The Dujiangyan irrigation system
is the world’s oldest — originally
built around 256 BC by Li Bing and
his team of labourers. Locals and
visitors hang out on the historic
bridges and enjoy the relief the
breeze along the cool, fast-fl owing
river brings from the heat of the
day. Restaurants, mostly serving
fi sh, freshwater crab, shrimp and
the occasional very large frog, line
the river on either side.
Arriving around three o’clock,
I scouted the area for my shot.
I knew I wanted to use a long
exposure, so a tripod was a must; I
set up and settled in. Sundown was
between six and seven, giving me
a three-hour wait for the scene to
develop — lots of time for people-
watching. Many would come and
DUJIANGYAN
DUNCAN LONGDEN, PHOTOGRAPHER FOR OUR CHINA FEATURE,
EXPLAINS HOW HE GOT THIS SHOT IN DUJIANGYANHOW I GOT THE SHOTThis feature can be found in our
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As the sunlight
faded, the river began
to glow blue,
contrasting against the
orange and red street
lights. I took the
photograph I’d set up
for, but now felt there
was a more interesting
story to be told.@duncanlongdenlean on the rail staring motionless
at the ferocious water churning
below; they appeared hypnotised.
I was set up for long exposures,
my Nikon D800e and Nikon 14-
24mm F2.8 mounted fi rmly on my
Vanguard Tripod. I had the ISO
set to 100 for the long exposure,
but now I needed to adjust for
this scene to my right, the one
I’d been avidly viewing most of
the a ernoon. I upped the ISO
to 2000, setting my aperture to
F7.1 to gain enough depth of fi eld,
and a shutter speed of 1/6th of
a second, slow enough to blur
movement, just fast enough to
capture someone standing still,
even just for a second. I watched,
cable release in hand, as a lady
stepped into the frame and lookedalong the river. I raised the mirror,
counted to fi ve to let any vibration
settle and released the shutter.
She stayed still while the people
and river fl owed around her; I’d got
the shot.
Scenes like this are hard to
meter, I don’t use HDR; but that
wouldn’t have worked — it had to
be a one-exposure deal. Using the
spot meter on my camera I found
a good average setting, made
two tests, reading my histogram
to adjust slightly. With fi lm, we
expose for the shadows and
develop for the highlights. With
digital, we expose for the highlights
and process for the shadows,
looking a er the highlights.162 natgeotraveller.co.uk
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