blueriver

urban sunset

Canon EOS REBEL T5i

settings

Aperture f/5 ISO 1600 Shutter 1/20 Focal Length 117/1

upload_date

Dec, 2015

Views

429

Likes

Awards

Staff Winter Selection 2015

Absolute Masterpiece

Superb Composition

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 2

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 2

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken from my balcony. The shapes are a regular sight for me: buildings, clouds and a mountain range. In a sense I've been waiting for a year for this photo, for a day when it felt right to take the shot. And one day it happened.

Time

It was in the evening. Not sure about the exact time. I came back from work and went out just to breathe some air and do a quick check on the world (I do this sometimes). I believe sometimes you compose the image, either by deliberately placing the objects/people on it or by moving around until you find the frame that you want. This was not one of those cases. The picture was there, waiting for someone to shoot it. I just happened to walk by.

Lighting

I had absolutely no control over lighting, except of course in postprocessing. One of the things I like the most about this picture is that the buildings framing the sunset are not merely black shapes, but they have lights of their own. The city has a light of its own, even when the day's light is dying. Again, this was pure nature + human nature, not my choice, I just happened to capture it.

Equipment

My camera is a Canon t5i, and this was done with a 55-250mm Canon lens. The tripod is my forearms and brow; I was leaning out of my balcony.

Inspiration

As I said, in a sense I've been waiting for this photo for around a year. Some months after I started with photography I noticed how the buildings framed the mountain range, but I never really knew what I wanted to get out of the picture. I just waited, checked on the sight several times a week (it's quite handy that it's my balcony), and one day it clicked inside my head. It's not the photo that I wanted to take (I didn't even know what I wanted), but it was the photo that I liked. I can't express it any better than saying that the photo was there, in that place, in the buildings and the sun and the clouds and in everything that was there at that moment, composed by nature or chance or some photography god. I just happened to see it and shoot it.

Editing

I darkened it some, but I didn't do much more. For me it wasn't about silhouetting the buildings or getting that fiery-like sunset (though both things are a nice touch). What I wanted to highlight were the lights in the buildings. For me that was the magic part, the thing that made this an urban sunset, when the day dies but the city lives on.

In my camera bag

My whole equipment consists of a Canon t5i, it's standard 18-55 lens, a 55-250 lens and a tripod. I usually carry the camera with one lens attached (most of the time it's the 18-55) and sometimes the other one in the bag. That's when I go for a walk and will maybe shoot something, if I even see something interesting. On those walks I take an average of 0 to 5 photos. Sometimes one of them is almost decent.

Feedback

Most of the time you compose your picture. You make most of the choices, like frame, angle, time of the day, move some objects/people around, etc. But some times you just see a picture that you like. Maybe you were walking by and saw it, maybe things arranged themselves in a particular way, maybe you were feeling extra creative that day. When the photo is presented to you by nature/chance, all you have to do is capture the thing that you saw, the thing that made you fall in love for half a second. Take a moment, identify that thing, and capture it. I'm sure if you're a somewhat skilled photographer you'll have no trouble with that (I'm a beginner and even I can do it from time to time). So my true advice to you is this: Always be on the lookout. Allow yourself to fall in love with what you see. And when it clicks, when you know that is THE photo, go for it with your heart.

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blueriver

blueriver

urban sunset

Behind The Lens

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