Could use some help on how to take bridge pictures.

April 11th, 2011
We went to the Nicholson Viaduct today. Once I got in front of this HUGE bridge I realized I had no idea how to photograph such a large thing. I only ever take photos of young children so this was so awkward for me. Over the last 3 months I have learned to get in close to get a nice photo of a child. With that being my #1 rule I felt so confused at how to approach this. I'm not use to having to work with roads and signs in my way! I would love to hear advice on how to take photos of huge things, what camera settings might work best, how to edit to give more dimension, cropping advice... Honestly I would love any advice I can get! I have no idea what I'm doing. Here is one of the photos I took today.
April 11th, 2011
Usually with landscape type shots you're looking to use a wide angle lens and a small aperture to get everything into focus. As it is now I don't think it's too bad. The composition is pretty good, but maybe a tad underexposed in the foreground and the gray skies aren't all that interesting. But given what you had I think it works.

But one of the tricks landscape and cityscape photographers use is to do exactly what you're used to doing, and that's to get in close. Rather than trying to take in the entire scene, get up close and capture the shapes and textures of a small section of the subject. So next time you go back instead of just trying to cram the entire thing into the frame, get as close as you can, find some different angles, and give people a view of the subject that they otherwise would never see.
April 11th, 2011
@marubozo said it all...my first thought was that it would look good close up, you really lose a lot of the smaller detail on the bridge from this distance, but my first thought before I read what you wrote was that it was a nice landscape shot! I'm still learning my camera settings, but as far as editing I would (depending what software you are using) adjust the saturation esp. the trees and maybe add some contrast in the background by turning the hue more blue and "adding" some clouds...that would add dimension. And if you have a decent program, and a little practice, you can actually remove most of the signs pretty well if you wanted to. Hope this was helpful, and I still think it looks great like it is! =) @schoolnsuch
April 11th, 2011
I agree with @marubozo @tx_mendoza often less is more. I can rarely resist a pretty bridge and have a few photos but unless it is a very small one I generally take a picture of a segment of it.

The composition of this photo is overall good, I would be interested to see more of the landscape on the other side which you could get from moving slightly closer or at a different angle.

I agree with tx_mendoza about editing the image a bit to add more colour to the sky and if possible to remove the street signs.

I hope none of that sounded too critical!

Here are a couple of bridges I have in my project which might illustrate how having a smaller segment and more colour can help make the most of a picture:



April 12th, 2011
@marubozo Thanks so much for your advice! I did take a few close up shots of the bridge but I didn't look at them to see how they looked (I only looked at the full bridge shots after I got home). This bridge is very close to my home so I will go back on a nicer day. After reading your message I can think of several more interesting ways to do this. I'm so glad I asked because I left feeling so sad about the experience. I'll give it another try in the next few weeks. In NEPA we have gray days for over half the year. I'm waiting for blue skies to show up. The sky should look better in May. This bridge has a baby brother that I think I can get a better perspective than this bridge. This one is on a main highway. I think the other side of the bridge (small town, off the highway side) might be a better way to shoot this. I am going to go back to give it a try
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April 12th, 2011
@tx_mendoza Thanks! I will play around with this photo to practice my editing. I use Gimp a lot for editing. I think you're right that I can edit out the signs without much trouble at all. I'm going to check the other side of the bride because I don't think the small town of Nicholson has many signs in the way from that side. I love your idea of adding clouds! I would have never thought to add in clouds. I will fiddle with the saturation and contrast and see how much I can do with editing. I live very close to this bridge so it is no problem going back to shoot it again. I will look for a pretty sky day to shoot it next time. Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice!
April 12th, 2011
@emmar84 You don't sound critical at all!!! I'm so thankful for the advice!!!! Your bridges are AMAZING!!! I am going to play with editing this photo then go back to reshoot this bridge with all this wonderful advice and my new eyes. Thanks for helping me!
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