At the end to the right
West bound of the future Metro system of Panama City, Panama. Scheduled to start riding by 2014, the Metro will take no longer than 25 minutes to go through all...
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West bound of the future Metro system of Panama City, Panama. Scheduled to start riding by 2014, the Metro will take no longer than 25 minutes to go through all 13 stations and is projected to transport about 50000 passengers hourly.
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May, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
In the tunnels of the Metro of Panama City, Panama.Time
Early afternoon, around 2pm.Lighting
The light within the tunnel was kind of awkward, dark at some points, poorly lit at another ones, and a bit brighter near the stations, not very consistent. The only thing I could think of to try to make it even, light wise, was make a long exposure shot and wash out unnecessary glare or aberration during exposure. I had these lamps on one side of the tunnel and a nice light reflection on the other, so I had to find out the right shutter speed for them not to get burnt and to get an even illumination throughout the way. End up shooting with an exposure of 4 seconds and f11 of aperture.Equipment
I used a Canon EOS Rebel T3i with a Canon EFS 18-135 3.5-5.6 IS kit lens, filterless, and mounted on a tripod. No flash.Inspiration
I was granted permission, along with a group of photographer friends, to shoot the Metro of Panama from the inside out, while it was still under construction. By itself it was a very special opportunity that very few photographers would have, but I also saw it as a great chance to experiment with some exposure techniques and be creative, 25 meters underground. I got exited from the moment we got the get go and started thinking on possible scenarios and frames, as well as illumination issues, all that was getting me inspired along the way.Editing
Yes, the original image came up a tad warm for my taste, with a yellow hue on the tunnel walls that wasn't that appealing, so I desaturated all colors but red; I noticed the numbers on the wall were red as well as the hanging cable, and I like red. Thought it was a nice touch, since it was subtle, and the idea of making some selective coloring was attractive since that is not something I do often with my images.In my camera bag
I upgraded to a Canon 6D since this photo was taken, so I carry that instead, along with a Canon EF 24-105 f4L, a Canon EF 100 2.8L IS macro, a Sigma 35 1.4 DG arts and a Sigma 70-200 2.8 EX APO DG lenses. Also, polarized filters for each lens, a Neewer flash, a YongNuo ring flash, a couple of diffusers, a remote triggers, a reflector, a few rubber bands, a pen, extra memory cards and batteries… ah, and a protein bar.Feedback
Since this shoot was planned with anticipation (while the permission to shoot underground was processed), unlike street photography for example, I had the chance to do some research about what kind of conditions could I encounter down there and prepare myself with the right equipment. I'd advice the same, to research, to be prepared, specially when heading to a new location. That, and to add some geometry to your compositions, is always better to lead the eyes of the viewer along the way within the image, and a very interesting and faithful method of doing so is by using some geometry within the composition. Ah, one last thing, before going for a definitive version, if you decided to do some post-ptocessing, experiment with desaturation of colors and selective coloring, you can get some funky and interesting results.
