This week for "Get Pushed" Michael Elliott challenged me to: "shoot a wide view cityscape in vivid color featuring architecture rather than people."
I expected this to be trickier than it looks, and I was right... I have a thing about camera tilt, and even getting up in a high-ish spot and shooting at 17mm (widest i can get with the lenses i have) it was a struggle... plus i'm not loving the light... but regardless, I've found this to be an excellent exercise...
Love to get some critique on these shots, especially from a technical perspective... I know these are nothing special, but if ever I get somewhere with a great city view, I don't want to blow it! Plus i hope to have at least one or two more opportunities to work on this challenge this week...
Northy you did wonderful! A majestic wide shot with interesting architecture. Shadows help give depth and you took an excellent angle. As far as any pointers, I would just say try to shoot this end of day early evening to catch subdued natural lighting and articial lights coming up on buildings. But fabulous!
@maggiemae oh yes... mid day generally sucks from a lighting perspective... it's difficult for me to be downtown in the evening... my husband travels a lot for work and we have three kids... so i have to be home most nights by 6:30... just hoping that i will know enough to nail a decent shot next time i can be downtown when it starts to get dark :)
What a variety of architectural styles. Love the reflection on the glass building, Im forever taking shots out our 28th floor windows of the huge glass monoliths that surround us.
You have done really well with it. I'm with you on camera tilt Not sure how you managed to avoid converging verticals here - software trickery? Or maybe you did get high enough and far enough away? I don't think the harsh light spoils it - you haven't lost any detail in all that glass and it has nicely lifted the image. I love the contrast between old and new. It's a great image - good job!
Beautiful lines, the glass building adds something special to the sky line. As others have mentioned the lighting is a bit blah, it would look beautiful early morning or evening I bet.
this looks great. so how'd you do this? i have the same shot and for the love of me, i couldn't figure out why the buildings are tilted. every time i look at my photo, i get nervous thinking the buildings are going to topple over. are you in a higher place like where? thanks.
@summerfield so first off yeah, i think i am in a higher place... i walked up the ramp to be at the highest walkway that goes around city hall... i was as far back as i could get, and i'm pretty sure i was standing on one of the benches...
your image is looking tilted because you probably had your camera angled up... in theory, you can fix this in photoshop, but whenever i've tried this, it always looks like the photo has been tinkered with, and it still looks off-kilter to me... so i solve the problem another way...
and now i'm going to tell you my secret - and you have to promise not to tell anyone, 'k? ;p this is a crop from part of the top half of a photo taken in portrait orientation... when i take shots like this, i make sure my camera is NOT tilted... that is, it is level to the horitzon, buildings line up on both sides of the frame... even if this means a ton of junk in the photo which i know i will crop out later...
@northy - no, your secret is safe with me. thank you so much. if it isn't raining, i might go there tomorrow at lunchtime, stake out the joint and get a shot. i hope the rest of your 276 followers don't get to read your secret though. :-)
The reflections on the mirrored building are very cool.
your image is looking tilted because you probably had your camera angled up... in theory, you can fix this in photoshop, but whenever i've tried this, it always looks like the photo has been tinkered with, and it still looks off-kilter to me... so i solve the problem another way...
and now i'm going to tell you my secret - and you have to promise not to tell anyone, 'k? ;p this is a crop from part of the top half of a photo taken in portrait orientation... when i take shots like this, i make sure my camera is NOT tilted... that is, it is level to the horitzon, buildings line up on both sides of the frame... even if this means a ton of junk in the photo which i know i will crop out later...
:)