Digital Camera World » urban

Landscapes shortlist: Photographer of the Year 2011

dcworld — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:17:53 +0000

Here are the amazing photos that made the shortlist for the Landscapes category of Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2011

What the judges are looking for in the Landscapes category: “Whether it’s the natural, urban, wild or coastal landscape that inspires you the most, the important thing is to capture the true sense of a location in an original, yet technically superb, way. ”

Shoot incredible abstract urban shots

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:27:01 +0000

Contemporary or dilapidated, careful composition can make architecture great for abstracts

Architecture lends itself perfectly to abstract shots, with shape and form taking centre stage for artistic photography. Towns and cities boast a wide variety of buildings, old and new, that lend themselves perfectly to stunning abstracts. The trick to finding the most interesting spots is by training your eye to see them in the first place.

Towns and cities boast countless buildings, both old and new, ripe for some stunning abstract shots.

With shape and form taking centre stage in abstract shots, architecture lends itself perfectly. Even the ugliest of buildings (sometimes especially the ugly ones) can be transformed into striking abstracts with a little imagination and careful composition. The trick is teaching yourself to stop yourself looking at the big picture and go close instead.

Pattern & form

The key to great architectural abstracts is training your eye to see them. At first it can be difficult to stop seeing buildings as whole structures and start isolating pattern, form and shape.

Look up and you‘ll be rewarded with views free from cars, people and rubbish. Your compositions will improve dramatically when they‘re free from such distracting elements. A telephoto zoom lens is a good choice for close, clean-looking shots, but it‘s worth packing a wide-angle or fisheye lens, too.

Remember to move around, just a few steps can make all the difference - for example, shifting so you can‘t see a building‘s windows, just the ledges.

Finally, don‘t forget the importance of the quality of light and weather. Golden light will enhance your images, but blue skies add freshness and threatening cloud build drama. Now there‘s no excuse to stay indoors…

Making the most of colour

Most old buildings are made from a single material and are therefore a single colour. In contrast, lots of new builds have multicoloured facades or splashes of colour.

Make the most of this colour – it‘s great for adding oomph and giving your abstracts a contemporary feel. Keep your eye open for brand-new developments…

Explore every location

There’s more than one shot to be had at every location you find, so make it a priority to really work your scene and you‘ll go home with more keepers. Once you‘ve got the shot you initially spotted, try as many different angles and compositions as possible.

Be sure to walk around the building - you might have been missing the light hitting it on the other side.

A building like this offers a wealth of different abstracts - your imagination is the only limit.

These neglected waterside buildings made a great upright shot and only needed a touch of Levels tweaking in Photoshop

15 top tips for painting with flash

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:27:00 +0000

You can transform your favourite photographic locations easily by shooting at night and painting with flash

Dark nights away from stray ambient light can make for some dramatic imagery. Try taking your tripod out on a late night and paint a location with your flash, illuminating it to create shadows and highlights that will result in incredible effects. This guide will show you some common mistakes and take you through how to capture the perfect flash painted shot.

On these warm summer nights it‘s worth staying out late, taking your flashgun along to some of your favourite photographic haunts and painting with flash. It‘s a great way to inject some drama into your photography.

You‘ll need somewhere fairly dark so that any stray or ambient light doesnít affect your long exposures. Ideal locations include an unlit park, playground or even a graveyard. Maybe there’s a ruined barn or building near you. Dumped cars in fields and old, twisted fallen trees can also make good subject matter.

Whatever you choose to shoot, make sure it has some fairly light detail that can be illuminated by flash. Black statues hidden among dark trees won‘t cut the mustard here.

It‘s amazing just how much you can transform a scene using a long exposure and one flashgun.

Stable gear

As your exposures could run into minutes (and way beyond the 30-second shutter speed of DSLRs), a remote release cable that can be locked open is essential. A strong and sturdy tripod is also crucial to avoid any movement from wind, which will ultimately ruin the image.

Try to avoid extending the leg sections if you can (particular the lower, thinner ones).It‘s a good idea not to raise the centre column. Stand the tripod on a higher surface if need be and avoid any uneven ground or surfaces.

Trial and error

There‘s a bit of science to this art and in the good old film days you‘d have had to measure the distance the flash was fired from the object then perform lots of difficult calculations according to the flash power setting.

Not with digital! All you need to do is avoid firing the flash within the frame of the shot, unless it‘s hidden behind an object. If you want a little sky colour rather than pitch black, then fire the shutter and leave it open for two minutes. Check the results on your camera‘s LCD and adjust as necessary.

Double the time if it‘s too dark and reduce by half if it‘s too bright. It may take a few attempts to get things spot on, but remember there are no film-processing costs!

The exciting part is wandering around the frame, firing the flash off towards your subject (in our case, those old gravestones). The technique is simple - stand outside the frame, point the flash from above your head, from your waist and near the floor. Do this several times while roaming around the frame. Check the results on the LCD after the exposure as this will tell you if you need more flashes or less for the best exposure.

Camera settings

When shooting in the dark, metering is unnecessary and long shutter speeds require extra digging in the camera menu. Follow our advice on the best possible set up for painting with flash.

Exposure mode

- Manual mode is the only one that will work as in- camera metering becomes defunct.

Aperture

- set it to f/22 or f/18 for greater depth of field, sharpness and longer exposure times.

Shutter speed

- switch your camera to the Bulb setting and expose for around four minutes.

Focus mode

- use AF to focus on the closest object to the camera before switching to Manual.

File format

- use RAW for top quality and the smoothest results while tweaking in the digital darkroom.

White Balance

- select Sunny or Flash presets for natural-looking results on your LCD.

Mirror lock-up

- if your camera has this function, switch it on for the sharpest shots possible.

Noise reduction

- most cameras have this feature, so switch in order to yield smoother results.

Flash settings

Switch your flashgun to manual power and select an output setting around 1/8th of full power. We decided to leave our Stofen Omnibounce fitted as it would provide some extra ambient light and not make the direction of flash too critical.

On our old, battered Nikon SB-28 model we fired the flash several times manually by pressing the flash button.

Common mistakes

Painting with flash involves a degree of trial and error, but it‘s still worth bearing in mind the following tips when you‘re out: try to avoid firing the flash inside the frame, make sure there‘s enough overall flash, and ensure you don‘t vary flash intensity too much.

Graveyards and fields can also be tricky to traverse, so be careful where you step in the dark - you can‘t use a torch because the ambient light will spoil the shot. When things go wrong, don‘t panic. You‘ll soon get the hang of it (and remember you‘re only burning battery power!).

Not enough flash

If your images appear to suffer from imbalanced brightness between different areas of the subject, try moving further away from the bright areas. You can also reduce the number of flashes. Again, this depends on trial and error, but ití’s worth the effort.

Flash in frame

Setting up in daylight helps to define the frame boundary with rocks or branches so you don‘t poke the flash inside the frame. You can walk across the frame, but if you‘re firing the flash make sure you hide it behind part of your subject and point it away from you.

Unbalanced flash

Another common error is failing to pump enough light onto your subject through fear of overexposure. Resist upping the power to 1/2 or full power and try flashing more. Using less power creates a more natural, painted look.

Improve your car photography

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:26:59 +0000

We show you how easy it is to capture cool car shots, so grab the keys, head out to the nearest industrial estate and get creative…

All of us have a camera and most of us have a car, so why not combine the two and set yourself a little project, which is to capture some artistic images of your motor?

All of us have a camera and most of us have a car, so why not combine the two and set yourself a little project this weekend, which is to capture some artistic images of your motor?

It‘s labour intensive, but a good polish before you head off will save hours of cloning later! When you arrive on location park it so the best background area is behind your car. A good tip is to angle the front wheels before shooting, so they‘re visible and give the car a more aggressive and pleasing stance.

When you‘re ready to shoot, a wide-angle lens will help you take in much more detail so don‘t be afraid to shoot from quirky angles. In fact, we encourage it!

Leave the camera in an Auto or Semi-auto mode so you can forget about exposure and concentrate on the best angles that will transform your daily driver into a work of art.

In the field

A great piece of kit to help you take the best car shots is a polarising filter. Not only will it increase overall colour saturation and contrast, but it will also render the glass surfaces transparent. Take a look at the windscreen on this image to see just how effective this impressive filter is.

Get the look

We tweaked the flat and dull looking RAW image taken straight from the camera to give it more ‘oomph‘. Here‘s what we did…

Original - This ‘straight out of the camera‘ shot lacks contrast or any punch in the colours. At this stage, it only has the strength of the composition, moody sky and interesting background.

Levels - To increase contrast, the Levels sliders were pulled towards the centre of the histogram. We also decided to reduce the slight blue cast by desaturating the blue channel.

Darken - To get a moodier look we did some selective dodging and burning, creating that classic ‘vignetting‘ look around the car. We also boosted the red colour using the Hue/Saturation Tool.

Create light sculptures like the pros

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:26:55 +0000

All you need is a torch and your camera to bring urban locations alive

Light sculptures are a great way to have some fun with your creative side. This guide will give you our ten top tips for making sculptures from a torch and your camera, but whatever you do, don’t forget to turn the torch off before you go back to turn off the long exposure!

1. Create depth

Large concrete structures such as flyovers and bridges add enormous depth to locations. Find yourself a spot underneath a motorway bridge, compose low down and take advantage of the leading lines.

2. Watch backgrounds

Sometimes the perfect location can be ruined by unavoidable bright streetlights in the background. Compose and frame your shot so natural objects help block or reduce unwanted flare.

3. Interaction

For maximum impact make your light sculptures interact with the environment. Create figures walking up steps while holding hand rails. Have them leaning on street furniture, or sitting on benches.

4. Reflections

Take advantage of puddles and reflective surfaces to capture your light sculptures. Reflections will add another dimension to the sculpture and remove any doubt that your image has been created on a computer.

5. Abandoned places

Fill empty and derelict buildings with life by painting human shapes into the environment. Choose rooms that were once likely filled with people to add a presence to these ghostly environments.

6. Avoid glare

Super-bright bulbs or high-powered torches will cause unwanted glare if pointed directly towards the lens for any amount of time. For the best effect use small standard LED torches.

7. Street furniture

Transform street furniture, or any other weird and wonderful high objects by creating a perfect light waterfall by making streams of light pour out of the structure.

8. Graveyards

Free from light pollution, graveyards are fantastic for light sculptures. Create ghosts and shoot under a full moon to get spine-tingling results.

9. Subways and Tunnels

Fill tunnels with webs of light and creative trails. Imagine bouncing a rubber ball inside it and map out its path with your torch as it ricochets off the ceilings and walls.

10. Turn it off

Before you return to the camera to finish the exposure remember to switch off your torch. If you don’t you‘ll ruin all your hard work by exposing unwanted trails of light as you walk back.

Capture stunning urban light trails

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:19:52 +0000

Nothing brings an urban landscape to life more than traffic trails

When you walk through a city or town at night with your camera it’s easy to take the surroundings for granted – especially your hometown. The urban landscape is a marvellous backdrop and with the rush of evening traffic, a fantastic piece of art waiting to happen. All it needs is your eye for imagination, a little patience and, of course, a camera and tripod. If you have a remote release and lens hood, don’t forget to bring them a long for the ride.

The right location

Choosing the right location to shoot is important at night.

Roundabouts create sweeping light-trail curves, straight roads use the lead-in lines of the light trails, while the sky and interesting structures help spice up the backdrop.

Tall buildings that are well lit and colourful become a perfect backdrop to long, drawn-out light trails.

Find somewhere safe to set up. Walls make for high shots, whereas wide traffic islands are perfect for getting low.

Consider the traffic flow – intense headlights will wash out the image and colourful tail-lights will be lost. Compose for maximum impact and hit the shutter when traffic enters the viewfinder. Keep the shutter open using a remote release, closing it when the flow has passed the entire frame length.

Framing

Use natural street furniture to rest your tripod and get the shot with most impact. Use a piece of card held above the lens to hide glare, especially in well-lit areas.

Keep low to include lots of sky and give the shot plenty of dramatic light trails.

Shooting wide and symmetrical from a low perspective places the viewer in the centre and draws them in using the leading lines from the frame‘s edge

The curve of the road and bright headlight trail balances out the heavy silhouetted structures.

Light and exposure

With a massive array of ambient and direct light hitting your lens from every conceivable angle it’s best to use a lens hood to help block it out.

Strong overhead street lighting creates flare, but can be avoided by composing downwards. Black skies don‘t make buildings stand out or define strong edges. Shoot half an hour after the sun has set and the sky is dusky to balance the artificial building lights with the colour in the sky.

Use a lens hood to shield from street light flare and shoot at dusk rather than night-time to prevent a dull, black sky.

Avoid overexposure from bright lights by checking the exposure and histogram on your LCD. Washed out highlights will ruin a picture. If in doubt, turn on your camera‘s ‘highlight‘ feature and watch for areas that flash, indicating ‘clipped‘ or ‘blown‘ highlights.

If you do suffer from clipped highlights adjust the exposure to allow less light in by reducing the aperture to around f/22 or using shorter shutter speeds.

Buildings blend into completely black skies, while street lights can cause distracting flare.

Amazing urban detail ideas

dcworld — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:19:50 +0000

Creative techniques and camera settings for amazing city shots

The urban area with its increased density of people, structures, decay, traffic, lights and neon signs creates endless possibilities for the creative photographer. You can play with abstracts, signs, and fragments of buildings to come out with some really interesting pictures, and tinckering with the exposure settings and depth of field will add a little extra atmosphere.

Shallow depth of field

You can best achieve this by setting the camera to the Av or Aperture Priority setting. Click on to a wide setting (smaller f-stop number) – with a good, fast lens this could be as much as f/2.8, which is perfect for lowlight or night-time work.

The lower the f-number the shallower the depth of field. On Av setting the camera will automatically work out the correct shutter speed required.

Long exposure

This essentially means slow shutter speeds. Set the camera to T or Tv setting (Shutter Priority) and make a selection of around 1/15. The camera will set the aperture automatically.

Vary the shutter speed and check the results; try a minute-long exposure or even longer. In creative photography the rules can often be broken. Try holding your camera as normal or shaking it for a slightly creative effect.

Urban fragments

Urban fragments is an envelope term for the strange and interesting things you can find in any town: things like doors, windows, architectural detail, mouldings or carvings - in fact, anything that catches your eye.

A good place to start is around old or abandoned buildings. Try looking up when you’re out and about rather than just at ground level. You‘ll find hidden gems lurk in the most unlikely places.

Signs and flyers

An element of urban photography that‘s very easy for anyone to try. Every town has signs tucked away somewhere. Add to this the modern trend for stickers and flyers, that appear on phone boxes and lamp posts.

Capturing these type of shots is a form of social documentary of this strange ephemera. You can try the shallow depth of field technique, too, and be sure to check for good lighting.

Abstract

This is an area of photography where there are no limits; the trick is just to let imagination take over. Try looking at texture, shapes and colour, or try easing the image out of focus a little.

Long exposures can work well at getting a little movement blur into the image, and natural elements, such as rain, reflect wonderfully. Stepping back from pin-sharp attention to detail can be very liberating.