Sunrise in the City

Continuing my mission to upload more of the photos I take to this website without feeling pressure to write long-form, location-based stories or update my portfolio after every trip, here is another on-location jaunt where I took a stroll with my camera along the Thames at sunrise.

Arriving in the nick of time off the train, I started off just a little west of Tower Bridge on the south side of the river. A composition I’d not yet photographed at this time of day and with the blue hour making way for the pre-sunrise glow, I wasted no time getting the camera out to take the photo. It took a minute or two to fine-tune the composition, making sure Tower Bridge was nicely centred between the lights above and the wall below. With the composition looking as balanced as it could be, I took the photo.

With the help of my ND filter (I forget which one), I opted for a 15-second exposure. This was because there were one or two early morning runners on the walkway and by opening the shutter for 15 seconds, it rendered them invisible in the frame. This is a great tip for when photographing places with people and you want them to magically disappear from the photo.

Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 15 Seconds | f/9 | ISO125

Talking of quick tips, here’s another for anyone looking to photograph the city with a tripod, particularly in this area between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Get it done fast! It doesn’t matter if you are the only one out there, the tripod police are always on the hunt, ready to pounce the minute they hear the telltale sound of a tripod leg being extended. That’s exactly what happened as I was taking the photo above. Luckily for me, I know it to be a hot spot for being told off for using a tripod, so I composed the photos, locked in a few settings and only then did I extend the tripod, mount the camera and click the shutter. I had around 3 or 4 minutes of photo-taking joy before the inevitable chap in a reflective jacket headed my way.

To be fair, whether you agree or not (obviously I do not), it’s private property and those are the rules. If the security guards come and ask me to put the tripod away, I know they are just doing their job and are usually polite enough. Deep down, they probably don’t see what the big deal is either, but I don’t cause a fuss and just pack up and move on. I can always return another time.

Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 2.5 Seconds | f/13 | ISO125

Moving on and with a little pre-sunrise magenta still lingering in the sky, I stopped by a spot I’ve photographed many times featuring this view of HMS Belfast with Tower Bridge and the Tower of London visible in the background.

The photo above is probably my favourite I’ve taken at this location. I love a blue-hour cityscape, but the pink light hitting the clouds and reflecting on the water added something extra to this image.

After taking in the last of that pre-sunrise colour, some thicker cloud passed through taking all the nice light and colour with it. I decided to hang around for a while and wait for the cloud to move, with the hope that some golden morning light might still make it through. As you can see by the photos below, that’s exactly what happened.

Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 14mm | 1/80th Second | f/10 | ISO125

Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1.3 Seconds | f/10 | ISO125

Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 1/1000th Second | f/6.4 | ISO125

The photo above of HMS Belfast using the railings and roof to create a framed composition is one I haven’t personally seen before and although it’s probably been taken a thousand times before, it was new to me. Finding previously unseen compositions of London’s cityscape is always difficult and on the rare occasions it does happen, it always gives me a buzz.

With the light getting increasingly stronger and more contrast appearing in the scene, I started to take photos to process them for my Timeless City project. While editing these as black-and-white photos back in post-production, I couldn’t ignore how good they looked in all that glorious golden light, so I also decided to process them in colour.

Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 1/1000th Second | f/6.4 | ISO125

Walking across London Bridge, I took a few photos looking east along the Thames, directly towards Tower Bridge and the rising sun. The dynamic range in the scene was through the roof, and I had to let go of some of the cloud details in the brightest areas around the sun to preserve some of the shadow details in the scene.

Even though this is a well-photographed view, taking the photos in these conditions, in this light and processing them my way makes them unique to me.

Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/40th Second | f/11 | ISO125

While the sun rose higher into the sky, I made my way to the opposite side of the river to get a view of The Shard across the water and take my final photo of the morning.

Back of the camera shot with an iPhone

This composition from between two buildings and The Shard in the centre has captured my attention lately and I have visited it a few times to photograph it in different conditions. I have, in my mind’s eye two particular images which I know are possible in the right conditions, so being the person I am, I have returned time and again to take them before I feel I can move on with my life. It’s becoming an obsession!

It may well be the increased use of the square format, but I’ve fallen for the central composition recently, and with lines around the edge of this frame, leading into the centre, towards The Shard, this composition works for me. In this picture, I like the soft light illuminating the city across the river and the natural vignette created by the shadows in the alley.

That’s it for this on-location post. What do you think of these bite-sized blogs? Do you like them and want to see more?

As I mentioned, I like to write them as they enable me to share a few more of my photos without depending on the social media algorithm, and I can display and talk about them in a way that suits me.

If you have any feedback, please do leave a comment or get in touch here.

Until next time.
Trevor

Photographing London with my Fujifilm Prime Lenses

Those of you who have been following my work before, let’s say, 2019 would have seen me predominantly as a cityscape photographer, with photos of London representing about 90% of the images I took. Fast forward 2 or 3 years, my trips to London have been few and far between for obvious reasons and I started taking more photos outside of London, exploring the local countryside and coastline here in the southeast of England. So, when I get the opportunity to head into the city with my camera, I take full advantage.

A few weeks ago, I managed to carve some time out before and after work to take photos in London for the first time this year. Knowing I was a bit “cityscape” rusty; I didn’t have particularly high expectations, I was just happy to be out there again, soaking up the atmosphere in the city I love so much.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/50th Second | f2.8 | ISO160

When I travel to London, I usually end up at London Bridge Station, so it has become a bit of a ritual to start any shoot off surrounded by the modern architecture here at More London. I must have a thousand photos of The Shard, City Hall, and Tower bridge taken from this location, but I find it a great place to start things off, using some old faithful compositions to get that all so important first photo in the bag. I suspect that some of my fellow photographers might relate to the fact that when I’m out taking photos, I have to warm up a bit to get into the zone, so the sooner I start pressing the shutter button, the better.

This composition looking towards The Shard is a favourite of mine as I can use the thick, round rail around the scoop as a compositional lead-in line, adding interest as well as helping the viewer work their way around the frame and finish up at The Shard. The scene works both in portrait and landscape but the 16mm F2.8 lens I had with me could have done with being a little wider for the landscape composition above.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/40th Second | f2.8 | ISO160

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/180th Second | f2.8 | ISO500

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/80th Second | f4 | ISO160

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/250th Second | f4 | ISO500

With the blue hour slowly giving way to sunrise and very little cloud around, the Belt of Venus started to cast its pastel-pink glow across London. As I left More London, crossing Tower bridge I had to stop and take a few photos of the view looking west along the River Thames. There was no direct light but the muted pre-sunrise colours were right up my street and it while crossing the bridge I took my favourite photo of the morning.

Framing up the classic view of More London and The Shard from across the water, I noticed behind me that one of the Uber Boats was approaching the bridge travelling up-stream and would soon appear from under the bridge below my feet be directly in front of me shortly after that.

Raising the camera a touch to show more of the river so the boat would have more room around it, I waited for the boat to enter the frame and as it approached the ideal spot, I rattled off a few shots with the one below, being the best of the bunch.

Once finished on Tower Bridge and with the pastel colours making way for the stronger, direct sunlight, I headed off towards my office, grabbing a few more snaps along the way.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 125th Second | f4 | ISO160

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/160th Second | f4 | ISO160

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/200th Second | f4 | ISO160

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/320th Second | f5.6 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/3,200th Second | f3.2 | ISO200

For this London shoot, I had my lightweight Fujifilm kit with me (which you can see in the photo here) and there were a couple of reasons I left the heavier gear at home and went for this compact setup.

First off and the most obvious is that it was lighter and more freeing to walk around with less gear weighing me down. Secondly, and the main reason was that I had decided to visit St Paul’s Cathedral later that day, to climb the dome and take photos from the very top, which is something I hadn’t done since 2019.

The Golden Gallery situated at the very top of the dome is very small with barely enough room for people to pass up there, so having a smaller bag, no tripod and a more compact camera system makes it a little easier and helps me keep out of the way from the other visitors.

For a more comprehensive list of the gear I own and the different configurations I use, check out my most recent “What’s in my camera bag” blog post.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/400th Second | f4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/800th Second | f4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/800th Second | f4 | ISO200

As you can see in the picture of my gear above, the three prime lenses I had with me were the 16mm F2.8, the 23mm F2 and the 35mm F2 and focusing predominantly on the city highrises and The Shard across the river, I spent the entire time I was up there switching between the three lenses, each one provided a different perspective of London’s cityscape.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF35mm f2 | 35mm | 1/250th Second | f5.6 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/250th Second | f6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/160th Second | f6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF35mm f2 | 35mm | 1/200th Second | f5.6 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF35mm f2 | 35mm | 1/200th Second | f5.6 | ISO200

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/320th Second | f6.4 | ISO200

I would have loved to carry on shooting from the top of St Paul’s until after sunset but the cathedral closes quite early so with a season ticket giving me access to The Shard’s viewing platform and it being on my route back to the train station, I popped up there for just a few minutes to check out the view. Unfortunately, the cloud cover prevented any chance of nice light and a brief rain shower covered the glass in droplets, so I only managed to take one useable photo which you can see below. It’s nothing special but gives you an idea of the conditions.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/30th Second | f2 | ISO160

Overall, a successful first visit of the year to London and coming away with at least one keeper was a real bonus. I certainly plan to get back out there as the days get longer as it gives me more opportunity to capture the best light after a day in the office so stay tuned for more!

Until next time.

After The Rain | Weekly Photo #130

I love photographing London in or after the rain as the city takes on a different look and feel compared to when it’s dry and I enjoy taking advantage of the creative ways I can take photos when it’s wet outside. Along with talking about this photo I took shortly after a brief rain shower in London earlier this year, I’ll also share some top tips for anyone looking to explore their local town or city and make the most of their photography during or after the rain.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/400th Second | f/7.1 | ISO400

Some of my readers may remember when I took this photo on Queen Victoria Street last year and although it was forecasted to stay dry, I got caught in some torrential rain which was an occasion I wasn’t particularly dressed for. I did, however, have my weather-resistant camera and lens so even though it meant I would get soaked through, I was confident my camera wouldn’t and I could still get out into the rain and take what ended up being one of my favourite photos of London in 2020.

Fast forward to March 2021 and I once again found myself in the city with my camera during a rain shower that wasn’t on the forecast. This time around, I was out with my 18-55mm standard zoom lens which isn’t weather-sealed so, unlike last time where I could wander around in the rain knowing my camera would be ok, this time, I had to take cover as it fell. Thankfully it didn’t rain for long and I was pounding the pavement again in no time at all.

Being March 2021, the UK was still predominantly working from home so the streets of London was still relatively quiet compared to normal and as I wandered down an almost empty Lombard Street, I spotted this puddle by the side of the road. I’ve actually taken this photo of Lombard Street many times before and although I really like the fantastic lead-in lines at the bottom, the view down this traditional looking London street in the middle and the more contemporary Fenchurch Building at the top of the frame, I always felt it was lacking something. Thankfully, this time around, the rain shower brought the finishing touch and I took full advantage by crouching down and using this fantastic reflection of the Fenchurch Building in this puddle as foreground interest.

If this isn’t my best London photo of 2021, it will certainly be in my top 5.

7 Tips for photographing a city in the rain

As promised, I’ve shared below some useful tips to consider when photographing any town or city in the rain. The first few tips are centred around being prepared to shoot in the rain. Although they may seem like common sense, just remember, taking photos when cold and wet is not particularly fun and does nothing to stir those creative juices so don’t be like me and get caught out by the rain… twice!

#1 Prepare to get wet - If I wasn’t prepared to head into the streets during torrential rain then I would not have taken one of my favourite ever photos of London. As I mentioned above, rain wasn’t on the forecast and I wasn’t dressed for the occasion but boy would I have enjoyed that shoot a lot more if I wasn’t soaked to the bone. Don’t do what I did, make sure you bring the right jacket, shoes and even an umbrella so you can get out there take your pictures whilst remaining warm and dry.

#2 Invest in weather-resistant gear if you can - Knowing that your gear can survive a rain shower will do everything for your confidence to get out there and find photos in the rain, so if you can, consider a weather-sealed body and lens when you next buy one. If you don’t, it’s not all lost as you can buy inexpensive plastic housings/bags such as these from Think Tank. Although a bit more cumbersome, they will keep your gear dry. Alternatively, keep your expensive camera in the bag and use your smartphone as most have some level of water resistance these days but make your you check the specs first.

#3 Shoot from covered areas - Providing you can find the right subjects and compositions, photographing the wet streets while taking cover from the rain can be just as effective. So, if you find yourself out in the rain and lack the clothes or gear to make the most of it, see what you can photograph while you keep yourself lovely and dry sheltered from the rain.

The tips below are about getting the most from your photography while shooting your local town or city during or shortly after the rain.

#4 Take advantage of the empty streets - Most people head for cover when the rain falls and when that happens, you could be presented with some relative empty streets for a short while. So, if you have the right gear and dressed for the occasion, get out there and take advantage.

Top tip: With an app like Rain Today, you can even spot the rain coming down to the minute and get into position just before it starts giving you the best chance of taking that street or urban landscape photo without so many people in the frame.

#5 Search for reflections and puddles - Just like I did for this photo here, finding puddles and looking for reflections can transform your photos and elevate them into something really special. Remember, it’s not just about puddles as there are so many reflective surfaces in modern cities so keep your eyes peeled during and shortly after the rain has fallen.

#6 Look for umbrellas - No, this isn’t a repeat of tip #1, this is about including people with umbrellas in your photos. Some might say it’s a bit cliche but personally I love to see people with umbrellas in rainy street and cityscape photos. Oh, and I certainly don’t mean the bright yellow or red umbrellas you often see on Instagram (no judgement here). When I take photos of people walking in the rain, they can add an air of mystery and as they tend to hide the face, a touch of anonymity too. That’s certainly the feeling I get when I look at the photo below which I took on a rainy night back in late 2019.

#7 Photograph the reflections at night - Not only does the photo above show the story umbrellas can tell within your photos but the image also shows how good the reflections can be when the street lights reflect across the wet surfaces. So, as long as you remain safe and where possible go with at least one other person, why not head out into the rain after dark to see the streets illuminated by the city lights.

Top tip: Plan an after dark trip into town during a rainy December night and not only do you get the reflections from the street lights but you can also get some fantastic reflections from the festive lights too!

There you have it. Hopefully those tips inspire some of you to grab that camera and brave the weather next time it’s raining in your local town or city.

Also, don’t forget you can order a print of this week’s photo by clicking on the “buy this print” link below.

Until next week.

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.

Summer Skies Over London | Weekly Photo #127

A quick disclaimer. I don’t typically talk about the editing side of photos in this photoblog but this week, I dive into a new “game-changing” feature in my processing software of choice, Adobe Lightroom. I appreciate this won’t be for everyone so if you’re just here for the photo, that’s cool. Just scroll to the end to see the final image.

A question for my fellow landscape photographers. How many times have you been out there on location photographing a fantastic looking scene, only to be disappointed by the resulting raw file when you get back to the computer and view it on the big screen? I’m sure I’m not the only one….. am I? When I first took this photo from Tower Bridge in London as the sun was setting back in July, the scene in front of me looked fantastic, the sky had colour and just the right amount of drama but when it came to reviewing the images back home, I ended up dismissing this photo.

The thing is, my patience for post-processing is quite short. If I can’t get the photo close to the finished product in a few minutes, I tend to move on. That’s not to say I don’t, on occasion, spend hours on a single photo but I need to see the potential pretty quickly before I decide to invest more time into it.

To help demonstrate what I’m talking about, I’ve done something which I very rarely do, I’ve shared the original raw file which you can see directly below. For those that might not be aware, the raw file is the digital negative and by design, look average straight out of the camera. It’s deliberately flat, lacking contrast, saturation and clarity so when it comes to post-processing, the image file has the most latitude possible for when those sliders are pushed and pulled left and right in your given editing software. When I got home, for some reason, I really struggled with this raw file, in particular, the sky.

Some more accomplished editors might take the image into Photoshop and perform some expert wizardry, use luminosity masks, and edit the photo with ease, others might just swap out the sky completely using Photoshop’s Sky Replacement tool, but I certainly don’t subscribe to that approach. I prefer to work with the pixels I captured on location but no judgment here. Each to their own I say.

Using local adjustments, I could get the sky close to how I remember it but the blend between sky and foreground just didn’t work, making the overall image look a bit false. After probably too much time trying to get it to work, I decided to cut my losses and move on.

So, for the last few months, this raw file has sat in my library, unchanged from my previous attempts to edit it.

Fast forward to just last week, Adobe released some great new updates to Lightroom, and one of the many updates was a new option that automatically detects the sky and creates an adjustment mask in just a few seconds.

For Lightroom users, you can now find the option as shown in the screenshot here.

This will save so much time. It means I no longer have to manually select the sky which is especially useful for photos like this where the horizon is anything but flat and requires far more intricate masking. I’m now able to select and edit just the sky with a single click and for someone who lacks the patience to do so manually or likes to do as much of the editing in Lightroom as possible, it really is a game-changer.

By using this new feature, I’m was able to add contrast in just the sky, without worrying about how this affects the foreground or needing to spend too much time masking around the various shapes on the horizon. The increased contrast in the sky has helped to separate the lower, darker clouds from those that are higher and brighter adding depth and interest up top. With the darker clouds being more prominent, they now provide a natural vignette around the Shard which I purposely placed dead centre in the frame.

I was also able to work on the white balance in the sky separately from the foreground. It’s obvious the image needed warming up a little, but when I pushed the sky towards the warmer tones to bring out those lovely sunset colours, the shadows in the foreground were too warm. I could have used the colour grading tools but again, these are global changes, affecting the entire image so local adjustments were the only option for me in this situation.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 12mm | 1/15th Second | f/11 | ISO200

With the potential for the photo now realised, I spent some more time making local adjustments to various parts of the image and to finish, I cropped the photo to a 2:1 ratio to remove some of the empty space in the foreground.

So, that’s the Select Sky tool. Not one I’ll use for every photo but when I need to edit the sky separately from the rest of the image, it’s a fantastic option to have available.

Until next week.

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.

Positive Outlook | Weekly Photo #123

Ok, so you’re going to have to bear with me this week because as I sit here, starting to write this week’s post, I already know it’s going to be a bit of a long one but please stick with it as I hope for some of you, it will prove useful.

At the time of posting, yesterday being Sunday 10th October was World Mental Health Day and whether you struggle with this yourself or not, and let’s face it, most of us do to some extent, it’s a chance for people to contribute to this mission in any way possible.

This is my way.

Personally, I consider myself incredibly lucky that although I struggle at times with self-confidence, social anxiety and periods of stress, it is something I’m able to (on the whole) manage on a day-to-day basis. So many people are not so fortunate and have to fight with everything they have in their locker, every single day to overcome their own mental health issues and although I don’t come at this from a point of authority, I think it’s too important not to talk about in this week’s post. Thankfully, the issues I do have to deal with don’t take a front seat in my life too often but that’s not just down to random luck or just how I happen to be wired, it’s also because I am aware that I do need to look after myself, regularly checking in and taking stock with how I’m feeling within myself. It’s obviously not fool proof but it seems to be an effective approach that works for me most of the time.

As I’ve got older, I’ve prioritized certain aspects of my life which I feel helps me keep on top of things and photography is one of them. It plays a huge part in how I keep my mental wellbeing in check and along with the usual creative benefits this craft gives me, I also know it provides me with an outlet to be active, de-stress, take a break from the chaos of “real life” and be in the moment for a short while.

I won’t go into all the benefits photography (or any creative outlet) can bring to one’s mental health as I’ve previously written about it and although this article is a couple of years old now, the message it carries is still as valid today as it was back then.

It’s strange to think but I truly believe you can help your mental health literally anywhere and doing anything. As long as it makes you happy, helps with stress and allows you to take time out, being present in the moment then it really doesn’t matter what the activity is. Whether it’s scaling a mountain, working in the garden, having a walk in the forest or like me, being out with the camera, it can still be mindful, meditative, helping you to process, which, goes a long way towards improving your mental health and turning negative, overwhelming thoughts into positive, manageable ones.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm F2.8 | 16mm | 1/125th Second | f/4 | ISO160

I have photographed London for years. It’s where I cut my photographic teeth and although I knew back then that the craft was helping me get out into the great outdoors, or in this case, into the city, what I didn’t realise at the time was how good this was and continues to be for my mental health.

I absolutely love being in London around sunrise as the city takes on a totally different feel. Gone are the noises, the hordes of people and traffic and instead you get an almost privileged opportunity to experience a deserted city, having it (almost) all to yourself to explore and in my case photograph. It was during one of those quiet mornings, I took this photo of the Shard from across the Thames.

I was on one of my "keeping things simple” shoots on this particular day as I had just my smaller Fujifilm X-T30 camera and compact 16mm F2.8 prime lens. Although having the right gear with me on a shoot is important, I can’t describe how liberating it is to shed the load every now and then and head out of just a single camera and lens. After taking a photo of the Girl and the Dolphin fountain on the other side of Tower Bridge, I found this composition as I walked along the cobbled street in front of the Tower of London.

It’s a simple composition with the viewers eye taking a journey into the scene, along the path, past the ornate street lamp, to the tree which then leads the viewer around the top of the image towards the focal point, being The Shard. I love the fact that the lights were still on in the street lamps, the hazy diffused light and those interesting lines created by the tree branches. Getting as close as I could to the tree on the right and with my settings dialled in, I took the photo.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, raising awareness for mental health both in terms of treatments and prevention is so important and the one way we can all help is to talk about it openly, normalising the topic and recognise when you or someone you know needs support with their mental health. Here in the UK, we have some excellent charities such as Mind and The Mental Health Organisation who work tirelessly to raise awareness and provide support to those in need with a wealth of helpful advice and tools on each of their websites. Although these sites are UK centric, much of the information they share is helpful regardless of where you’re from but if you’re not from the UK and looking for something a bit closer to home, I’m sure most countries will have their own national charities which can probably be found with a quick google search.

If you got all the way to the end of this post, thanks for sticking with it and I promise, next week’s post will be shorter.

Cheers.

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.

A London Photo Walk Part One | Sunrise

A few weeks ago, I posted on my Weekly Photo blog that I was in a bit of a creative slump. Although I was putting the same amount of effort in, the photos I was taking were often average and my keeper rate was really low. I needed to change things up a bit.

I’ve been enjoying photographing the landscapes and woodlands around Sussex and Surrey over the last year to 18 months but I was sorely missing my regular trips into London. So, with the city now opening up again and, in an attempt to shake free from this state where I lacked creative inspiration, I got up early and caught the first train into the city.

Like many landscape photographers, when I head out with the camera, I tend to take a full camera bag with me. It holds my wide, standard and telephoto zoom lenses, my batteries, filters, tripod, etc. Needless to say, it gets a little heavy and although I don’t normally mind lugging it around with me, I do on occasion like to shed the load, taking just a small camera and lens out with me and that’s exactly what I did for this photo walk.

Armed with my small Fujifilm X-T30 and 23mm f/2 prime lens, I left the train at London Bridge and headed over towards the river, stopping along the way to grab a shot of the view along the walkway, flanked by buildings that frame Tower Bridge at the end.

I spent some time taking pictures around More London Estate using the lines, shapes and even reflections on offer there. The light was just piercing through the thin clouds creating a soft, hazy light, which is right up my street. I personally struggle when the contrast in scenes is too strong and much prefer to photograph in softer light which, if you follow either my urban or natural landscape work, you’ll probably see it as a theme throughout.

Having taken a few photos close to Tower Bridge at More London, a wandered west along the river towards London Bridge which hosts one of my favourite views of this fine city. I can rarely pass this spot without hopping up onto the bridge to take a photo and this was no exception. With this beautiful defused golden light illuminating this iconic view, there was no way I was going to walk on by without taking the photo.

Paying close attention to the position of HMS Belfast in relation to Tower Bridge, I made sure to line it up centrally between the towers to avoid any overlapping, keeping that area clean, ensuring the recognisable silhouette stood out over there in the distance.

I also had a decision to make regarding the exposure. With the bright sun just off to the left of this scene below, I chose to expose for the highlights, allowing them to clip just a little in the brightest area close to the sun rendering the overall photo a little underexposed which I knew could be sorted out later in post. With the sun being the brightest thing you’ll ever see, allowing it to clip (render white in the photo) is ok in my book as long as it looks natural.

With this shot in the bag, I went on my way, continuing along the river towards Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge.

I spent some time taking some pictures of the various views to be had from Bankside, just in front of the famous Tate Modern Museum. With the sun rising quickly, I was conscious that the light may soon become too harsh so I upped my pace a little, crossing the Millennium Bridge towards St Paul’s Cathedral as I continued to find and photograph the various compositions, some classic, others unique (to me) as I went.

After crossing the bridge, reaching the north bank of the river, I took advantage of the low tide and went down to the riverside where I took some more photos looking east towards The Shard and all of that gorgeous light.

Finishing up for the morning and part one of this London photo walk, I ended up on Queen Victoria Street which is just along the road from St Paul’s Cathedral. This spot provides a great view of the city near Bank station with 22 Bishopsgate towering in the background.

Along with the photos I took during a sunset walk along the Thames, in part two of this blog, I’ll be sharing how I set up my camera for shoots like this so I can focus on taking pictures rather than camera settings.

Stay tuned!

Trevor.

Urban Gold | Weekly Photo #120

Last week, after feeling a little uninspired with my photography, I decided to leave my heavy bag at home and head into London, a city I love to photograph and walk my favourite route along the Thames. Taking with me my Fujifilm X-T30 camera and 23mm f/2 prime lens, I took a walk with this lightweight setup along the South Bank from Tower Bridge to the Tate Modern museum and then across to St Paul’s.

It’s such a popular stretch of the river and I’ve photographed it hundreds of times, taking in the iconic views as well as seeking out some of the less obvious angles and vantage points. During this visit, I headed out before and after work, walking in opposite directions snapping away as I went. I ended up with quite a few photos that day and I’ve decided to share some of them across two on-location blog posts over the next week or two. So, keep an eye out for those.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm F2 | 23mm | 1/280th Second | f/5.6 | ISO160

Starting off at More London, near Tower Bridge, I wandered along the river and absolutely couldn’t pass by London Bridge without hopping on and photographing this famous view of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast. I’ve shared a couple of photos from here in previous weekly photo blogs. Read more about them by selecting clicking on one of the photos below.

#55 FOGGY LONDON

#64 LONDON’S BURNING

There was a slight haze in the air and with the sun being up for around 45 minutes, it was just high enough to cast this beautifully defused golden light across the scene. It was just magical to witness and with the relative pre-rush our quiet, I was reminded why this is by far my favourite time to be in the city.

In terms of composition, I like the texture in the water far more than the featureless sky, so I placed the horizon in the upper half of the frame to avoid including too much empty space. I also paid close attention to the position of HMS Belfast in relation to Tower Bridge, making sure it lined up centrally between the towers to avoid any overlapping, keeping that area clean and ensure it stood out over there in the distance.

Next, the exposure. I decided not to bracket any of my photos as I wanted to keep things nice and simple during this photo outing so with the bright sun just off to the left of this scene, I focused on the highlights, allowing them to clip just a little in the brightest area close to the sun rendering the overall photo a little underexposed which could be sorted out later in post. With the sun being the brightest thing you’ll ever see, allowing it to clip (render white in the photo) is ok in my book as long as it looks natural.

With the composition and exposure all set, I took the shot.

As I mentioned, I have a bunch of photos from my day in London that I plan to share this week but, in the meantime, here’s a post from last year when I took my small Fujifilm X-T30 camera and 35mm prime combo out, following a similar route along the Thames at sunrise.

Until next week.

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.

Into The Void | Weekly Photo #117

Boy, do I miss spending time in London. I’ve visited a handful of times in the last few months but nowhere near as much as I’d like. This is predominantly due to the various lockdowns and restrictions we’ve all been subject to but more recently, while I’ve had the freedom to venture into the city, I’ve chosen to focus my photography (excuse the pun!) on woodland and the natural landscape.

At first, this was due to necessity as I either needed to find something else to take photos of or I stopped altogether until this whole saga has blown over, but I’ve since grown increasingly fond of this new subject and although I’m not going to stop photographing London in the long term, I feel I still have lots more to do and improve upon while out taking photos in the woodland or along the Sussex coast.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/35th Second | f/10 | ISO200

This is a photo of London I’d been after for a while. I wanted to take a look up-photo of the high-rise buildings in the city on a foggy day and I actually came really close to getting it when I took this picture here back in March 2020. Unfortunately, on that day I wasn’t quick enough and the fog lifted as I was making my way into the city, but later the same year, it all came together.

After arriving in a foggy London at sunrise (although the sun was nowhere to be seen), I started off on London Bridge. I knew time was against me, but I just couldn’t resist spending a few minutes taking some atmospheric photos along the River Thames before heading into the city to capture that picture I had been hunting down for so long. You can see some of those photos in the blog post I’ve shared below.

Once on location and surrounded by these architectural giants, it was time to hastily set up the camera before the fog started to lift even further. I spread the tripod as low to the ground as possible and mounted my Fujifilm XT2 camera with a wide-angle 10-24mm lens. By getting as low as I could along with using the wide-angle lens, I could include as much of the surrounding buildings as possible, elongating those lines that draw the attention from the corners, all the way up and into the misty void above. I rotated the camera around, purposely placing the buildings into the corners which provided a much better composition to my eye.

With the camera so close to the ground, pointing directly up, even with an articulated screen, I had to get down low, almost laying down next to the camera to see what I was photographing. This is where having the Fujifilm X-series comes into its own as all of the main camera controls can be accessed through the analogue dials rather than digging through menus so even in awkward positions like this, I could still adjust my settings with relative ease. I must have looked a sight to the early commuters passing by as they headed into the surrounding offices but sometimes you’ve just got to ignore the strange looks when the photo you’ve been chasing for so long is on the cards.

I like the contrast offered by the darker foreground set against the bright foggy sky and along with the almost monochromatic look of the photo, it has a bit of a high key black and white feel to it which I think works quite well. My only real complaint (which I could do very little about) is the empty space up in the top left. I would have liked that building to be taller to help fill the space and add balance, but you can’t win them all!

As I mentioned above, I took a handful of photos while out in London on that foggy November morning and I shared more of them in this “on location” blog post I wrote below.

Whilst I’m still almost exclusively working from home, I suspect I will continue exploring and photographing the natural landscape but I suspect it won’t be long before I am needed back in the London office more regularly and I think it’s then that I will be back photographing the city more often, hopefully bringing with me some of the new skills and techniques I’ve picked up during this extended hiatus.

Until next week.

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.

Museum Ship | Weekly Photo #114

I’ve mentioned before that when I take photos of subjects that look like they have a story to tell, I almost always do a little research to learn more about their history. I say “almost always” as I’ve photographed HMS Belfast numerous times and shared one or two photos of her on this blog but this is the first time I’ve gone to the effort of actually reading up on this Town-class light cruiser’s epic journey, from her launch in 1938, her life in the Royal Navy to eventually docking here, along the Thames in 1971 and seeing out her retirement as a floating war museum.

You may notice I refer to HMS Belfast as “she” or “her”, here’s why: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-do-ships-have-a-gender

HMS Belfast: A very brief history.

After her launch, HMS Belfast was almost immediately thrust into action after the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1939, she was struck by a German mine and was seriously considered being scrapped, however, there was a change of heart and she sat out of the war for 2+ years while receiving extensive repair and upgrades to firepower, radar and armour and off she went again in 1942 to play her part. Involved in operations to escort convoys to the Soviet Union and playing an important role in the Battle of North Cape, arguably her most notable involvement was in the 1944 Operation Overlord where she supported the famous Normandy Landings.

After seeing out the Second World War in the Pacific and later involved in the Korean War in the early ’50s, HMS Belfast was put in reserve in 1963. The warship’s final battle was for her own survival as in 1968 the government decided to scrap the ageing warship. Thankfully, after much negotiation, in 1971 the ship was eventually handed over to the HMS Belfast Trust and moved to this spot along the River Thames and opened up to the public. HMS Belfast became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978 and to this date remains one of the more popular tourist attractions in London.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF18-55mm | 20mm | 3.7 Seconds | f/11 | ISO160

It was a fantastic morning for photography in London. From the moment I got off the train and walked over to More London, I knew there was potential for some nice sunrise cityscapes of London. I spent some time over there photographing Tower Bridge using one of the sculptures that belonged to the “Full Stop” art installation as a foreground. You can see the final result of that photo and more about the art installation here: London “Full Stop”.

Finished at More London, I walked west along the Thames to this spot, which provides a great view of 3 London icons, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, and HMS Belfast. At this point, the sun had risen and although there was still plenty of cloud about, some sunlight was shining through and lighting up the side of the ship, helping it to stand out amongst the shadows in the foreground and be the main point of interest in the composition.

I was travelling light that morning, with only my Fujifilm X-T30 camera, 18-55mm standard zoom lens and screw-in 10-stop ND filter and my small Manfrotto Pixi tabletop tripod (see all of my camera gear here). I used the 10-stop filter to smooth the water a little and the small tripod rested on the ground to keep the camera steady.

Shooting fully manual as I usually do in these situations, I dialled in the aperture and shutter speed, keeping the exposure as bright as possible to bring out the details in those dark shadows but at the same time being careful not to blow out the highlights (also called exposing to the right or ETTR), I went ahead and took the shot.

Sunrise is by far and away my favourite time to be in London with my camera but during the summer, it gets light long before my train arrives in the city so it will be a few months before I get to experience it once again and I can’t wait!

Until next week.

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.

More Colour | Weekly Photo #110

Around this time last year, while the dreaded restrictions had been temporarily relaxed here in England, I spent a few hours exploring a very quiet London with my camera. With my small 16mm F2.8 prime lens loaded onto the camera, I was traveling light and with a few hours to kill, I took a wander around the city, camera in hand to see what pictures I could find.

As you can see in the two photos above, it was a clear, sunny day, so I looked for interesting compositions while trying to minimise how much of that bright blue sky was in the frame. By the time I took the second two photos below, the sun had gone down, so the light was much softer, almost pastel-like. Those that follow my work more closely will know that the softer, less contrasty scenes like these two below are right up my street.

As I arrived back at More London, I noticed how the lights at the tip of the Shard were a pale blue colour and it was then that I ended up taking my favourite photo of the day I named “Beacon” which I have already shared in my Weekly Photos series here.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF16mm F2.8 | 16mm | 0.6 Seconds | f/9 | ISO200

After taking the photos close by the river, I decided to call it a night but as I was heading through More London Estate, towards the station, I once again found myself alone, staring up at this view of The Shard, flanked by the buildings that towered above me. I’ve seen this framed view of The Shard a thousand times before so it wasn’t that which caught my attention so much, it was the colours in the scene that held my attention long enough to get my camera back out of the bag to see if my 16mm prime lens could get the entire scene in the frame. After a quick check, I was just about in luck.

As I composed the image, I placed the Shard in the middle of the frame allowing all of those fantastic converging lines to surround it and lead the eye in and up towards the bright blue symbol of recognition of the brave people that continue to work so hard to help us through these tougher times. Playing close attention to the exposure, making sure I didn’t blow out the highlights and along with those vivid colours, I took the shot.

Having to point my camera upwards resulted in quite a lot of distortion to the vertical lines on the left and right which I needed to correct when back in Lightroom which pushed the tip of the Shard a bit too close to the top of the frame for my liking. Including a little less foreground and a little more sky or even stepping back 20-30 feet may have given me a little more room to play with but as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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.

Vivid Vistas | Weekly Photo #106

I have been taking cityscape photos of London for many years now and in that time, the night time view of the city from the Thames has been transformed by replacing the outdated orange street lights with new, modern light installations. Gone are the monotonous night time views of London, replaced with vibrant urban vistas which are more environmentally friendly to boot. Having photographed so many of these locations over the last 15 years or so, I decided to put together a list of what I consider my top ten night photography spots in London. Just like my other “top location” posts previously published, I also included some useful information to help plan a shoot such as the best time to go and if tripods can be used. Click here to read the blog, alternatively select the image below.

Towards the back end of last year, I took an early train into London with my camera and was greeted with some awesome foggy conditions. I spent a fantastic couple of hours walking around the city and taking photos along the way. I shared some of them in another blog post cunningly titled Photographing London in the Fog.

When the fog had finally lifted, I headed into the office for my day job but instead of heading home at the end of the day, I decided to walk along the River Thames to take a few nightscape photos in Westminster. With the modern lights adding colour to the city and with a relatively calm river providing some cracking reflections, I decided to get the camera out and capture some of the vivid riverside vistas on offer.

I took a number of photos as I wandered west, along the north side of the river, from Blackfriars to Westminster Bridge. The bend in the river near Waterloo Bridge provides the perfect vantage point to photograph the views looking both east towards the Shard and west towards the London Eye, so I spent a few minutes photographing in each direction before continuing along the river.

The next stop was directly in front of the London Eye. This one was a little trickier as not only did I have to carefully compose to avoid the boats and piers in the river, I also had the moon moving left to right directly behind it. My plan was to take two exposures, one for the scene and the other for the moon but however hard I tried, I could not get the moon to look right, and with the cloud constantly moving in front of it, there was no way I would be able to blend another exposure in seamlessly without it looking odd. It may well be a lack of Photoshop skills but I would much rather use the photo as is, rather than present a messy, badly blended version. It still looks ok, but it would be amazing with a sharp, well-exposed moon to the left of the London Eye. One for another day I suppose.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 13 Seconds | f/16 | ISO200

My last stop was Westminster Bridge. It was pretty busy as usual on there so I had no option but to close the tripod right down and precariously rest it on a small area of the bridge wall which was just about big enough for a retracted tripod. I made my way to the south side of the bridge and stopped at the exact spot where the vertical lines of the London Eye were aligned.

In keeping with the theme to include the lights reflecting in the water, I placed the horizon in the centre of the frame so both the London Eye and its reflection were mirroring each other. I still had my wide-angle 10-24mm lens on the camera and decided to stick with it as I liked how it pushed the London Eye deeper into the scene, providing lots of space to breathe around it. The street lights and their reflections along the south bank were creating a nice line to lead the eye into the shot and this was also being accentuated by the effect the wide lens was having. So, once I had the composition lined up exactly how I wanted, I dialled in the settings and took the photo.

Although the city lights along the Thames are a lot better now, much of the city still has the warm coloured street lights and London continues to emit an orange ambient glow which I am not a fan of in my images. So, back in post, I cooled down the white balance to help eliminate that and then went to work on the colours and tones until I had the photo exactly how I wanted.

I’m not really into astrophotography so when out in the natural landscape, photography stops for me when the sun goes down which is far from the case in London, so, I look forward to taking more urban nightscapes in the city later this year.

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.

Moving On | Weekly Photo #102

This is a bit of a first on my weekly photo series. After posting over 100 photos, this is the first time I’ve posted one that isn’t in the 3:2 aspect ratio. 3:2 is the native ratio on my Fujifilm camera and although I do crop my images, I’ve held off posting wider photos on this blog as anything wider than 3:2 doesn’t come across well on mobile devices. That’s left me a bit frustrated as I have lots of photos in either 2:1 or even 3:1 panoramic format which I would love to share with you too, so, that’s what I’ve decided I’m going to do from now on.

After looking through my website analytics, there’s a 50:50 split between those that read my blog on a mobile device and those that read it on a desktop. yes, I know mobile is the future but still, I’m really pleased about that as for the panoramic photos like this, the wider screen on a desktop or laptop is by far the best way to view my pictures regardless of the size. I might have to get a bit more creative to show the wider format photos on the likes of Instagram, but there are plenty of techniques I can use to do that.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 15mm | 120 Seconds | f/9 | ISO200

The title of this photo has a kind of double meaning as not only did I decided to move on, away from just posting the same aspect ratio photos but it’s also about one of the frustrating sides of landscape photography in London and how we photographers can be seen as a nuisance or even a threat to other people.

I’ve wanted to take a long exposure photo like this of the O2 Arena (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) for some time now and a few weeks ago, back in late March this year I found myself making a rare trip to the office in London, so I decided to take my photography gear and try to get this shot after I had finished my work. I’d done some research into where to go to get this picture of the Greenwich peninsular from the north side of the River Thames but to get the very best angle, I still needed to explore on foot, so after leaving the train station near Canary Wharf, I walked east along the river, keeping an eye on the view on the other side as it unfolded.

At around 6PM, I found my spot. It was on a public walkway, the Thames Path in fact, in front of some residential houses and provided a perfectly symmetrical view of the arena. I set up my tripod and mounted my camera, pointing it out across the river in anticipation and hope for some nice light as the sun continued to set. Here's a snapshot I took of the view with my iPhone as I was setting up.

After 20-25 minutes, I was approached by a security guard who politely asked me to pack up and move on as I wasn’t allowed to take photographs from that spot as I was on private land. I made a case that I was out of the way, doing no harm and there were many other people who didn’t live there using the space, but he said one of the residences was concerned I had been there too long and was up to no good so had asked for me to be moved on. He was polite enough and to his credit, he understood that I wasn’t a threat and my camera was pointing away from the buildings, but he had little choice but to do as requested by the resident. I’m used to being asked to put my tripod away in London as much of the Thames Path is private land with public access, but I’ve never been asked to actually pack up and leave.

I could have made a scene and argued my case but what would that have achieved? The guard wasn’t deliberately trying to make my life difficult and the fact remained that I was on private land and with time running out before the sun was going to set, arguing with him would have been a waste of time and I would have likely missed my opportunity to find another spot to get a photo. I reluctantly packed my camera gear away and made my way along the river to the spot I took this week’s photo from.

So, with the ideal composition off the table, I found the next best location around 5 minutes along the river. Up went the tripod once more and I mounted my Fujifilm XT2 and wide-angle 10-24mm lens. I wanted to include the entire peninsular with the river heading off either side to give the photo a balanced composition but to get that wide, I had to include plenty of water in the foreground which I knew I would need to crop away later.

With the sun now beginning to set and with these nice, pastel colours starting to appear in the sky, I mounted my Kase magnetic ND filters on the end of my lens and pressed the shutter. As with all of my long exposure photos, I follow a straightforward process from manually focusing to calculating my exposure and rather than explaining that in too much detail in this post, you can find all of the information in my eBook here.

To get the water as smooth as possible, I ended up stacking my 10-stop and 3-stop ND filters onto the end of my lens which resulted in this 2-minute exposure. Although there weren’t many clouds, thankfully, those that were there were moving away from me and the 2-minute exposure was enough to stretch them out, creating some nice interest in the sky.

Along with some tonal adjustments and spot removal in Lightroom, I also cropped the image to a 2:1 panoramic aspect ratio which removed some of the empty space which was adding very little to the lower third of the frame.

I’m really pleased that regardless of not being able to take the photo from my preferred location, I still walked away with something that evening.

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 10 Night Photography Spots in London

I have been taking cityscape photos of London for many years now and in that time, the view of the city at night has been transformed by replacing the outdated orange street lights with new, modern light installations, turning these once monotonous views of London into vibrant urban vistas. Having photographed so many of these iconic scenes myself, I’ve decided to share a few of what I consider my favourite night photography spots in London.

Photographing London at Night

In this article, I will be taking you on a journey along the River Thames from west to east as we visit 10 of my top spots to capture photographs of London at night which includes some useful information such as the closest stations and if the locations are tripod friendly or not.

When you have finished reading this article, why not check out some of my other “Photographing London” posts.

My Top 10 Photography Spots in London

My top 5 free rooftop locations to photograph London

My 10 top tips for photographing London

My Top 5 Long Exposure Locations in London

#1 The London Eye from Westminster Bridge

Starting our journey along the River Thames, the first night photography spot on my list is the view of the London Eye taken from Westminster Bridge. With the side-on view of County Hall and the London Eye, it’s a great spot to capture the bright colours that light up the South Bank. Getting a balanced composition can be a bit tricky so for this photo I walked to the far side of the Bridge which allowed me to include the riverboat pier in the bottom left, adding some visual weight into the frame. Read more about this photo in my Weekly Photo series here: Colour Wheel.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

To both avoid the masses of people that congregate on Westminster Bridge in the evening and to avoid getting up super early, I recommend photographing this view before sunrise during the winter months. With the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and The London Eye all situated here, this area is a magnet for tourists so finding the ideal spot and having enough space to set up a tripod is difficult at night but if you visit before sunrise in the winter, you will have to wrap up warm but you can arrive at a reasonable 7am and capture this night time photo of London with relative ease.

Can I use a tripod?

Yes, you can. There are no rules that prevent the use of tripods but as the location can get very busy during the day and into the evenings, you should choose your spot carefully to avoid it being bumped into by other people. You will have far more space to set up a tripod if you visit before sunrise as I did in the photo above.

How do you find the location?

The closest underground stations are Westminster (Jubilee Line) and Lambeth North (Bakerloo Line) and from there head towards Westminster Bridge.

#2 Westminster from the Golden Jubilee Bridge

Next up, we have the fantastic view from the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges where you can take this night photo of the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

There’s no need for an early alarm for this shot as I’ve photographed from this bridge many times and never has it got too busy to set up my tripod so getting here after dark any time of the year is fine. If you want to capture a long exposure with the London Eye spinning, make sure you look up the opening times to make sure it’s still running at the time you want to photograph.

Can I use a tripod?

Yes, you can. There is no rule to prevent the use of tripods but you will need to find a spot in between the poles that form part of the bridge’s structure and as always, try to keep it out of the way of other people to avoid it being bumped about.

How do you find the location?

The closest underground stations are Embankment (Circle and District Lines) and Waterloo (Jubilee Line) and from there head towards the south-western side of the Golden Jubilee bridge. This view can be found close to the South Bank of the river.

#3 The City of London from the Thames South Bank

This is a classic view of London from the South Bank of the River Thames and a fantastic spot to photograph London at night. The ornate street lamps light the path through the frame leading to a backdrop of the vibrant colours of Blackfriars Bridge, the City of London and the famous dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. I wrote more about the time I took this photo in my photoblog here: South Bank.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

I took this photo in January and with the trees free of leaves, more of the scene opens up revealing more of the lights along the path and the city in the background which would be obscured by the trees in the warmer months. I took this photo in the evening and if you have some patience and a bit of luck, you may get a gap in the foot traffic enabling you to take a photo without any people along the path but if you’re an early riser, a pre-sunrise shoot without as many people is also a good option.

Can I use a tripod?

Strictly speaking, tripods are not allowed along this stretch of the South Bank but as it’s a short walk away from the really busy areas around the London Eye, you can normally get away with it without anyone bothering you. You do, however, need to keep out of the way here so as I did in the photo above, you can tuck yourself in, close to the trees which still leaves plenty of room for people to pass by.

How do you find the location?

This spot is on the south side of the Thames in between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. The nearest Underground stop is Waterloo Station on the Jubilee Line but what I like to do is walk along the South Bank from Westminster which takes around 10 minutes. Once you can see the dome from St Paul’s Cathedral, Blackfriars Bridge and some of the buildings in the city, you are at the right place.

#4 St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge

Number 4 on my Top 10 Night Photography Spots in London is The Millennium Bridge. With the recently upgraded lights and sleek, modern lines there are many different compositions of London to photograph. I particularly like this symmetrical view of the bridge which leads the eye towards the recognisable dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and if you catch the clouds moving in the right direction, the long exposure needed at night will help them mirror the direction of the bridge and make your final image even stronger.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

To get this symmetrical composition of the Millennium Bridge, the fewer people crossing the bridge the better as even with a long night time exposure, you will still end up with ghostly figures crossing the bridge if it’s too busy so I recommend late at night, after rush hour or early in the morning before people start heading off to work.

If you can’t get to the bridge at these times, don’t worry as there is a photo to be had here day or night from on or underneath the bridge. It’s a popular spot for photography for good reason.

Can I use a tripod?

You can use a tripod on the Millennium Bridge. There are a couple of central compositions that can be photographed from the south side of the bridge but if you really want a perfectly symmetrical composition, there are only a couple of specific places to photograph from so its best to arrive a little earlier than planned just in case the best spots are taken and you need to think of a plan b.

How do you find the location?

The easiest and closest stations to get to the Millennium Bridge are St Pauls (Central Line) which is just north of the bridge or Blackfriars (District and Circle Lines or National Rail) which requires just a few minute’s walk east along the river.

#5 London from Tate Modern’s viewing platform

The viewing platform is a great spot for taking night photographs of the city from the south side of the River Thames. From here you can get uninterrupted views of the city of London or the dome of St Pauls cathedral (as I did here) and with a wide-angle lens, you can embrace the dominant chimney and the lights down in the turbine room and use the historic structure as your main subject against the bright lights of the city in the background.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

If you want to take photos of the city from this spot at night, then it’s a much more pleasant experience doing so in the warmer months as you are quite exposed to the elements when up the tower and it can be rather cold but with the sun setting later, you should aim to visit on a Friday or Saturday evening, when the museum is open until 21:30. Otherwise, you can capture a night-scape image during the winter months any day of the week, just wear an extra layer or two!

Can I use a tripod?

No, the museum has a strict rule about the use of tripods. To get a sharp image in low light, you can try to use a tabletop tripod like the Manfrotto PIXI which I carry in my camera bag and balance it on the corner of the railings or on the floor but just be careful as it’s a slightly risky manoeuvre. My advice is to make sure that whatever you do, you keep the camera strap on and around your neck just in case the camera slips.

How do you find the location?

As in location 4 above, you can use St Paul’s or Blackfriars to get to this night photography spot. Tate Modern is located along Thames Bankside on the South of the river, opposite St Pauls. Just use the main entrance to the museum and head to the back where you will find the lifts up to the viewing level.

#6 London Bridge and the Shard from the North Bank

This spot next to London Bridge is quite a new addition to my list as up until recently, the lights on the bridge were a monotone orange colour and along with its uninspiring concrete arches, London Bridge at night was nothing to write home about. It’s all changed now though. The Illuminated River project has turned this dull-looking bridge into a vibrant wall of colour and not to be outdone, the lights on the Shard help it stand out at night, making it a fantastic subject for the bridge to lead the eye towards. To see how I got on taking this shot, take a look at this post: Illuminated River.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

If vibrant colour is what you want, then December is by far the best month to photograph this view of London at night. During the month of December, The Shard puts on its own multicoloured light show which compliments the lights on London Bridge nicely. Just remember to wrap up warm and bring a wide-angle lens to fit it all in the frame.

Can I use a tripod?

Yes, you can use a tripod. The river wall is very thick at this spot so what I tend to do is close my tripod right down and put it on the wall, close to the edge to avoid including it in the shot. Just be extra careful the camera doesn’t fall off.

How do you find the location?

To get to this spot, the closest train stations are Monument/Cannon Street (Circle and District lines) or across the river at London Bridge (Northern Jubilee and National Rail lines). You then need to make your way to the north bank of the Thames and the spot is down by the waterside just a minute’s walk west along the river.

#7 The architecture at More London

Day or night, More London Estate is one of my favourite places to photograph London. This spot boasts some fantastic cityscape photo opportunities from the modern architecture of The Shard, to the classic London icons such as Tower Bridge and it’s no different at night. This is one of my top night photography spots for good reason as the cool, modern lights really pop at night and with all of this ambient light to work with, it’s a fantastic location for some night photography.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

If you are only pointing your camera across the river or if you don’t mind lots of people in your landscape photos, then visit in the evening, any time of the year but if you want to photograph this fantastic architecture without any people causing blurry ghostly figures in the shot, then before sunrise is your best option. Although you still get people walking through, the foot traffic is far less and there are plenty of gaps to take a shot.

Can I use a tripod?

Strictly speaking, you can’t use tripods here but over the last few years, I am being bothered less and less by the wardens. I’ve learned to stay out of the way and be discrete and they seem to recognise that and leave me to it but if you visit, be prepared to be asked to put the tripod away.

How do you find the location?

London Bridge with access to the Northern, Jubilee and National Rail lines is easily the most convenient place to head to when visiting More London Estate. If coming from the north of the river, you can travel to Tower Hill on the Circle and District line and cross the river via Tower Bridge.

#8 Tower Bridge from the Thames North Bank

Number 8 in my top 10 night photography spots in London is this classic view of Tower Bridge taken from the north bank of the River Thames. Photographing this famous bascule bridge from in front of the Tower of London allows you to include these ornate street lamps and the cobbled street giving it an almost timeless look.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

This is a gated area and opens around 7am and closes at 9pm every day so as it’s still light at these times in the middle of summer, I recommend visiting this spot between November and January for a pre-sunrise shoot or anytime between August and April for a post-sunset shoot.

Can I use a tripod?

Surprisingly so, yes. Even though this is private property, it seems the management team at the Tower of London are happy to allow tripods even though it can get very busy during the day which is quite refreshing, to say the least.

How do you find the location?

Tower Hill is the nearest tube station located on the other side of the castle. otherwise, on the south of the river, London Bridge Station is the closest. Head to the north side of the river, directly in front of the Tower of London and you will see the spot along the river.

#9 The Shard and City Hall from Tower Bridge

Fast becoming one of the most iconic views in London this cityscape view encompasses More London, City Hall, The Shard, HMS Belfast and in the background, London Bridge. It’s a rather modern looking view of the city with lots of glass and modern lights which looks fantastic when all lit up at night and it’s for that very reason, this view is on my top 10 night photography spots in London.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

If you’re a bit of peace and quiet while photographing this view, then visit before sunrise as you won’t be battling the herds of people crossing Tower Bridge but if you are lucky enough to be in London at Christmas in December, then visit after dark as although it will be busy, The Shard puts on a bit of a light show so you can photograph it with various vibrant colours on top making it worth the trouble.

Can I use a tripod?

Yes, you can. Whether you take the photo from Tower Bridge or in front of the Tower of London, tripods are allowed. Just be careful as this area gets very busy in the evening and I would advise anyone to tuck themselves out of the way as much as possible to avoid the tripod legs tripping someone up or being kicked by a passer-by.

How do you find the location?

To get here, you can use London Bridge Station on the south of the river or Tower Hill on the north of the river. Compositionally, it can be tricky to capture this view and whereas a lot of people will try to photograph the scene from directly opposite, in front of the Tower of London, I prefer to capture this view from the north end of Tower Bridge as I prefer a slightly higher vantage point looking further down the Thames and with the Shard directly the middle, the image looks a little more balanced in my opinion.

10 Tower Bridge from St Katherine Docks

The last but not least location to take night photos in London is this spot just along the river from Tower Bridge on the other side of St Katherine Docks Marina. From this vantage point, you get to enjoy this awesome view of Tower Bridge with the Shard right behind it.

When is the best time to photograph this spot?

This is a gated area and I’ve tried to access it for a sunrise shoot and found the gates locked, so, I recommend visiting in the evening to take a night photo of this view. It’s never been particularly busy when I’ve visited so I can recommend taking a late stroll to this spot in the summer and enjoying a nice, warm sunset before taking the night shot.

Can I use a tripod?

Yes, I’ve been here many times and not once have I been bothered by the site wardens. As I’ve said multiple times before, just stay out of the way and avoid making a nuisance of yourself and based on my experience, you should be fine.

How do you find the location?

The closest tube stations are either London Bridge or Tower Hill. This spot is on the north bank of the Thames. To get here, you need to drop below Tower Bridge and make your way east along the river to St Katherine Docks and once passed, walk along St Katherine’s Way until you get to Tower Bridge Wharf Building where you need to turn left and walk between the buildings towards the edge of the river.

So, there you have it, my top 10 night photography Spots in London! There are so many other great locations to capture night photos of the city, from down in the streets, along the Thames and up high looking over the rooftops.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, do check out some of my other posts to help you take the best photos of London

• My Top 10 Photography Spots in London

• My top 5 free rooftop locations to photograph London

• My 10 top tips for photographing London

• My Top 5 Long Exposure Locations in London

Until next time.

Trevor

London “Full Stop” | Weekly Photo #98

Along with working through a bit of a backlog of photo editing and submitting a batch of images to this year’s Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, I’ve been spending a lot of time down on the south coast over the last couple of weeks while I continue to wait for conditions to improve enough to entice me back into the woodland. I’ve been back once or twice to keep an eye on things and see how the spring colours are taking shape but in between, I’ve been photographing the white cliffs and rolling hills along the South Downs and look forward to sharing some of the photos I took in the coming weeks.

I’m also getting ready to get back to the city on a regular basis. I miss the familiarity of London, the people, the energy, those epic cityscapes, and although I’m not yet scraping the barrel to post London cityscape photos here on my blog, if I don’t venture into the city soon, I fear it won’t be too long until I am.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/9th Second | f/11 | ISO160

Back in February 2020, I went for a sunrise shoot around More London along the Thames and although there was plenty of cloud about, the sky was pretty clear to the east so there was plenty of pre-sunrise light shining through, creating these awesome magenta tones throughout the scene.

Starting off on the upper level, I took a few photos of City Hall and Tower Bridge using The Scoop as some foreground interest (also featured in this previous photo) and shortly after, made my way down to the lower level to seek out another photo before heading west along the Thames.

Dotted around More London Estate are 5 of these reflective black sculptures made by a British artist called Fiona Banner. Installed nearly 20 years ago, these glistening spheres of various shapes are large three-dimensional representations of a full stop from 5 commonly used typefaces. It’s an interesting idea that explores the notion of language and text and it’s only when I looked into the story behind the installation and how the project has now cleverly evolved to bring attention to key environmental issues, I started to appreciate them as more than just shiny black shapes and wanted to include them as a compositional feature in one of my photos.

After spending just a few minutes in search of a composition, I found this one here featuring City Hall and Tower Bridge with one of the “Full Stop” art sculptures conveniently leaning into the frame, providing some useful visual weight on the left-hand side. Standing there, the composition was ok and I knew there was an image to be had, but something was off. There was no foreground to speak of and the subjects were a bit lost in the image. The sculpture appeared too small and inconspicuous while Tower Bridge had too much visual clutter in the background created by the buildings on the far side of the river.

The solution was quite simple, I needed to crouch right down and get the camera as close to the ground as I could. By doing so, I was able to emphasise those fantastic lines in the foreground and use them to lead the viewer’s eye from the bottom of the image, up to the very centre of Tower Bridge. The low viewpoint also made the full stop sculpture more dominant in the scene and along with Tower Bridge and City Hall, they all appeared more isolated, standing out against the bright pre-sunrise sky which is the exact look I was trying to achieve.

The biggest challenge I had once the composition was locked in was the dynamic range. With the dark areas in the foreground and bright dawn light, it made balancing the exposure particularly difficult as I didn’t want to clip the highlights and over expose the sky but at the same time, exposing for the sky meant my shadows were just too dark in places and recovering them would be difficult and at best introduce lots of digital noise and mess in those areas. The solution was to bracket the exposures and blend the correctly exposed parts of the image together in post-production. I used to bracket my images as a matter of course but these days with sensors being so good, I tend to only do it if I feel it’s the only way to get the shot I’m looking to take and this was certainly one of those times.

With my settings dialled in and focus set to give me (almost) front to back sharpness, down went the shutter and although reasonably confident I had a shot in the bag, this was one of those times I would have to wait to get the RAW files back on my computer and merge the exposures before I knew for certain.

Have a great week!

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.

A Modern Classic City | Weekly Photo #94

I’ve been a bit busy this week as I decided to start a small printing project. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may already know how strongly I feel about getting photos off the hard drive and on to paper and taking it one step further, how much I love a good photobook. I’ve brought a few photography books over the last year, written by some of my favourite landscape photographers and like nothing more than finding a quiet spot and reading the stories, admiring the photos, and drawing inspiration from their work. If you’re still on the fence about the benefits of printing, check out this post I wrote called Why Every Photographer Should Print Their Photos.

I decided to embark on a small personal project to design and print my own book. I could have gone down the easier route and uploaded the photos and use the software on offer from the print lab but where’s the fun in that? By using some of my photos and stories I’ve written on my blog, I’ve decided to download a copy of Adobe’s InDesign, learn how to navigate the application and design my own book from scratch. I’ll design the layout, the cover, type and prepare around 70 images ready to send to the lab to produce the final book.

It will take some time to complete, but at the end of the process, I hope to be holding the finished book in my hand as a bit of a keepsake and as a bonus, have learned a new skill by using InDesign to build the book from scratch. It’s still early days but I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 25mm | 13 Seconds | f/13 | ISO200

I took this photo while out in London with my camera back in September 2020. It was a wet, cloudy day and I had spent much of the afternoon photographing the city in the pouring rain, using the wet surfaces and puddles to find interesting compositions of London. It’s on this day I took one of my favourite photos of 2020 called Rainy City.

As it started to get dark, I ventured over to my intended viewpoint just along the river from St Katherine Docks in East London. I found a spot on the north bank of the river which provides a fantastic view of the classic architecture of Tower Bridge with The Shard behind it, which is itself, fast becoming a modern classic. Even though The Shard is considerably taller than Tower Bridge, it’s position, set back from the bridge, adds some much-needed visual weight to the left-hand side of the scene, helping to balance the composition.

With the water taking up much of the bottom half of the photo, I wanted to fill the empty space with the bright reflections from the city lights, but with the ripples in the water, it looked far too busy for my taste. To remove the ripples, I closed the camera’s aperture down to f/13, which in turn, increased the shutter speed to 13 seconds, resulting in a longer exposure, smoothing out the water, giving the final photo a more calm, relaxing look about it.

Once I had the RAW files loaded into Lightroom, I started off with the usual contrast and colour adjustments. I then cooled the temperature down to help with the orange cast created by the city lights and using some local adjustments, dodged and burned parts of the image to help emphasise the lights and darken the pier to the right, making it less distracting. I’m quite happy with how the final photo has turned out.

Until next week.

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.

London’s Pinnacle | Weekly Photo #91

Hi there. Before reading about this week’s photo, I want to tell you about the latest blog post on my website. A few days ago, I posted my 2021 “What’s in my camera bag for landscape photography” blog post. Not only can you read about all of the gear I use while out in the field taking photos, but I also share my thoughts about why buying the latest and greatest camera equipment isn’t always a shortcut to taking better photos. Click on the thumbnail below if you want to read the post.

Now, on to this week’s photo. I briefly mentioned this front-facing photo of The Shard on a previous post called Cloudburst Over London, where I was up at the Sky Garden Viewing Platform at the end of the day taking photos of a moody looking London in October last year. In the post, I talked about how the rain and wind that arrived not long after taking these photos meant the outdoor area was closed, putting a halt to any further photography for the evening. Thankfully, only minutes before the heavens opened, I had just enough time to take this wide-angle photo of The Shard across the river.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

There is so much I like about this photo. First up, the foreground made up London’s streets and rooftops which, apart from adding some interest into the lower third of the photo, act to lead the eye up and into the scene. When taken at10mm, not only does it allow much more of the foreground and sky to be included in the frame but the wide-angle changes the perspective. It appears to push The Shard further back into the distance, making it look smaller in the frame, but I still think it really works here. The Shard may look smaller but I think it loses none of the scale and remains the pinnacle structure, towering over its neighbouring buildings.

It’s the sky in the scene that really sets the mood here and I absolutely love how it looks in this photo. As I made my way to the Sky Garden, the sky was flat and featureless but not too long after arriving, a blanket of rain made its way in from the west and although it eventually put a stop to the shoot, thankfully it brought some welcome drama to my photos beforehand.

Lastly, amongst the monotone grey/blue colour of the overall picture, I really like the spots of colour throughout from the orange lights dotted around the buildings, the red London Buses crossing London Bridge, the blue lights representing our COVID heroes on top of The Shard and finally the last light from the sun piercing through a gap in the clouds and bouncing off the side of The Shard. Individually subtle but collectively, they make a big difference.

While taking the photo, I needed all of the image stabilization the lens could provide as with no tripods allowed up at the Sky Garden, shooting handheld is the only option and with a shutter speed of 1/6th second, a steady hand was needed to get a sharp photo. I could have increased the ISO or even opened the aperture a little wider but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, photographing through the glass up at the Sky Garden degrades the quality somewhat and to prevent noise from a high ISO or softness from the wider aperture making it worse, the pressure was on to get a blur-free photo with the settings that gave me the best image quality.

With the UK vaccination program in full swing, I become more hopeful by the day that I’ll be back in London with my camera soon. I can’t wait!

Cheers!

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.

Misty River | Weekly Photo #88

I don’t know what it is about certain views or scenes I return to photograph time and time again. Take this particular view of the London Eye taken from the Golden Jubilee Bridge, I have photographed it countless times over the years as the sheer scale of the structure against the rather modest-sized buildings around it never fails to captivate me. I’ve taken photos I’m really pleased with but still, whenever I cross this bridge, I will often try and capture a new version of this epic London scene. “How many do I really need?” I guess I’m unconsciously creating a small body of work, maybe even a project to see how many different ways or in what different conditions I can capture this, one of my favourite views in London.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm F2 | 23mm | 1/125th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

In mid-December last year, (in between lockdowns), my family and I made our way into a very quiet London for a bit of sight-seeing, drink some mulled wine and see the Christmas lights. Living only 30 minutes away on the train, we do this most years, as in normal times, there is a real buzz about the place at Christmas and we love to spend a bit of time soaking up London’s festive atmosphere.

Although this wasn’t a dedicated photography outing, I still like to have a “proper” camera with me to take the odd family picture as we go, so I took my Fujifilm X-T30 and 23mm F2 prime lens. Together this makes a super lightweight, but very capable set up to walk around with.

We spend some time over on the Southbank, trying out the street food with the kids digging into some churros with chocolate source while my wife and I enjoyed a cheeky mulled wine. Once finished, we decided to head over to Covent Garden to see the famous tree and maybe try the mulled wine on sale over there…., you know, to compare ;-) which meant crossing the Thames and passing by this London cityscape view which I like so much. As we crossed the bridge, the cold, misty rain started to make its way up the river and I noticed how the rain was defusing the buildings in the distance, softening the cityscape somewhat and giving a sense of depth and atmosphere throughout the scene. I was sure there was a shot to be had here.

As I lifted my camera to the eye, the rain started to hit the bridge. I had to be quick as my camera wouldn’t fare well in the rain and as my family ran ahead to get cover, I dialled in the settings and snapped away. As I was taking a hand-held shot, I had to be mindful of the shutter speed so not to introduce any camera shake so without any close foreground to worry about, I opened up the aperture to f/6.4 to let a bit more light in which in turn allowed me to keep the shutter speed quick and the ISO nice and low.

You could be forgiven in thinking this was a black and white conversion as, apart from the hints of orange on the boats and London Eye, there is very little colour elsewhere but that was how the scene looked and this one isn’t about the epic light and high contrast. For me, it’s more about the mood and atmosphere I tried to capture in this recognisable view of London.

Without many recent trips into the “Big Smoke”, I’ve enjoyed exploring my local area, hunting down and photographing the mist or frost in the forests nearby. I plan, over the next few weeks to share a few of the photos I’ve taken over the winter so far and although there will be fewer London photos (I still have some to share) in this Weekly Photoblog over the next couple of months, I do plan to get back up-town with the camera as soon as I am able to do so. How are you liking this mix of natural and urban landscapes? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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.

Isle of Dogs | Weekly Photo #86

I hope you are all enjoying the mix of urban and natural landscapes I’ve been sharing lately. When I first started this weekly photo series, the vast majority of the photos I took and subsequently shared were of London but at the start of last year, those visits into the city slowed to a crawl and whilst I miss my trips uptown and can’t wait for them to start again, I’ve really enjoyed getting out into the natural landscape which, in these current times is far more accessible to me.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 55mm | 1/300th Second | f/3.5 | ISO200

This week’s photo of the skyline over at Canary Wharf was taken from the Sky Garden, near London bridge. I took the shot towards the back end of 2020 during a short lockdown interlude, during which, I visited the Sky Garden twice as I wanted to give myself the best chance of walking away with a few good photos. Thankfully I did and you can see another picture taken from the same vantage point looking across West London here: Weekly Photo #79 - Cloudburst Over London.

It’s been years since I’ve looked across to the Isle of Dogs and it not be completely overwhelmed by a ridiculous number of cranes across the skyline. Surely, they haven’t finished building it, have they? Of course, I’m joking. London is and will be under constant change and although there are a few cranes dotted around this photo, it’s still quite a rare sight to see this view with so little construction and if you ask me, it looks fantastic.

Taken through the window, I needed to open up the aperture to hide the dirty glass and by using a cheap lens hood from eBay, I was able to block out any reflections from creeping into the image. A welcome side effect of having a wider aperture is that it lets more light into the camera, so my shutter speed was 1/300th second which, at 55mm, was fast enough to handhold without the fear of getting any camera blur.

Back in post, I decided on a slightly cooler tone and went about dodging and burning parts of the image to help balance the way the light hit the scene. Also, shooting through the dirty glass window did soften the photo a little so I spent some time working with local adjustments to add some of that clarity back to certain parts of the image using various tools such as texture, clarity and contrast sliders, at the same time, being subtle enough to ensure I didn’t overdo it and add any noise or degrade the image in any way. My last step was to push the photo over to Photoshop and use the High Pass filter to sharpen the final image.

This photo has a layered look from front to back which I really like and although it’s an epic cityscape vista with huge skyscrapers that stretch up beyond the horizon, the balance and mood of the photo portrays a strange but very welcome sense of calm when I look at this photo. I’m looking forward to printing this one.

I feel the change of approach needed to photograph subjects such as the natural woodland has already had a positive effect on the way I photograph London. It’s early days as I’ve only photographed the city a handful of times in the last 6 months so I haven’t had a chance to explore this train of thought yet, but based on the photos I’ve taken from my most recent visits, I feel I’m less dependent on the grand vista with epic light and I’m now finding more photos in less favourable conditions which I may have previously struggled with. I’ll probably talk about this again when I’ve had a chance to explore this further and trips to the big smoke start up again for me.

Stay safe out there.

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.

Photographing London in the Fog

A few weeks ago, I managed to get a morning shoot in London just before the latest restrictions came into place across the UK telling us to stay indoors and just as the weather apps predicted, I was greeted with some fantastic foggy conditions when arrived, so, with my Fujifilm XT2 in tow, off I went to take some photos.

Just a note on the format I chose for this post. Although it works just fine on a smaller mobile screen, if you can, do try to view the post on a larger screen as the pairs of photos in square format works best to tell a cohesive story.

After leaving London Bridge train station, I headed over to More London and took a few pics of the view towards City Hall and Tower Bridge before crossing London Bridge to capture some cool, atmospheric shots of HMS Belfast and Tower bridge along a misty River Thames.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 7 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1.9 Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 24mm | 1/5th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1 Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/25th Second | f/5 | ISO500

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 1/7th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Some of you may remember a few months ago I posted a lookup shot taken in the City of London shortly after the fog had lifted and although I was happy with the final image, I was still disappointed not to get the photo I originally wanted. So, not to risk missing it again, I quickly walked into the city to have another attempt at taking a lookup photo with the taller buildings disappearing into the mist and thankfully I made it in time. I took a few different compositions and below are two of my favourites from the morning.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/35th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Last but not least on this foggy photo walk in London, I ventured west to take a few pics around St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge. With these places photographed so much, I played around with the lines and frames on offer to present a few different views of these popular London subjects. I finished the morning across the river in front of the Tate Modern Museum to capture the popular view of the Millennium Bridge leading towards St Paul’s Cathedral with the famous dome disappearing into the fog.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/25th Second | f/11 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 24mm | 1/120th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1/80th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/150th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 13mm | 1/75th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 21mm | 1/25th Second | f/10 | ISO200

Bonus Pics! London Eye Night Photography

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I should share these photos on this blog post as they are visually very different to those above but I decided to go with it as I really like the set but with only four photos, there’s not enough to justify their own dedicated blog post.

After my morning shoot in the fog, I headed into the office for my day job but instead of heading home at the end of the day, I decided to walk along the River Thames to take a few pictures near Westminster. So much great work has gone into upgrading the lights along the river and with the relatively calm water providing some cracking reflections, I decided to take this set of photos featuring different views of the London Eye and the South Bank.

In case you were wondering, that bright light to the left of the London Eye in the first image below is the moon passing behind. I tried a bracketed exposure to blend in later during post but it wasn’t to be.

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 14 Seconds | f/14 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 28mm | 1/80th Second | f/3.2 | ISO800

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 18 Seconds | f/16 | ISO200

Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11mm | 13 Seconds | f/16 | ISO200

I love it when a few hours of photography results in a good crop of photos to share and this platform is my own online gallery enabling me to showcase the photos in a format that I think works best. Hopefully, you agree and as ever, if you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time.

Trevor

The Girl and the Dolphin | Weekly Photo #84

Hi there! So, the UK is back in lockdown (number 3) so, over the coming weeks, photography outings will need to take a bit of a back seat while we fight back this wave but apart from some decorating jobs that have suddenly appeared on my to-do list, I will use any time I have to work on other photography-related bits and pieces such as printing some more of my photos and writing the odd blog or two. If like me, you’re also having to stay indoors at the moment and looking for some photographic inspiration to pass the time, check out the list I made at the end of this post.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm F2.8 | 16mm | 1/20th Second | f/10 | ISO800

Here’s a photo I took during a sunrise shoot around Tower Bridge in late 2019. After taking some shots over the river around More London and City Hall, I crossed Tower Bridge to see what photos were on offer north of the river. I spent some time walking around St Katherine Docks and ended up at this popular viewpoint next to the Girl and the Dolphin fountain, which, when positioned correctly, adds some useful visual weight to the left-hand side of this composition and helps to frame the bridge somewhat. As the sun was rising above the horizon, it moved behind a thin layer of cloud which helped to diffuse the light, casting this warm reddish glow on the towers. I normally shy away from taking photos when the light is direct and harsh so the defused light worked well for me here.

Armed with just the 16mm prime lens I had to move around a bit and zoom with my feet to get the best composition available and although I would have liked just a bit more space to allow the top of the tower to breathe a little more, the focal length still works and emphasises the scale of Tower Bridge nicely in my opinion.

I didn’t have to do too much in Lightroom but I did pull back the saturation a little, lowered the exposure in the sky and used some local adjustments to dodge and burn parts of the image.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I will be making a list of things I want to work on during this current lockdown in the UK so for those that might be in the same boat, I thought I would share a few ideas as to how photographers can keep themselves busy while being stuck indoors.

6 Ideas to keep photographers busy in lockdown

#1 Print some of your photos

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may already know that I think printing your best work is really important but instead of listing the many reasons why I think so here, pop over and give this blog post a read as I go into much more detail over there: Why every photographer should print their photos.

Whether you have a printer at home or not, this is a perfect time to prepare and print some of your own photos. If you have never printed your work, why not jump onto YouTube to pick up some tips to get the best-looking prints and find a local print lab, alternatively, if you’re already familiar with printing your photos, why not go one step further by designing a photo book or select some photos that look good together and create a cohesive wall display so you can unleash some of your best work from that hard drive and see it all in its tangible beauty.

#2 Start a small photography project

Literally, anything can be photographed and I think it’s really important to keep those skills sharp and muscle memories exercised so pick a subject such as your favourite colour while out on your daily walk or if you have another interest, see how you can incorporate your photography somehow such as still life photos of what you make or creative photos of the equipment you use. Think outside the box and have some fun with it but don’t forget point 1 above and have a think about how you could display or share the photos either by print or a social media account.

#3 Upskill and get inspired

Whether it’s a course offered by your favourite photographer, a YouTube playlist or a website such as Skillshare, it’s never a bad time to educate yourself and learn new skills that you can put into action with a lockdown project or when out and about again once the restrictions ease.

#4 Dig into your photo library to find or re-edit your older work

I’ve spoken about this topic a lot in the past because I think your photo library can be a treasure trove of unedited or abandoned photos that at the time didn’t suit your style or you lacked the skills or tools to edit the photo to its full potential, so, why not check back through some of those more memorable shoots and see what hidden gems you can find.

#5 Review your photo backup workflow

Ok, not too exciting but necessary all the same. What would you do if that one and only harddrive with all of your photos stored on it was to fail? Could you recover them? Can you afford the recovery service? If you’ve been neglecting to backup your photos recently, now is a great time to design a simple, foolproof way to protect your most cherished files. Check my blog post here to see my own backup workflow and some inexpensive ways to implement one for yourself: My Photo Backup Workflow.

#6 Get offline, relax and read a good photography book

Is that photography book that you brought and saving for a sunny day with harsh light still on the shelf gathering dust (I have three to read!")? Why not set aside an evening here or there to close the laptop, pour your choice of drink and find a quiet corner and take an hour or two out to read that book. Being in lockdown doesn’t mean life is any less hectic so it’s important to take time out and relax when the opportunity arises.

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Hopefully, the list of ideas above inspires some of you looking for photographic things to do while getting out to take photos isn’t possible. Feel free to contribute with your own ideas in the comments below.

Stay safe and well.

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.