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
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.