A London Christmas | Weekly Photo #81

As I did last year with this photo of the famous Covent Garden Christmas tree, I wanted to share another festive themed photo so I re-edited this one I took last year along New Bond Street in Mayfair of the classy Cartier building wrapped in a bow.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/20th Second | f/4 | ISO800

I had planned to share a photo of London at Christmas featuring some lights or decorations taken this year and I did manage to make a trip into town to shoot around the West End before the restrictions were severly tightened around the city but I’ve not had time to sort through the photos I took so I checked back on the photos I took last year and found this one only partly processed and effectively abandoned.

I’m not sure if this is common amongst all photographers but even through this photo was taken over a year ago, I can somehow remember the morning vividly and seem to be able to recall where and when I took almost every photo in my collection. I remember walking from Green Park Station just as the rain started and wishing I had remembered a hooded jacked or umbrella but as I was on my way to work, I couldn’t just stand there taking photos getting soaking wet so I had to find cover and wait out the heaviest of the rain.

Once the rain had cleared, I walked along New Bond Street and stopped directly opposite the decorated Cartier store so, I grabbed the camera to take the shot. Even with my wide-angle 10-24mm attached to the camera, I knew this would be a tough shot to take as with my back against the wall opposite, I could only just fit everything in and having to point the camera upwards meant I needed space around the building to straighten the verticals in post processing so, I wouldn’t really know if the shot would work until I got it back home and started editing the photo.

If I remember correctly, the reason the photo was never quite finished was I just couldn’t get the lines to look even close to straight using the geometry tools in Lightroom but this time round, I had the guided upright tool at my disposal so I could now tell Lightroom what lines needed to be vertical and which were horizontal and like magic, the picture was straightened but with very little space to spare on this 3:2 crop. The remaining post-processing was cooling down the colour balance, desaturating the strong blues and reds and brightening up the iconic London Phone Box in the foreground.

I’ve spoken before about revisiting older photos as new tools and editing skills develop, you never know what potential you have lurking in your archive so I definitely recommend checking back on partly edited photos (you can filter these in Lightroom) to see what photos you thought had potential but couldn’t quite get right. As time passes, your skills will have developed and the software you use might now have a feature that solved the issue like it did for me.

It’s been a strange old year and one that most people will want to, but probably won’t ever forget so, with all that’s going on in the world, I do hope you can put that to the side just for a short while and enjoy the festivities as best you can.

Merry Christmas.

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

Christmas in London | Weekly Photo #29

Being the last post before Christmas, I decided to keep this article “on-trend” and festive. I wanted to use a fresh, new photo of the Christmas Lights in London to round off the year so a few days ago, I headed into London before sunrise to see what I could capture.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 3.5 Seconds | f/9 | ISO200

With only limited time, I wanted to head to somewhere I knew there was a high probability of getting a shot and although ordinarily, this might mean heading to the likes of Carnaby Street to capture this year’s display, at around 0730 in the morning this would mean the road would have been full of delivery trucks so I knew that area would be no good to me.

I decided to head to Covent Garden as they put up a very tall tree every year and I knew it would be quiet this time of day. Even though it was quiet, delivery trucks are about but with more space to shoot, they are a little easier to avoid. After wandering about for a while trying out different angles and with the blue hour fast approaching, I settled on this central composition, subtly framed either side to allow the large, bright Christmas Tree to stand tall and proud leaving no doubt as to what the main subject is. I love the cobbled road here at Covent Garden and having rained not long before I arrived, they were wet and shiny which helped me get these great reflections.

I had with me the Fujifilm XT2 camera and on it, the 10-24mm lens. This wide-angle lens was perfect to capture the tree and equally important the surrounding area. I want the story of this image to be about Christmas in London, not just a Christmas tree. To do this, I had to shoot wide and expose the photo to ensure the background was exposed correctly and anyone that knows Covent Garden will know this is a photo of London at Christmas.

Back home, I imported the photo into Lightroom and went about making small adjustments to the white balance, colour tones and corrected a little distortion to straighten up the verticals. I then dodged and burned a few key areas to emphasise lights and reflections before sharpening in Photoshop resulting in the final image you can see here.

That’s a wrap! I want to wish all of the readers of my blog a very, merry Christmas and happy and prosperous 2020.

Until next time,

Trevor

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This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.

My Top Spots To Photograph London at Christmas

Christmas is the one time each year that London gets a whole new look all over the city. Lights and decorations are erected to help everyone get into the festive spirit and for us photographers, this is an ideal time to capture a different looking London, especially at night when the illuminations create some quite dazzling photo opportunities.

I’ve decided to put together a list of some of my favourite places to capture London looking all festive and Christmassy.

1. Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market is a hidden gem located in the City of London. Nestled amongst the modern high rise buildings, this charming Grade II listed, 14th century street has been used as filming locations for movies, most notably Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Here at Leadenhall Market, you will find the cobbled streets lined with decorations and a large Christmas Tree where the streets cross.

Link to Leadenhall Market on Google Maps

TIP: If you are looking to get a photo of Leadenhall Market without lots of city workers in the shot, then head to the City on a Sunday morning. There will be far less people about.

2. Shard Lights

Each year, throughout December, The Shard will put on a show with lights and colours shining from its tip. Being that this is the tallest building in the city, it can be seen from almost anywhere but I recommend viewing the light show from across the river on the cobbled walkway directly in front of the Tower of London or from either Tower Bridge or London Bridge.

Link to a great vantage point on Google Maps

TIP: If capturing Christmas lights at night, make sure you have a tripod with you to avoid those blurry photos.

3. Tower of London

The Tower of London is a buzz of activity around Christmas time. Apart from the usual tourists visiting this famous attraction, they also have an ice skating rink in the old moat. Along the Thames path in front of the Tower, you will find trees and decorations such as this one shown below with Tower Bridge creating a fantastic background subject.

Link to The Tower of London on Google Maps

TIP: This path along the river in front of the Tower of London closes at night. Make sure you check the closing times before you head out to capture it.

4. More London Place

More London Place (also known as London Bridge City) is well worth a visit at Christmas. Each year they put up a contemporary Christmas Tree and there is a Christmas Market along the river front where you can grab some food and drink and a gift or two. You can also grab some great views across the river of Tower Bridge, The Tower of London and the skyscrapers in the city.

Link to More London Place on Google Maps

TIP: More London Place can be touchy about photographers using tripods. I tend not to be bothered by security guards if I use my tripod discreetly and keeping out of the way of other people.

5. Covent Garden

Moving west, Covent Garden is a great place to photograph London at Christmas time. Each year you will find a fantastic Christmas Tree and festive decorations around the Market square.

The tree shown here for Christmas 2018 is huge! Look how small the people look down by its base.

I also love the Morris Minor topped with gifts in the image below. Very imaginative and very British!!

Link to Covent Garden on Google Maps

6. Carnaby Street

Carnaby is famous for its Christmas lights. Located just off Regents Street, this place is well worth a visit. In 2018, the theme for the lights were lines from the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. This area is particularly good to visit at Christmas as apart from it being a pretty cool street itself, it is right next to Regent Street, Oxford Street and the world famous Liberty London department store.

Link to Carnaby Street on Google Maps

TIP: The West End will be busy AT ALL TIMES so if you want to try to capture this area with less people, get up early and try to be there before 7am.

7. Knightsbridge/Mayfair

If you fancy a wander, the affluent Mayfair and Knightsbridge areas are great places to photograph London at Christmas. Some of the hotels and shops in this area create some fantastic displays. Below are just a couple of examples but there are many more.

If you have a couple of hours to spare, here are Google Map directions for a great walk from South Kensington to Oxford Street which will pass through Knightsbridge, Mayfair and new Bond Street.

These are just a few of my favourites but London has so many places to visit at Christmas and I know there will be many, many more. Feel free to drop a comment below telling me where your favourite place to visit at Christmas time. It doesn’t even have to be London!

Until next time.