Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

To shoot down on a city, look for the highest

point that gives you the view you want. Check to

see if the location allows visitors — specifically,

photographers — and tripods instead of just

showing up and hoping for the best. Of course, if

you are on vacation, then you have nothing to

lose, so just go for it.

In the busiest areas of most cities, some of the

tallest buildings are hotels, usually upscale hotels,

and a lot of them have bars or restaurants on the

upper floors, taking advantage of that view that

you want to photograph. Many times you can just

call and ask if it is possible to take photographs

from that area. It really doesn’t hurt to ask.

When shooting down from a high vantage point,

wide focal lengths work really well. The wider

focal lengths allow you to capture the grand vista

of the whole scene. The twinkling lights in the

offices and the traffic patterns rendered as light

trails make the whole scene worth capturing.

Take the cityscape in Figure 8-17 and the way the

Cityscapes

There is nothing quite like a great nighttime
cityscape image; the lights of the city make every-
thing just look magical. The bigger and busier the
city, the easier it is to get a good cityscape mainly
due to the amount of light present. I have often
been amazed at the actual amount of light avail-
able when looking out at San Diego. A lot goes
into getting good cityscape photographs, includ-
ing choosing a fantastic location, the best time,
and the ideal exposure.

Location, location, location

There is a saying in the real estate business that
the three most important things are location,
location, and location. Well, that holds true for
capturing cityscapes as well. There are two
distinct views to look for: the first is to get as high
above the city as possible, and the second is to get
away from the city and shoot from a distance.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

The Golden West Hotel was a

great subject for an HDR image

using the lighting from the

large neon sign out front. Taken

at various shutter speeds start-

ing at 1/20 second, f/2.8, and

ISO 800.

8-16