From Above
Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The harbourfront center tower in Downtown Vancouver, Canada. This was taken from the revolving restaurant on the top floor.Time
Around 2:00pm in the afternoon on a cold cloudy day, the clouds were really low hanging and you can see them blowing in on the left side of the frame, I waited until I just had a hint of clouds.Lighting
the lighting was a little flat given the clouds but it was light cloud so still a lot of natural light getting through. The lack of direct sunlight helped though given that I was shooting through glass and it meant less reflections.Equipment
Leica Dlux6, iso 200, 1/200, F2.8, raw, the shot was handheld, did not have a tripod and the structure did not lend itself to balancing the camera.Inspiration
I have always been fascinated by retro aerial shots, so when I took this I knew that I wanted it in black and white. The restaurant has an interesting design in that the windows angle out at 45 degrees sloping away from the building I knew that I could likely lean the camera out and in effect be looking almost straight down like I was suspended out form the building,Editing
Shot in RAW and then post in Lightroom 5, followed by Silver efex pro 2, basic crop, contrast, some dodge and burn and then to BW.In my camera bag
Leica Dlux6, which I used on this day. I really like this camera as I can throw it in my pocket and just always have it handy. Which is exactly how I used it on this day which was the end of a business lunch. It has a good lens and creates shots that I like. I tend to use this camera as a scout, I will often discover buildings, interiors churches etc and take shots with this camera and then return with a larger camera. I tend to not push the ISO too far on this camera preferring not to go above 400 as I feel it drops off after that, this day I sot at 200. Fuji x100s, really like the styling, feel, look and performance of this wonderful camera, its a great easy to walk around camera. Canon 7D, I tend to use this mostly for sports, wildlife and portraits with a lighting set up. 3 main lenses wit this camera; Canon L 70 - 200, Tamron 70 - 300, and Tamron 17-50mm, oh and a canon 50mm 1.8. Most recently I added a Sony A7 full frame, Lenses; Sony Zeiss 24-70mm, and two older legacy lenses Minolta 24mm 2.8, and Minolta 50mm 1.4, both from i think the 60's or so that I picked up for around $80-100, on ebay and use with an adapter. Lumu light meter that clips into my iphone that I use with a Lumu light meter app.Feedback
This shot was most ideal because of the overcast sky, it helped reduce glare on the window. I looked specifically for an area of the window that was in shade from the inside and when I composed held the camera so that my shadow hit the window to further reduce glare. The 45 degree slant of the window helped to get the shot straight down, or close, but that meant I had to lean out carefully towards the glass and keep the lens as close the the glass as possible. Which felt like I was going to fall, although in reality i was safe inside with my feet on the ground. I kept a wide aperture because I wanted anything on the glass well out of focus to make it disappear. Finally I had to take about a dozen shots to get both a hint of cloud without too much and get the traffic lined up the way that I wanted.
