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Across the Hudson
I was having a walkthrough of Liberty state park when I found this shot of Manhattan across the river.
I was having a walkthrough of Liberty state park when I found this shot of Manhattan across the river.
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Dec, 2019Views
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lissavanderveer
December 12, 2019
Phenomenal picture, with beautiful touches of color. Thanks for joining the challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
A humble drive up the Garden State Parkway brought me to Liberty State Park in Jersey City where this photo was taken. It was a short walk to the Hudson river's edge where the view of Manhattan seems boundless along the lenghts of shore.Time
I had pulled up to the park around 9:30 at night. It wound not be long before the park closes for the evening so i had to be quick and decisive. Night time is a prime choice when capturing Manhattan's electric essense and it makes for good cityscapes as well.Lighting
When shooting low light a tripod and shutter release is essential to eliminate camera shake with slower shutter speeds. You can use a speed light in second shutter sync mode to get more detail out of cityscapes but sacrifice that "moody" look. Using light reflecting off the water as leading lines is something I look for in low light compositions. Slow shutter speeds smooth out the water and reflections making them more subtle and pastel looking.Equipment
I shot this with a Canon Rebel t3i and a Canon 75-300 zoom lense at 125 mm. I also used a Manfrotto Be Free Advanced tripod and a shutter release remote to eliminate camera shake.Inspiration
Long exposure photography is my favorite form of the art. At the time rivers were a main focus as a compostional element. Feeling the urge to shoot a scene away from the forest my attention quickly averted to Manhattan. the city is an infinite subject waiting to be photographed and has always held a place in my heart. Originally my plan was to set up for sunrise further south. I had actually found out about this spot from looking for good places to fish for stripped bass a couple years earlier. Their was the immediate change of plans to make it a late evening shoot instead. Once i knew where i was shooting I knew what type of images i was looking to produce from tha location. I took a fast glance at Google maps to get a general idea of the terrain and perspective before I hit the road.Editing
This image is a single raw file that I edited using Lightroom. First was to adjust the exposure, tone curve, brights, and darks to get the contrast and lighting i was looking for. I didnt need to adjust the white balance because it was done on scene in camera. I didnt use split toning and chose to work with the nights natural colors. It was a bit tedious to blend the bright color lights with the depths of the shadows to maintain detail and proper contrast. Feathering the individual color luminance was essential in balancing the highlights along with an extra point adjustment on the tone curve. I used the highlights and shadows sliders for the fine adjustments. It didnt need too much from the effects section: clarity in the 20's somewhere, less than %15 added texture, minimal dehazing as i want to keep the ambience from the light in the atmosphese, and an ultra fine vingette of about -4 with a feather of +2 and a highlight of +1. I did a slight boost in the detail and sharpness section but it was rather minimal. Standard lens correction and aboration removal were applied. Most of the time spent was in exposure and color to have a balanced image with the intricate highlights and deep shadows. There was no spot healing or masking required.In my camera bag
In my digital camera bag i make sure to have 4 camera batteries already charged, my camera, a 50mm lens, a telephoto lens, shutter release, speedlight with battery, extra sd cards, my tripod, and an air puffer along with lens cleaning solution and lens cloth. My 35mm film bag has a Canon F-1 original, Canon A-1, multiple shutter releases, one to two speedlights, 50mm prime lenses, a 135mm prime lens, a 200mm lens, spare batteries, the same lens cleaning tools, an assortment of film and a couple spare canisters with a pen and notebook. A tripod and mount/s go with each camera bag on most occations.Feedback
Urban environments along bodies of water provide much potential when composing low light images. The consistent lighting lets you have plenty of opportunity to experiment with your camera. I set my focus to infinity, leave my ISO at 100, and adjust the aperature and shutter speed accordingly. This was an 8 second exposure so dont be afraid to leave the shutter open to get that smooth, whispy look in the water or clouds. You dont have to shoot with a wide open aperature, if you need some more time with the shutter open to get the look you like then close up the f-stop until you have reached a desired shutter speed. A sturdy tripod and shutter release are essential in eliminating camera shake during long exposures. Dont be afraid to experiment.
