Oporto
Oct, 2017Views
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MIsabel
April 13, 2018
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MIsabel
April 13, 2018
A stunning photo of Vila Nova de Gaia (you took this photo from the city of Oporto, my hometown). Gaia is the town on the other side of river Douro, both connected by Luis I bridge (in this photo). On the top of the hill there is the Serra do Pilar Monastery, nowadays a cathedral and a military barracks behind it. Congratulations for this so beautiful image. Cheers.
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is a photo of Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal, taken from the city of Oporto. Gaia is located on the other side of the Douro river and both cities are connected by the Luis I bridge (shown in this picture). On the top of the hill sit the Serra do Pilar Monastery, nowadays a cathedral, as well as military barracks. The bridge was built between 1881 and 1886 by the engineer Théophile Seyrig, disciple of Gustave Eiffel. It looks a lot like the Maria-Pia bridge, located upstream, but has an additional lower deck for road traffic. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Time
In each city I visit I walk for hours and hours in search for an interesting point of view. This bridge is so famous that it is a classic and a day picture would have been very common. Night pictures are often more interesting if the light is good. This picture was taken at 6 P.M. at the end of November.Lighting
Composing with city lights was the challenge. The light pollution is so important the sky does not look dark. I decided to bracket the exposure to make sure I would get the result I was looking for.Equipment
This shot was taken with a full format body (24x36) and a 35mm prime lens. To get a nice crispy look on the full frame I set the aperture to f/16. The use of a wider lens would have caused too much eye distraction and a close-up lens would have been less accurate for the result I was looking for. It is a long exposure based on a 15 second exposure so a tripod was used.Inspiration
To photograph a very famous place, you have to try to give it some character. The lines and curves coming from the left and diving into the picture, the city lights looking like stars and the tranquility of the river waters giving a strong reflection are the most important points of the composition of this image.Editing
The exposure bracketing helped me. So I decided to create a HDR from multi-exposed images. The reduction of overexposure on city lights, the use of a 'star effect' filter and an adequate B&W post-processing to attenuate as much as possible the light pollution in the sky were the different steps I followed.In my camera bag
I always carry the minimum I need according to what I am looking for, which means one or two bodies: a full format and a 14mm, an APS-C with a 300mm prime, a soft light reflector, and a couple of fully charged batteries for each body.Feedback
It is always difficult for me to give advice.The main path to follow is to be patient and persistent for every shot you want to take. A shot taken from a running car is usually not a winning shot. Avoid as much as you can the 'easy zoom way' and move, change your perspective. And do not rush.
