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London blue hour

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, UK.

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, UK.
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Canon EOS 500D

settings

Aperture 22/1 ISO 100 Shutter 25/10 Focal Length 18/1

upload_date

May, 2016

Views

502

Likes

+58

Awards

Great Shot

Peer Award

+10

Superb Composition

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Outstanding Creativity

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

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Top 10 rank week 1

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Behind The Lens

Location

The photo is taken from the stairs that go up to the Westminster bridge, right in front of the Palace of Westminster in London, UK.

Time

The photo was taken at the so-called blue hour. While I enjoy making photos at any time of the day, I have to agree with the statement that is frequently heard that, if you are going to make a single photo during the day, you better take advantage of the indirect light present during the golden and blue hours. In this case, for instance, you get not just the blue tones of the sky, but also a good amount of natural light and, at the same time, the street lights that add some warmth and atmosphere to the final image.

Lighting

I did not use any extra light source, but when capturing images during the blue hour, make sure you have enough information on all the areas of your image. If your camera is not able to capture the whole scene at once, carefully bracket so you can later combine different images during post-processing.

Equipment

I used a Canon EOS 500D with the kit lens (18-55mm) and a Manfrotto tripod.

Inspiration

Given the photogenic nature of the Palace and the Big Ben, you could say that this scene has been captured from every possible angle. This particular spot, for some reason, is not as popular as some others and, in fact, I had never seen a picture from there as I was taking it. However, if you are paying attention, when you go down those stairs, it is almost impossible not to feel the need to take out your camera!

Editing

While being a great entry-level DSLR, the 500D has certainly not the best dynamic range. This means that capturing an image as this one takes a bit of extra effort during post-processing. I had to take several shots with different combinations of aperture and shutter speed and combine three of them to finally get a well balanced result.

In my camera bag

I tend to carry at least my camera with a relatively wide angle lens (it can be something like the 18-55mm or the 10-18mm) and, depending on what I am planning to shoot, another extra lens that can be a zoom (90-300mm) for nature or street photography or a 50mm for portraits. Apart from that, I usually carry a neutral density (ND) filter and a circular polarizer. Finally, I rarely go out without a tripod; even when you think you can do without one, the final result would have probably been better if you used one!

Feedback

As I mentioned before, the most important thing for this type of images is to wait for the right time and to take care about the amount of information on each frame. Also, keep your eyes open for composition. While I find fun to capture my own version of famous shots, the best days out are when I find an interesting spot that I have never seen before.

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lregoli

lregoli

London blue hour

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, UK.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow lregoli

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