SIGHTSEEING AND CITIES
The majority of your city shots are probably taken when you are on holiday – and given that your time is limited you’ll often be in the right place at the wrong time, when the weather is rainy or dull or a particular building is in shadow.
In this chapter we shall concentrate on showing you how to capture your response to a city no matter what conditions you find and take pictures that aren’t just like the standard postcards you could buy from the hotel shop. Every city has its own personality and it’s your job to portray that, illustrating what makes it different from any other city in the world.
Sightseeing and city photography starts at home. Good research is invaluable, and there are great guide books available to most of the world’s interesting cities. With some forward planning, you will be able to make the most of a good-value city weekend break as you will be able to hit the ground running, knowing exactly where you want to go and when.
Yet even with planning and the benefit of a longer holiday, most of us have the problem of not having enough time in a city to really take full advantage of its photographic potential. There is often a travelling companion who is not really into photography or children who will become very bored and restless while you linger to get the right angle on a building – so let’s not forget about our own towns and cities where we have the luxury of having plenty of time and local knowledge. Unfortunately we often become so used to what’s around us that we don’t see the photographic potential any more, so we would like to encourage you to take a fresh look at your ‘hood’ too.
QUICK TIP
If you are about to make a long trip and have a new camera in mind, consider getting one with a GPS system so that you can pinpoint the location of the subjects you want to shoot.
PITTSBURGH SKYSCRAPER
This was taken with the strong late morning sun hitting the glass office block front-on. The sky was a deep blue and the glass was reflecting that blue sky, perfect for a black and white picture with a red filter to darken the sky. The result was more spectacular than I had visualized; the blues have all transposed into dark grey and the steel structure is glowing, giving the effect of a night shot. I was shooting on film, but you could achieve a similar result with a digital camera, converting the image to black and white then darkening the sky (see Red Filter Effect). 1/125 second at f8, 24mm, 400 ISO film. JG
COLUMNS
Architectural details can be very interesting. In this case the diagonal slant helps to give the impression of the great weight the columns are supporting – a frontal view didn’t give the same effect, and zooming closer didn’t work either. The picture needs the verticals to tell the story. Take a range of shots from different angles, as it is often difficult to decide which one is best on the spot. 1/160 second at f11, 75mm, 400 ISO. GH
PROJECT 1: ONE BUILDING, ONE DAY
I have photographed St Paul’s Cathedral many times during the decades I have lived in London. This time I set out to capture it from dawn to dusk, watching how the light changed the appearance of the building over the course of a day.
I decided to shoot the cathedral from the south side of the Thames looking over the Millennium bridge – it’s not the front of the building, but it’s the view you see while walking along the river and it would allow me to get the sunrise and sunset on either side of the dome. These pictures were all shot with the white balance on the camera set to daylight.
This is an interesting project to get you thinking about the direction of light at different times of day and in varying weather conditions. Try to use an iconic building that has been much photographed for books, magazines and postcards and see if you can come up with shots that are different from the rest. You also need a large building, since one that is considerably smaller than its surrounding architecture will probably spend quite a large part of the day in deep shade.
QUICK TIP
If you won’t have time to spend a whole day, choose a building that is within easy reach and plan to do several return visits. Select the best view and if the light isn’t very inspiring, take a few shots so that your journey isn’t wasted – studying those will give you further ideas for photographs taken in better conditions next time.
MIDDAY CLOUD
The weather gradually got worse as the morning progressed. When a rainstorm set in I took a couple of shots and went off to do some other things under cover. Sometimes bad weather can provide a dramatic shot, other times it is just dull and there is nothing to do but give up for a while and wait. 1/320 second at f5.6, 105mm, 400 ISO. GH
SUNRISE
This can be tricky – getting up early isn’t easy for many people. Then you have to decide if the weather is suitable and by the time you get there it may have changed anyway. It took me three visits to get this shot – perseverance usually pays off for a photographer. 1/160 second at f6.7, 65mm, 200 ISO. GH
AFTERNOON SUN
I returned just in time to catch the sun shining through a gap in the clouds, the sidelight increasing the contrast and bringing out the detail in the building. I exposed to retain detail, causing the cloudy sky to underexpose. 1/1000 second at f8, 105mm, 200 ISO. GH
SUNSET
By sunset the sky was almost cloudless. I could have corrected the blue skylight on the foreground with the WB Shade setting but decided to leave it, as the blue made a good contrast with the warm sunset shining on the dome. 1/60 second at f5.6, 80mm, 400 ISO. GH
EVENING
At twilight there was still a little light on the scene and that rich blue sky you get when you shoot before complete darkness. The floodlights on the cathedral and the lights of the city have now taken over from the fading daylight. The bridge lights lead the eye to the centre of interest in the picture. 1/3 second at f4.8, 52mm, 400 ISO. GH
NIGHT
Nightfall created much more drama, the floodlights pushing the building forward from the black sky. The bridge lights started changing from blue to red to green; I took the shot when they were blue, giving a cool night feel and contrasting with the warmer colours behind. 1 second at f6.7, 62mm, 800 ISO. GH
PROJECT 2: MEMORIALS AND SCULPTURES
When it comes to visiting cities, great memorials dedicated to political or military figures and public sculptures are high on the must-see list for most of us.
They are often places that we have seen many times in pictures, but as photographers we want to make our interpretation rather than reproducing a postcard. Aim for some advance planning – the local tourist office will probably be helpful enough to tell you where the sun rises and sets in relation