….these just in….

In my recent expedition on Sunday evening, I deliberately avoided photographing the front elevations of famous buildings, but in doing so, I’ve got a series of more or less anonymous shots that leave me feeling underwhelmed. That’s a shame because I enjoyed the experience and I intend to repeat it but there are lessons to be learned for next time (see below).

Some of the later shots have water droplets on the lens catching the streetlights and creating starbursts, lens flare and other unwanted artefacts.

1. Be ready to pack everything away discretely so I can nip into a pub to use the toilet.
2. Take an umbrella to hold over the camera.
3. Shallow depth of field doesn’t look good in low-light images, so use a narrow aperture.
4. Take the flash gun and long cable for off-camera fill-in lighting.
5. Take a torch to experiment with light-painting.
6. Take more time – don’t be in a hurry to get home (see point one).
7. In the darker areas, keep the shutter open on Bulb setting, and try longer exposures.
8. Experiment with photographing people.

 

Tags: after dark