Urban Shapes
Apr, 2015Views
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Jillybean56
April 22, 2015
Hi Carmine, welcome to Viewbug! I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in front of the Governor Macquarie Tower in Sydney. It was the setting of the foyer battle in the first Matrix movie.Time
Night at about 11pm.Lighting
Street light. No moon.Equipment
This shot took 15sec at 18mm, f22 and ISO 800 using a D5100 and Nikon 18-55 lens. Manfrotto 190 tripod with trigger ball head.Inspiration
To capture this image one dark and windy evening, I left the house looking for a night urban jungle shot. I knew I was going to the city but where exactly I was not sure. This trip would also be one of the last with my trusty Nikon D5100 as I had pulled the trigger and ordered my D810. In the car traveling along the freeway something I saw reminded me of the Matrix movie. The cold night light seemed to give the buildings I passed a strong sense of starkness, a robotic starkness as if they were attempting to dominate human kind. Yes I was there, I liked the idea, but for my photo, the evil did not come from robots. In my photo, the evil foe was going to be humans and the way they attempt to bring order to wild old Mother Nature. I found myself heading to where the Movie was filmed, and yes it was exactly what I wanted. The Macquarie Tower, sight of foyer battle in the Movie, houses most of the local State government Ministers and parliamentarians. Security there was going to be tight so I did not want to hang around. I parked my car in the 15 minute parking space and got to work. During the day, I had never noticed the many trees that had been planted to soften the angles of surrounding buildings, they were perfect. I set up my tripod and got off a few shots. My eye was drawn to the contrast in shapes and angles – the vertical and horizontal against the beauty of that almost seventies style space ship building. And that is the effect I wanted. Light and power streaming out of the rocket as if to warn the encroaching trees that they were fragile against the will of we humans. By the way, the Macquarie Tower is the building on the left closest to the camera.Editing
Bit processing in LR to take out the colour and then improve contrastIn my camera bag
Conin 8 stop ND filter. Now have a Nikon D810 Always carry a cable release.Feedback
I found that the camera's matrix metering for city scapes are exceptional. A tripod is essential for night shots and a strong vision for what your looking to achieve helps.
