Urban Spaceship
To the left you can see the International Congress Centrum, one of the largest congress centres in the world - surrounded by lots of traffic.
I took this ...
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To the left you can see the International Congress Centrum, one of the largest congress centres in the world - surrounded by lots of traffic.
I took this picture from the viewing platform of the nearby Funkturm.
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I took this picture from the viewing platform of the nearby Funkturm.
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Apr, 2016Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Contest Finalist in My City Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in City In The Night Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Night Photo Contest
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Contest Finalist in From Above Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this picture from the viewing platform of the "Berliner Funkturm", a former broadcasting tower. It's also a well-known sight in Berlin but probably not as popular as the Berliner Fernsehturm - another broadcasting tower in Berlin, Germany.Time
Earlier this year, my cousin from Serbia was visiting me in Berlin. As he lives in a quite small city in rural Serbia I was trying to impress for a sight he might not forget any time soon. So I took him to this vantage point where he has a perfect view of the city. The most impressive time to enjoy this view surely is the night time. So while he was blown away by the city lights, I quickly set up my gear and took a couple of long exposure shots. This image in particular was taken about 6:30pm on March 4, 2016.Lighting
In order to capture the light trails caused by the moving cars on the Autobahn and the streets below I had to wait for the sunset of course. While facing south-east I unfortunately couldn't get the sinking sun into the frame, which isn't possible at any time of the year. So I was able to concentrate on the exposure time in order to get some decent light trails while the surrounding area still isn't getting to dark. With the given conditions I ended up with an exposure time of 36 seconds at aperture of f/16.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon 5D Mark III, with an 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM mounted on a Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 055 tripod with a 498RC2 ball head. To triggered the shot I used a cheapo remote control.Inspiration
I love to take shots from great heights. The Berliner Funkturm has a viewing platform at a height of 125 meters, so this was a perfect location. The surrounding offer a great futuristic looking building (Internationales Congress Centrum) and lots of movement from the cars in the streets. I took already a picture at the exact same spot a couple of months ago, but it had no sky in the frame. I thought it might look better not only showing the ground but also a little bit of the sky.Editing
Shots during the blue hour or even later usually do require a certain amout of post-processing. The white balancing has to be corrected most times as the camera has a hard time to perform a proper auto-adjustment when shooting at night. So I manually fixed the white balance which isn't a big deal when shooting RAW. Besides that I recovered some details in the dark areas, added some clarity, reduced the noise and finally sharpened the relevant areas of the image.In my camera bag
I kinda love to travel light. So I usually only have one body and two lenses in my bag. When shooting landscapes you need a wide-angle lens. About 80% of the time I'm shooting with my 5D Mark III and the 16-35mm f/2.8L II. I love that combination. I will never forget the moment I attached this lens to the newly purchased full-frame 5D Mark III a couple of years ago. It was so much wider than on my crop camera. The second lens in my bag is the amazingly sharp 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM. This lens is tack-sharp even at large apertures and even in the corners of the frame. It comes very handy when I need more focal length. Besides the cam and the lenses I always carry a 10-stop neutral density filter and a polarization filter with me.Feedback
When shooting long exposure images a sturdy tripod is a must. In order to reduce unneccessary movement of the camera, which would have an impact on the sharpness of the image, I trigger the shots using a remote control and also activate the cameras mirror lock-up function. Shooting at great heights always makes me nervous. In most cases, the camera is placed on the edge of a balcony or a balustrade. If you drop something from these heights it might get really ugly for people on the ground. Even a lens cap could become dangerous projectile.
