youhave 15 to 20 minutes

tocaptureyoursubjectwithsome

detailsintheskybeforeyougettoo

muchcontrast– thatisthemagic

window.AfterthatI don’teven

bothertotakemycameraout.The

biggestchallengewastocapturethe

rightlightattherighttime.

Lamaison

Rose,Paris

1

Workona tripodIt isimportantthatyou

usea tripodforcityscapephotography.If

youareona tripodit doesn’tmatterwhat

shutterspeedyouuse– youcangofor

severalminutesofexposureif yourscene

requiresit,andyourphotowillstillbesharp.

2

SetyourISOStartbysettingyour

camera’ssensitivity.Whenit comestoISO

everythingissimple– it shouldbethelowest

possible.Dependingonyourcameramodel

thiscouldbe50, 100 or200.UseManual

mode,andmakesureyouselectRAWformat.

3

Chooseyourf-stopIf thereareany

objectsinthecompositionthatarecloser

toyourlensthanfivemetres,selectf/14–

enoughtohavetheentiresceneinfocus.If

not,setf/7.1– usuallythesharpestf-stopand

perfectforphotographinglargecityvistas.

Capturesharpcityscapes AntonAlymovshareshisstepsforensuringcrispfinalimages

© Serge Ramelli © Anton Alymov

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