Foggy New York Landmarks
Aug, 2019Views
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Awards
Spring 21 Award
Judge Favorite
9Teen Award
Contest Finalist in Finding Fog In The City Photo Contest
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
I was in New York for a trade show on a cold January evening and was walking back to my hotel when this composition presented itself. I was waiting at a crosswalk and happened to look up trying to find landmarks to make sure I was still heading the right direction. The humidity and temperature were painfully cold but I set up the tripod and snapped away till my fingers were numb then hurried and found myself a café on the way home to warm up and review the shots. Its the kind of nights and moments I love.Time
It was probably around 7 or 8 PM on a very dark night.Lighting
The city was lit by the diffused lights reflecting off the low clouds, and the high humidity was condensing into a fine mist that was on everything.Equipment
My rig was a Nikon D7000 set up on my Manfroto Travel tripod with a 18-135 mm Nikon lens. My focal length was set at 75. I took multiple bracketed shots to make sure when I got post processing I would have a few shots with great focus and plenty of depth of detail.Inspiration
The buildings were painted in dark hues and I thought "it reminds me of one of those old detective movies where the scenes of the city at night that had an air of mystery or foreboding". Adding in the juxtaposition of the the big neon New York hotel sign and the Empire State Building behind it was too good to pass up. It just felt like an iconic view from the 1940's I remembered from old black and white movies.Editing
I used layering with my HDR software to ensure I had the right amount of detail in the shadow and the brightest highlights, being careful not to introduce the surrealistic look that over doing it with HDR can introduce. Additionally I whitened all the whites with selective color editing in Photoshop.In my camera bag
My daily travel kit includes my Nikon D7000 or D600, a wireless shutter trigger, my best wide angle zoom, a varible ND filter, and a polarizing filter. I keep it all in a compact sling bag that I can easily rotate from a backpack, in to an easy access bag right in front of me I can use as a platform for changing lenses or adding filters.Feedback
I travel a lot for my day job in the tech industry, but always have my camera kit with me for those moments that come along when you weren't planning on anything. I'm often glad I make that my habit since some of my best moments are surprises. It also enriches my days since I'm always looking for the beautiful and interesting around me. In this case the bracketing and multiple shots landed me the right negatives with the right level of focus, and the right amount of vehicles in the shot.
