Ice Castle
Mar, 2018Views
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Community Choice Award
Contest Finalist in Covers Photo Contest Vol 46
50mm Lens
Contest Finalist in Towns In The Winter Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Hamburg's historic icon "Speicherstadt", a century-old warehouse complex of Hamburg's free port. This particular spot is the most iconic view from an old bridge along the canals of the Speicherstadt at freezing temperatures.Time
30 minutes after sunset at the transition from dusk to Blue Hour.Lighting
The camera is facing west, right towards the sunset. This part of the sky will always be the brightest until night. Without additional light, these backlight shots may become a bit too underexposed (HDR would work though). I waited at freezing temperatures and way too thin shoes 45 minutes until the light was perfect. I wanted to capture the slow transition from dusk to the blue hour without overexposing the sky. This can easily be controlled by enabling clipping overlays in your camera and a histogram check. Too light (and too dark) areas will then be flashing up on the camera screen and the histogram will have a high peak on the very right (left) side. Just when the sky was perfect, I framed the leading lines of the old buildings and the broken and refrozen ice as multiple ways towards the central building, situated right in the middle of the canal. The Speicherstadt gets illuminated by night, so the warm light spots and the windows on the right add just the right warmth to the cold sky and the frozen water surface. I set the aperture to f9 while exposing for 25 seconds at ISO100 and focused manually to roughly a third of the composition.Equipment
I use a Canon70D on a Manfrotto Carbon tripod and ball head for maximum sturdiness. I used my 18-135mm f3.5 Canon lens at 18mm and a polarisation filter to maximize reflections on the ice and released the shutter with a cable release.Inspiration
It's one of the most photographed spots in Hamburg and I have been there several times more and less taking the same picture of this beautiful architectural scenery reflecting in the canal. But I always dreamed of a cold enough winter to freeze the canals (which doesn't happen regularly) and when last winter hit Hamburg the most, I went out in freezing temperatures to capture my dream photo. Yes, I do rank photography over my personal health.Editing
I shot in RAW to have maximum control over tonalities and white balance in post-production. I reduced the highlights a bit to show more details in the windows and light spots. I increased the shadows just to show more detail in the buildings and maintaining the interesting shadows. By increasing the contrast while decreasing clarity just a bit, I got a more crisp photo without overdoing it. Those shots easily look a bit overprocessed by using too much clarity. I sharpened and transformed the photo to have a crisp appearance and straight lines. This can nicely be done in Lightroom. The automatic detection works quite pleasing and knowing how to use manual transformation with this tool will definitely step up your architecture photography game if you didn't use it before.In my camera bag
A Canon70D with mainly its 18-135mm f 3.5 Canon kit zoom lens and an 11-16mm f2.8 Tamron wide angle. I use a Manfrotto MT055CXPRO4 carbon tripod and a Manfrotto 057 magnesium ball head. This tripod is a sturdy companion but also a weight to carry. I prefer maximum control over sharpness and this tripod is winning the game. For exploring and when lighter equipment is necessary, I own a small Gorillapod mini-tripod. For filters, I have a Haida 150mm filter holder which I connect to my lens using adapter rings. I own an 85mm polarizer, a 6-stop ND FIlter and a graduated filter for managing different Light situations.Feedback
I love shooting architecture and city views in the blue hour because the sky won't get overexposed by using a long shutter speed which creates nice long exposure effects and a deep blue sky. The blue hour will slowly start 10-45 minutes after sunset respectively prior to sunrise, depending on the season (there are several apps and tools to find the exact time) so I like to combine a sunset/sunrise with a blue hour shoot of the same or close locations. Try to be on spot early and find your composition and set up your camera. Especially focusing gets a bit tough in the night. Focus to roughly a third into the motive and set the camera to f8-11 for maximum sharpness. A smaller aperture from f11-f18 will cause light stars around highlights which sometimes creates a pleasing effect.
