Amsterdam_2013
Mar, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Dam Square in Amsterdam. There are a couple of these beautifully stylized lions near the National Monument (the huge obelisk in the background)Time
It was well after midnight. Ha! We had what was supposed to be a quick layover in Amsterdam on our way home from a month abroad. There was some technical issues with our inbound plane and it couldn't get there until the next day. My fiancee and I said, well, we should go into Amsterdam! There was a some kind of festival in the city and so there were tons of people all over the place. And free train tickets to boot!Lighting
The streetlights in Amsterdam give off this beautiful yellow glow, as you can see in this photo. That coupled with the lights that they splash up against the monuments and the shadows made for fairly dramatic lighting. Plus, there aren't many signs behind the National Monument. I tried to frame the shot so that any neon signs wouldn't be distracting for the viewer.Equipment
I took this with my Canon T4i and 15-85 EFS lens.Inspiration
The lions were so majestic, I knew I wanted to capture them. I had been playing around with wide angle shots throughout our entire trip and as we were walking past the statues, I thought, gosh, that'd be a sweet shot! I watched a video by a NatGeo photog several years ago that emphasized looking for interesting viewpoints of things regularly photographed. That's really inspired my style a lot. I have a photo of me (that my fiancee took) climbing on the lions mouth in Trafalgar Square, London; it's not a beautiful photo or anything, but I doubt many people have a photo of themselves hanging from that lion's mouth.Editing
Standard stuff really: I boosted the contrast and dropped the shadows to make the lighting slightly more dramatic. But really, this image is pretty close to what I captured.In my camera bag
Canon T4i, Canon 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 EFS, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Gorilla Pod, my tripod (depending on the length and purpose of the trip), Canon 430EX Speedlight, Yongnuo RF-603C3-INT remote triggers, and a timer remote.Feedback
Shooting in low light without a tripod can be insanely frustrating. Boost your ISO to 800, if not 1600. You can always clean up grain in post. The really important part is to find something to brace the camera against: a lightpost, the base of a statue, a trash can. It sounds funny, but by traveling without a tripod, you get creative and wind up taking a lot of interesting shots. If you really want a particular shot and there's nothing to brace the camera against you have to make you body as stable as possible. Sometimes that means leaning against a structure, or squatting or even laying on the ground. Don't be afraid to get dirty! Make sure you are using back button focusing for this kind of shooting - it's a lifesaver. Finally, once your shot is framed and focused, take a moderately deep breath. As soon as you exhale, click the shutter button. Voila!
