digital camera magazine - complete photography guide - urban

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8/8/2019 Digital Camera Magazine - Complete Photography Guide - Urban http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/digital-camera-magazine-complete-photography-guide-urban 1/7 There’s more to landscape photography than the countryside, says Steve Bavister , as he takes to the streets to capture the sights of the city… FEATURE YOUR GUIDE STEVE BAVISTER Steve Bavister is an experienced photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He is editor of The Photographer, a leading magazine for professional photographers, and author of ten books on photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos www.dcmag.co.uk/SteveBavister URBAN LANDSCAPES PORTFOLIO STEVEBAVISTER hink of landscape photography and it’s almost certain that images of rolling hills and green valleys come to mind. But there’s another kind of landscape – one that’s more accessible to many of us and offers equal potential: the urban landscape. Towns, cities and villages offer creative opportunities for the photographic enthusiast, and unless you live on a remote island, there’s bound to be a wealth of subject matter close to hand. In a typical city you’ll find: bridges; skyscrapers; flyovers; subways; historic monuments; sprawling motorways; road signs; speeding cars; taxis and trucks; urban sculptures; train stations; neon signs; billboards; roadside cafés; industrial estates; hotels; factories; shipping ports; building sites… and that’s just for starters. Of course, visiting some of the great cities of t he world is bound to get your creative juices flowing. Think of the skyscrapers of Chicago, the watery elegance of Venice and the bright lights of Las Vegas. However, even in a small town or village – in fact, any built environment – there are plenty of subjects to photograph. It’s not just a matter of what you photograph, it’s how you photograph it. Your backyard can be a fertile source of fantastic imagery – a row of terraces or a semi in the suburbs can be photogenic when approached in the right way. A brief history of urban photography From the early days of photography, urban subjects have been popular. The oldest known photograph, ‘View from a Window at Gras’, by Niepce, includes buildings. In those days, exposures were extraordinarily long (eight hours in the case of View from a Window), so the static nature of buildings made them ideal subjects. As early as 1843, Fox Talbot, one of Britain’s pioneering photographers, was taking pictures of architectural subjects, including the construction of Nelson’s Column and street scenes in Paris. Astonishingly, the Architectural Photographers Association was founded way back in 1857, and a whole string of magazines featuring buildings – including Architects’ Journal and Architectural Review – launched between 1895 and 18 97, taking architectural imagery out to a wider audience. Over the past 100 years there’s been a lot of fantastic urban photography, and everyone will have their favourites: the classic cityscapes of Stieglitz, perhaps; the metropolitan abstractions by Andreas Feininger and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy; the ‘decisive moment’ of people in the city streets captured by Henri Cartier-Bresson; or the edgy urban tales by modernists such as Lee Friedlander. Urban landscapes T 016 DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE

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Page 1: Digital Camera Magazine - Complete Photography Guide - Urban

8/8/2019 Digital Camera Magazine - Complete Photography Guide - Urban

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/digital-camera-magazine-complete-photography-guide-urban 1/7

There’s more to landscape photography than the countryside, says Steve Bavister, ashe takes to the streets to capture the sights of the city…

FEATURE

YOUR GUIDE STEVEBAVISTER

Steve Bavister is an experienced photographic journalist and freelance photographer. He iseditor of The Photographer, a leading magazine for professional photographers, and author often books on photography including Digital Photography and Take Better Family Photos

www.dcmag.co.uk/SteveBavister

URBANLANDSCAPES

PORTFOLIOSTEVEBAVISTER

hink of landscape photography and it’s almost

certain that images of rolling hills and green

valleys come to mind. But there’s another kind oflandscape – one that’s more accessible to many of us and

offers equal potential: the urban landscape. Towns, cities and

villages offer creative opportunities for the photographic

enthusiast, and unless you live on a remote island, there’s

bound to be a wealth of subject matter close to hand.

In a typical city you’ll find: bridges; skyscrapers; flyovers;

subways; historic monuments; sprawling motorways; road

signs; speeding cars; taxis and trucks; urban sculptures; train

stations; neon signs; billboards; roadside cafés; industrial

estates; hotels; factories; shipping ports; building sites… and

that’s just for starters.

Of course, visiting some of the great cities of the worldis bound to get your creative juices flowing. Think of the

skyscrapers of Chicago, the watery elegance of Venice and

the bright lights of Las Vegas. However, even in a small town

or village – in fact, any built environment – there are plenty

of subjects to photograph. It’s not just a matter of what you

photograph, it’s how you photograph it. Your backyard can be

a fertile source of fantastic imagery – a row of terraces or a

semi in the suburbs can be photogenic when approached in

the right way.

A brief history of

urban photographyFrom the early days of photography, urban subjects have

been popular. The oldest known photograph, ‘View

from a Window at Gras’, by Niepce, includes

buildings. In those days, exposures were

extraordinarily long (eight hours in

the case of View from a Window), so the static nature of

buildings made them ideal subjects.

As early as 1843, Fox Talbot, one of Britain’s pioneeringphotographers, was taking pictures of architectural subjects,

including the construction of Nelson’s Column and street

scenes in Paris. Astonishingly, the Architectural Photographers

Association was founded way back in 1857, and a whole

string of magazines featuring buildings – including

Architects’ Journal and Architectural Review – launched

between 1895 and 1897, taking architectural

imagery out to a wider audience.

Over the past 100 years there’s been a lot of

fantastic urban photography, and everyone will

have their favourites: the classic cityscapes of

Stieglitz, perhaps; the metropolitanabstractions by Andreas Feininger

and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy; the

‘decisive moment’ of people in the

city streets captured by Henri

Cartier-Bresson; or the edgy

urban tales by modernists

such as Lee Friedlander.

Urban landscapesT

016 DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE

Page 2: Digital Camera Magazine - Complete Photography Guide - Urban

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WHY WE CHOSETHIS PICTURE

4Converging verticals don’thave to be your enemy –here, they add a sense ofdynamism to the shot

Shooting at duskbrought out theblue in the sky andgave the building’slights more impact

DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE 017

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018 DIGITAL CAMERAMAGAZINE

ABSTRACT THINKING

Buildings can be used as a basis for more abstract

compositions, taking advantage of their shape and geometryto create something more original. The edge of a wooden

building against the sky or repeated patterns in the glass

frontage of an office block, are just two of the many

possibilities open to you.

Going even closer enables you to concentrate on the very

fabric of the building. Bricks, panelling, stonework and

roofing tiles all have wonderful textures that, in the right

light, are magically revealed. Shooting abstracts isn't

technically difficult, and requires no special equipment – it's

 just a matter of thinking about your subject matter in a

different way.

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Light and the citySkilled use of light is what sets apart many of the great

urban images of the past 150 years, and remains one of

the most crucial things to consider when taking pictures

of towns and cities today.

As a general rule, you’ll find that sunlight brings

buildings to life, but the time of day when you shoot

is important, too. The soft illumination of morning

and afternoon is often better than the harsher light you

get around midday, when the sun is high in the skyand casting heavy shadows downward. Conditions are

also more atmospheric earlier and later in the day

because the light is warmer than the bluer light found

around noon.

The angle of the sun is extremely important. Best

results are usually achieved when the light strikes a

building obliquely and brings out the texture of

the materials used, especially stonework. For many

subjects, nothing beats the ‘raking’ sunlight you often

get at the end of a bright day, which gives a strong

sense of depth. Placing the sun so it strikes the buildinghead-on will lead to flat and disappointing results. With

CHOOSE A COLOUR IMAGE WITHGRAPHIC POTENTIALSearch through your files for pictures with

strong shapes and tones that will look good in mono.

01 INCREASE THE CONTRASTUse either the Levels function or the

brightness/contrast sliders to boost the

contrast for a punchy, black and white effect.

03

It's easy to produce a graphic monochromeimage from a colour original in Elements 2SWITCHING TO BLACK & WHITE

88

TAKE OUT THECOLOUR INFORMATIONYou can either do this by switching to

Grayscale mode or use Enhance8

Colour8

Remove Colour.

02

Mood is the magic

ingredient that can bring

any city scene to life, and

one of the easiest ways

of introducing it is by

shooting into the light

      2Look for ways of creating a sense of depth in your

urban pictures by including other elements in the foreground –

to avoid everything looking far off in the distance and

two dimensionally flat. Overhanging leaves can frame a

building attractively, and add interest to the sky. Other

features such as bridges and arches can be used in the same

way. If you have direct control over your exposure settings,

using a small aperture will keep everything sharp (though

sometimes having the foreground element out of focus can

be more effective – especially if it's close to the camera).

FRAMING FOR DEPTH2

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some buildings, however, you have no choice, because

of the direction they face (although only north-facing

buildings will see no sun during the course of a day).

Whenever possible, scout out locations before shooting

at different times during the day, in order to get the best

lighting position.

Night movesAlthough few buildings look their best in overcast

lighting, you can still take superb pictures at night – evenon the grottiest of days. As light levels drop so the sky

turns blue, which is the ideal time to take your pictures,

rather than later when it’s gone completely black and

contrast levels are much higher.

In bright city streets you may be able to get

away with holding your camera in your hand if

you select a higher ISO setting, but if shutter speeds

drop below 1/60sec you may need to support the

camera to prevent the dreaded camera-shake. A

tripod offers maximum f lexibility, but you can always

improvise by using a wall or fence. If there’s nothing

convenient around, brace yourself against a wall or

lamppost to minimise the risk of blurred pictures.

Most digital cameras offer auto speeds down to one

second (which should be more than sufficient for most

floodlit subjects or neon signs) and some also feature a

‘B’ setting where you can hold the shutter open for as

long as you want. This is great for capturing light trails

from moving cars, and can help bring city landscapes to

life. Generally, a shutter speed between four and 15

seconds is needed, depending on the circumstances.

Placing the sun so it strikes thebuilding head-on will lead to flatand disappointing results

INCLUDE MORE OF THE SCENEUsing the wide/standard settings on your lens

allows you to include more of the scene.

01 VARY THE ANGLEWalking around allows you to try out different

background to produce the best effect.

03

Using the full range of your zoom lensgives you lots of compositional choicesZOOMING IN

88

CROP IN MORE TIGHTLYZooming in more allows you to isolate

interesting details that have caught your eye.

02

This subtle study, captured in the shaded backstreet of

a village in southern Spain, showcases the rich colours

of the wall and the design of the rail

      2

COVER FEATURE URBANLANDSCAPES

Road signs make interesting urban shots –

experiment with different compositions and makeyour images more graphic by creating diagonal lines

      2

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Anticipating what colour-illuminated buildings will

turn out in the finished picture is largely a matter of

experience. Tungsten lighting is often used, and the

results will be orange – unless your camera’s whitebalance compensates for it automatically and renders it

neutral. If it does, you may want to override it, as the

results can lack mood and a nighttime feel.

Whether you’re photographing urban scenes at night

or during the day, you need to take care with your

exposure. At night, all the darkness may cause your

meter to overexpose, producing burnt-out highlights.

And certain types of buildings – especially those painted

white or with pale stonework – can fool the meter into

underexposure and flat muddy results.

You should also watch your exposure in any situation

where you’re including lots of sky in the picture –perhaps because you’re tipping the camera back to

include the top of a tall building. It’s a good idea to

check your images periodically on the preview to make

sure things are okay on the exposure front and, if

necessary, tweak the settings with compensation to get

the right balance.

In the days of film-based photography, using filters

over the lens was essential if you wanted to get the

best results: an 81B orange filter to warm up stonework;

a polariser to add punch and saturation; and a half-

coloured graduated filter to add density to bland,

washed out skies. In the digital age, these are not so

The modern urban landscape is full of highly reflective surfaces, most obviously glass but also

things such as metal and water. These can be used to good effect to produce unusual

compositions. The reflections you get in glass-fronted skyscrapers in particular can be

fascinating as they change throughout the day according to how the light is falling onto the

buildings opposite. Using a telephoto lens setting allows you to crop in tight on the reflection

and exclude the building itself, producing a trompe l'oeuil effect where the viewer doesn't

know exactly what they're looking at.

REFLECTED GLORY2

One of the downsides of using a digital camera is that you get used to having everything instantly. But not everything

is available immediately in photography – and that's particularly true of light. If you're lucky, it's coming from the right

direction and has the qualities you want, but that's not always the case. Sometimes you need to return later, when

the sun's moved further round, or has come out from behind the clouds. This is one area where patience really is a

virtue, and if you want to be a successful photographer it's something you need to cultivate.

WAITING TILL THE LIGHT IS RIGHT2

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022 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE

important, as many of the effects can be introduced in a

more controlled way in an image-editing program.

Getting creativeTry to get creative with your urban landscape work –

look at everyday scenes from a different viewpoint, so

that your images don’t look like postcard clichés.You could automatically go for a wide-angle setting

so that you can fit everything in. Or you could use the

telephoto end of your range to isolate interesting

architectural details such as gargoyles, plaques, sundials

and door knockers, which can all make great pictures in

their own right. Or you might prefer to create abstract

compositions from the unique lines, colours, patterns

and shapes you’ll find all around you.

Converging verticalsOne of the problems with using a wide-angle lens –

especially where space is limited – is that you haveto tip the camera backwards to get the top of a

building into the shot. This creates what are known as

‘converging verticals’, in which the building appears to

be falling over backwards. While it’s possible to

compensate for this problem in a number of ways,

(including in your image-editing program), you can

make a virtue of it by going in close and exaggerating

the effect, so it looks deliberate rather than an accident.

The secret of success is to use the full range of your

zoom, creating a variety of different images, ratherthan the same old thing each time. Walk around your

subject before you start snapping to find the best

viewpoint, exploring higher and lower vantage points.

Simply standing on a wall or crouching down can make

a big difference.

Look for ways of leading the viewer’s eye into the

picture. Often a building will have a path, allowing you

to compose the shot so that it draws the eye from the

foreground to the middle of the picture.

Think also about how you might be able to enhance

the picture on a computer – perhaps by cropping in to

produce a thin, upright composition or a long, thinpanorama. Many image-editing programs include a

‘panoramic’ option that automatically ‘stitches’ together

several images and, with the right subject, you might

consider shooting a series with that in mind.

People powerIf you’re a purist about your landscape photography, and

you want to photograph urban scenes without people in

them, get up early before they arrive or start shooting

when they’re not in the frame. If that’s not possible,

take several pictures of a scene featuring people and

paste the shots together to remove them completely.There are so many interesting characters who live

and work in the city who can be used to show scale,

add humour and create a more complete document of

city life. While grabbing candid shots is one approach,

consider asking people whether they are willing to pose

for you. If you explain what you’re doing, many will

more than happy to help out if they have time. Showing

people and places together results in rich images full of

resonance and meaning – images that will be

fascinating to future generations as they look back on

them, as we do now to the photographs taken by the

pioneers of photography…

■ As long as you're on your own or public property

you're free to photograph pretty much any building you

can see – as long as it's for amateur use. However,

taking pictures of certain defence and military sites is

against the law, and there are also restrictions on

photography or commercial purposes at some

government properties, such as historical monuments,

and they expect to you to buy a permit. On private

property, it's at the discretion of the owner whether youcan take pictures.

■ The reddening effect of airborne pollution in larger

cities such as Athens can enhance sunsets, producing

dramatic results in the right conditions.

■ Take care when shooting in large cities, especially

ones you don't know well. While your attention is

focused on the photography your equipment can be

vulnerable. So keep your bag close to you, with the lid

down, and place your foot inside the strap to prevent

someone grabbing it and running off.

EXPERT TIPS2

Serious architectural photographers avoid converging verticals by investing in a special

Perspective Control (PC) lens – more commonly known as a ‘shift’ lens, because the

elements can be moved up and down, magically eliminating the convergence. Most

enthusiasts don’t have upwards of £1,000 that such lenses cost, and have to make do with

their existing equipment. One option – where there is plenty of space – is to get further away

from the subject and use a telephoto lens to produce a more natural perspective. Another

alternative is to find a higher vantage point from which to shoot – so avoiding the need to tip

the camera back.

AVOIDING CONVERGING VERTICALS2

It’s a good idea to walk around your

subject before you start snapping –to find the best viewpoint

COVER FEATURE URBANLANDSCAPES