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People's Choice in Bright lights in the big city Photo Challenge
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
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Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
Being an amateur and self taught photographer, I always roam around the city to get inspiration. This image was composed along the bank of the Singapore River., a popular location with both tourists and the locals.Time
I had in mind the skyline against the blue hour sky, which would make a perfect color combination of the generally warm light from the streets and the buildings. So this was shot around the blue hour time.Lighting
This was shot without flash with a moderate 4 seconds exposure to adequately capture the skyline while minimizing over-exposure from the light sources. It was slightly under-exposed and the details in the shadow were recovered from the raw file in post-processing.Equipment
For such low light scene, a tripod is a must.Inspiration
With the naked eyes, the skyline of the city was actually breathtaking, especially with the reflection from the river. So I thought this gorgeous cityscape must be captured on camera. The result turned out to be quite as pleasing as the actual scene.Editing
Post-processing involved stitching of the columns of frames in Adobe Photoshop with the native feature, with exposure and shadow tweaking, along with enhancement of the colors to bring out the vibrancy of the scenery shot.In my camera bag
A Lowepro backpack is my faithful companion. In the bag are a few lens covering from wide angle to 240mm zoom, including a macro lens. These lens add up the weight but give me assurance and access to these lens if chances come along the way, sometimes unexpectedly! A micro fibre cloth, a blower and a set of GNDs, reverse GNDs, and big stoppers also form array of equipment in the Lowepro bag.Feedback
To shoot a night scene, blue hour, dusk or dawn of the city, pre-planning is useful. You should check out the weather and cloud conditions, and if it involves the river, tide information and a still water makes a big difference to the effect on the image. These pre-trip planning may save you from making a unfruitful trip for such reflection scenery and allow you to plan for alternative scenes.