Bridge Troll
Playing at bridge trolls under London's Tower Bridge
Playing at bridge trolls under London's Tower Bridge
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Mar, 2017Views
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Winner in Viewpoints of London Photo Challenge
Winner in London bridges Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in London during an evening in March. I actually live in the North West but regularly travel to London on business, so I like to take my camera when possible to keep me entertained in the evening. For this shot, if you know where to look there are some stone stairs down to the water just east of Tower bridge on the south bank - treasure hunters can be seen down there during the day. At night I was the only person there, free to compose to my heart's content with a light breeze and gentle waves keeping me company.Time
I was wandering around London for most of the evening, and this shot came mid-way through at just before 8pm (14th March). I had started further along the south bank and was hoping for a little interest in the sky but the evening was fairly bland. Some other shots from the evening have a beautiful deep blue sky but by this point I was having to re-adjust settings to cope with the darkness.Lighting
I have always loved cities at night - something about the hum of the traffic and people bustling around, lit up by every colour light you can think of. From the south bank, the entire north bank is light up beautifully, and Tower Bridge's lighting makes it something to behold. Given the lack of colour in the sky (beyond orange light polution) I decided to go for a long exposure to remove the waves on the water and bring out the glow in the rocks. My first shot came out ok, but the rocks were a little dark so I re-shot while using my mobile photo to gently illuminate the rocks in front of me.Equipment
I use a Canon 7D with a variety of lenses including some L series, but usually like to use the superb 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 ultra wide when around the city. For this shot, the camera was on a tripod just a few centimeters above the ground to maximise foreground interest. Whenever I shoot long exposures, I do so in manual for maximum control, so this one is 30 seconds at f11, ISO100. I had a 6 stop ND filter on earlier in the evening, but think I had removed it by this point.Inspiration
I had seen the location used a few times on ViewBug and Instagram by other photographers, but never in this level of darkness and not making use of the cobbles (which are tide dependent). When I walked down, I saw the cobbled bricks and knew immediately that I was going to use them to lead into the photograph. From there it was a case of setting up the tripod as low as I could and firing off a few test shots while trying to keep my feet dry!Editing
I shot this in RAW (I always do in low light to ensure I retain as much detail as possible) but didn't process a huge amount. A small contrast adjustment and some recovery of the shadows under the bridge were all that was required to give me something I was pleased with. I'm not against post processing, as I like to create a picture that draws you in rather than claims to be an accurate representation of reality, but this shot really didn't require much adjustment.In my camera bag
I am an enthusiastic amateur and, although very lucky to have some great kit, I dont have top of the line equipment for every scenario. I have an original 7D which I got cheap once the mark II came out (a great deal for the limited budget) and some decent glass. My father very generously gave me a 24-105mm f4L from a 5D purchase, as he already had one, so I use that as my general purpose lens. For urban shots I generally flip between the 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 and the 50mm f1.4 depending on the composition I am going for, both of which are exceptional. Finally, for the macro shots in my profile, I have the 100mm f2.8L IS which is incredible. Getting a steady shot on that lens allows you to crop right in and create some amazing frames. My dream would be to own the 100-400mm mkII and do a little more wildlife shooting, but I dont have the spare 1.5k at the moment ;)Feedback
Keep playing and keep having fun. Try some long exposure times, try some different angles, and try to see familiar things in a slightly different way. I prefer to shoot hundreds of shots and delete them than shoot a handful and not get something I am happy with, so just keep going. Edit them, play with the colours, crop them, rotate them a few degrees - at some point you'll be looking at it and think "ooo, thats pretty cool". For me, it's those moments that makes this worth doing. I only recently started sharing my shots (January 2017) after my wife suggested they were quite good.... now I'm slightly hooked!
