City on Fire!
Feb, 2020Views
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2020 Choice Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
I am living in Singapore, a tiny city, where this photo was taken.Time
The key to taking a good image of cityscape or landscape is always during sunset and sunrise period, dusk and dawn. The color of the sky will make a significant impact to to the whole scene. Thus I waited to sunset time to take a shot of this skyline, and was luck that the clouds and the golden hour worked in harmony to create the shot that I wanted.Lighting
My emphasis in taking this shot was to complement the skyline with the idea of an epic sunset, with a vivid sunset. The golden hour as mentioned earlier is an important and short duration of time to capitalize for a more dynamic shot of the skyline. The orange and red hue associated with the golden hour of sunset will be a strong factor in creating a more visually pleasing image of a skyline. I was glad to be at the right place and right time to witness this sunset with my eyes and captured through the lens too.Equipment
This image was shot with the Sony A7RIII camera with a the Laowa 10-18mm manual lens at 10mm focal length. GND filter was used to prevent clipping of the sky where the brightness was significantly greater the the city skyline.Inspiration
I always am fascinated with reflections of skyline, so I scouted and found this location where the beautiful skyline was reflected by the pond. So I set out to frame the shot with the reflection and the vivid sunset to create the final image, I was quite pleased with the result as the pond was relatively still to afford an almost perfect reflection of the skyline and sky.Editing
For sunset or sunrise shots, it is usually necessary to do post-processing given the extreme range of lighting condition across the frame of the photo. In this image, the dynamic range was very wide given the brightness of the sky would under-expose the city skyline below it. Thus I used a GND of 3 stops to cut down the exposure from the sky. But further editing is necessary to bring out the details in the shadow region, which is mainly the buildings that formed the skyline. The use of GND was able to prevent clipping of the rich hues that were reflected by the clouds, and that makes for an easier task to bring out the vibrancy of the clouds. Temperature was adjusted to taste. Hope you like the final touched up image as much as I do.In my camera bag
As an avid landscape and cityscape photographer, I always carry a few ultrawide angle lens, such as the Laoaw 1-18mm zero distortion lens, the Laowa 12mm f2.8 lens, as well as the Laowa 15mm f2.0 lens. These lens served different purposes depending on the composition desired, and the lighting conditions. For example, for very tall buildings, I often have to use the Laowa 10-18mm lens at widest angle in order to capture the entire scene into the frame. While, I also used the 12mm lens on another Sony camera to capture time lapses. My Laowa 15mm lens is usually deployed to capture the Milky Way because it has the biggest aperture at f2.0. I also carry a bunch of accessories such as wired shutter controller to prevent camera shake, and a few spare batteries for the cameras.Feedback
For shooting cityscape such as this image that I share, it is important to ensure basic things like horizontal and vertical leveling be as perfectly set up as possible, as many such shots could be ruined with a slightly off horizontal and vertical perspective. Try to frame the skyline with a mice sunset or sunrise to make it stand out from the ordinary. Have fun experimenting!
