Monday, June 22, 2020

Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85

Lensbaby has been producing lenses that create interesting effects since 2004. During that time people have been experimenting and trying out different ways of using them. In the spring of 2015, they introduced the Velvet 56 to the joy of many photographers, especially those doing macro. This year, their newest lens in the line-up was released, the Lensbaby Velvet 85.
leannecole-review-lensbaby-velvet85-
The Lensbaby Velvet 85
The Velvet 85 promises to be a great lens for portraiture creating impressionist-like portraits of people. It does indeed do that, but you can use it for so much more. It is a great lens for photographers who like images with mood and which concentrate more on the subject with a lot of bokeh.


First Impressions

The lens is very well made and when you hold it in your hand you can feel the coolness of the metal it is made from. It is not an overly heavy lens, but it’s also not light. It is bigger than the Velvet 56, which is to be expected, though not a lot heavier. They are both very well made, high-quality lenses.

Using the Lensbaby Velvet 85

Like most lenses that are available on the market today, the Velvet 85 can be used for many different types of photography. I use it mainly for macro photography and find it really good. However, you can also use it for portraiture, city photography, and landscapes. It doesn’t work the same as other lenses as you get a really soft-focus effect with it, but for most people, that is exactly why they buy it.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
A macro image that was taken with the Lensbaby Velvet 85.

Manual Lens

The lens is completely manual and you cannot use your camera to control it, as you can with other lenses. You need to change the aperture and focus it yourself. You will not be able to see what aperture you used when you download the images to your computer either.

Manual Focus

Focusing is also manual and you need to adjust it as you take your photos. It does turn a long way and you have to twist the focusing ring a lot. Some cameras can tell you when the image is in focus, for example, Nikon does. When you are at that spot of good clarification, then the round dot in the viewfinder appears. However, as you get used to the lens you will need to rely on that less.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
Opening up the aperture gives you images with a lot of soft-focus.
For macro photography, most people tend to use manual focus anyway and it is easier with this lens. You can focus where you want and then move yourself and the camera to a spot where the image will be in focus.
For landscape photography, you can set it to infinity and you should get images that are sharp, depending on your aperture. For objects in between macro and infinity, you will have to practice and see it goes. That is probably the area I found the hardest, though as I did it more, it became easier.

Controlling the Lens

With many lenses now you can change the aperture with the camera, however, the Velvet 85 is more like a vintage lens from older style cameras. It does not communicate with your camera and you need to control the aperture yourself. To change it there is an aperture ring on the lens which you turn to adjust it to the setting you want.

Aperture

Unlike other sorts of dedicated macro lenses, the Velvet 85 doesn’t use aperture in the same way. You can take photos of flowers at f/2.8 and get a fairly decent image. If you tried doing that with, say a Nikon macro lens, you will find the photo would almost be an abstract version of the flower with very little in focus.
The aperture starts at f/1.8 on the Velvet 85 and goes up to f/16. At the latter, you will get the greatest depth of field and if using the lens for landscape photography it is a good one to choose. If you are taking macro images of flowers then the wider end is much better.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
Using a smaller aperture such as f/11 gives less soft-focus and you get more of a natural looking image.
One thing the lens is really good for is the soft-focus effect that is possible. You can control how much of it you want by using different apertures. The wider it is the more of the effect appears, and the opposite happens as you close it down.

Interesting effects

If you like to get different effects with your lens then the Velvet 85 will be fantastic for you. You can get interesting results for portraits, though I don’t do them if you go to the Lensbaby website you can see some good examples. If you want to give your clients images that are not the same as what others are doing then you should consider adding this lens to your kit. Click here for images.


Bokeh Effect

Without a doubt one of the most special and addictive aspects of the Velvet lenses, and perhaps more so with the 85, is the blurring you can do with it. You won’t find any other lenses available that will give you the same effects. You can play around with the aperture to change how much blur you achieve in your images.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
Creating a bokeh effect with a poppy flower and bee.
Whether you are photographing a landscape or a macro image you can use the aperture and blurring effect to highlight your subject. The Velvet 85 is fantastic for this. You can change the aperture to different widths and that will determine how much blur you will get. From that, you can decide what level of blurring you want in your image.

Tilt-Shift Effect

This was a popular effect a few years ago, though, there is no reason it can’t be again. This is where you use blurring effects to make objects in your image look like they are miniature or toy-like. By controlling the aperture and giving the images a lot more of the blur you can get images that look as though your subject is miniature. The lens does not do it all, but it gives you a good starting point.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
The soft-focus is a good start to creating tilt-shift images.

Moody Images

Using blurring effects is a great tool for giving your images a moody feel. You can apply it to most types of photography and get those sorts of images that people love. You can use it for most types of photography, try it out if you can.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
Playing with the aperture you can create a mood in your image.

Comparing the Velvet 85 with the Velvet 56

There is an obvious difference between the size of the two lenses, which you can see in the image below. However, you will find the same with most fixed or prime lenses.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
The Lensbaby Velvet 85 next to the Velvet 56.
If you change the focus to point so that you can get as close as you can to what you are photographing, they both seem to capture the same image.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
How close you can get with each lens, the Velvet 85 on the left and the Velvet 56 on the right.
However, if you are trying to photograph something from a fixed point, then the Velvet 85 will allow you to get closer images. This is great if you are taking photos in a location like a garden, you can photograph those flowers that are at the back and harder to get to.
Review of the Lensbaby Velvet 85
Standing in the same place, the difference can be seen with the Velvet 85 on the left, and the Velvet 
56 on the right.
If I had to choose between the two lenses, I think I would want the Velvet 85. The longer reach is appealing, and the soft-focus effect is really interesting. There isn’t a great deal of difference in the price, so it would be my choice.

Adding the lens to your kit

It is not an overly expensive lens, Lensbaby sells the Velvet 85 for $499. It is available for most cameras on the market today. You can get a full list on the website.
If you are looking for a lens that is capable of macro photography, then this is a good alternative to the more expensive macro lenses that many companies make. It would also suit a portrait photographer, however, don’t forget street photography and landscape. It is a versatile lens which you will enjoy, but don’t expect to get the same results that you’d achieve with normal lenses.

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Review: Lensbaby OMNI Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System


What’s the best way to stand out from the crowd and exhibit some eye-catching colors? By applying some colored gels to a Lensbaby Omni effects system, of course!
Home to some of the most unique lenses in the world (fondly called “art” lenses), Lensbaby pride themselves on developing equipment that gives you a slew of unusual in-camera effects. Their newest mind-boggling contraption, the Lensbaby OMNI Filter System, now has an expansion pack for the color enthusiast in us all.
Review: Lensbaby OMNI Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System

What is the Lensbaby Omni Filter System?

If you’re an out-of-the-box photographer who hasn’t heard of the OMNI yet, you’re missing out.
In simple terms, the Omni Creative Filter System is a metal ring that holds various effect wands in front of the glass to produce an effect. And it works by using the power of magnets. These effect wands come in the form of crystals, panels, and other doohickeys that opens a world of possibilities when used.
The awesome thing about this product is that you can sort-of ‘make a Lensbaby’ out of any existing lens that you own.
As you can imagine, there is a lot of room for growth with this system. This is where the brand new Color Expansion Kit comes into play.

What does the Color Expansion Pack add to the mix?

lensbaby-omni-color-expansion-pack
The main original OMNI kit only includes three Effect Wands, a long arm to hold the Effect Wand, a short arm to hold the Effect Wand, two magnetic mounts (each mount holds up to two Effect Wands), and a small carrying case to tie it all together. While this is absolutely awesome, and the effect wands are great, they have the downside of, well… not having color. They are all clear wands.
So how does one fill the gap if they have a bit of an inclination towards color and rainbows?
Boom – the Color Expansion Kit.
Color quickly seeps into your work via two multicolored crystals, a rainbow diffraction film, and a variety of luminescent and textured films and gels (that are held up conveniently by the Effect Wands).
The gels and films come in a variety of colors, and depending upon your positioning of them can be very vibrant and intense or just provide a subtle light leak.

Practical, real-life use

Review: Lensbaby OMNI Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System
Much like the main OMNI system, this expansion pack is self-explanatory and quite easy to use.
There is a large-ringed, donut-shaped disc that holds the magnetic arms that, in turn, hold the effects wands. This disc, depending on your lens filter thread, can either be screwed on directly or use a step-down/step-up ring to attach to your lenses’ glass element.
The filters and microgels are just thin strips that slide into the same effects holder as the diffraction film. This holder is solid and sturdy and ensures that your films don’t slide around. The wind picking up could not cause these to budge!
Shallow depths of field tend to work very nicely with this particular expansion pack, and the filters turn into a part of the bokeh and spread across the frame rather than showcase their rectangular shape.
The wider the focal length you use, the more room you have to play with each of the new components. For example, the crystals work better with 35mm frames than, say, 85mm, as the effect becomes more prominent.
This filter set works best in bright, good lighting as opposed to low light as the filters do darken the frame quite a bit.
Review: Lensbaby OMNI Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System

Pros

  • A myriad of possible effects.
  • Great color range.
  • Easy to use and simple to learn.
  • Comes with a carrying case.

Cons

  • The individual pieces are small and easy to lose? I’m grasping at straws here for a con. This expansion pack is marvelous.

Final thoughts

Review: Lensbaby OMNI Color Expansion Pack for the OMNI Filter System
The Lensbaby OMNI gets your creative juices flowing, pushes you to try new things, and adds a brand new spark of life to your images. Offer your subjects something different! The addition of color only expands your horizons further.
Can you achieve the same with a do-it-yourself method? Probably. But there is so much room for error or frustration there, versus a system that is already tried and true! I love playing with this system, and I have no doubt whoever nabs it next will too.
They also have a Crystal Expansion Pack, and you can read a review about them here, along with the main filter system.
Have you used any of the Lensbaby OMNI filter systems? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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Sunday, June 21, 2020

Happy Father's Day!

Photography Freebie 


How to Photograph Dragonflies (free eBook!)

 

This weeks' Ebook is yours FREE of charge.  Get your copy here:

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This ebook is FREE and yours for the taking.  We routinely post one "freebie" per week.

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How Cropping in Post-Production Can Improve Composition

Even though I strive to get the best compositional shot in-camera. I do see ‘cropping’ as essential to my post editing workflow. For such a simple post edit technique, it can really enhance and improve composition of the image. I have also found cropping an image, be it small or in a creative sense can transform an image dramatically.
How Cropping in Post-Production
I like to view cropping as reframing the scene. The initial framing of the scene comes when you look through the viewfinder, then next when you have uploaded your images onto your computer for editing.
You get the chance and time to critically see if your image(s) needs cropping and what type is required. For example, there might be some distracting elements in the foreground that you missed when you looked through the viewfinder, or a horizon line isn’t quite as straight as it should be.
In this article, I’m going to illustrate the following reasons why you might crop your images in post-production:
  • To straighten lines: keep the horizons even and the vertical lines vertical.
  • To move your subject or object: a little more to the left, right, up or down.
  • To trim away distracting elements, especially at the sides or the near foreground.
  • To zoom in to show impact, especially portrait or head-shots.
  • To use the rule of odds – instead of two subjects just use one.
  • For creative cropping – rotate image, use perspective crop.
Let’s take the first example, I took this shot handheld when I should have used a tripod. An uneven horizon line does not make for a good composition. The eye is immediately drawn there, for the wrong reason.
crooked-horizon-line
Seascape with a crooked horizon line.
However, this is easily remedied in most photo editing programs. As Adobe Photoshop CS6 is my go-to photo editing software. I will be referencing it for the rest of this article.
straighten-button
Once you click on the Crop Tool in the Tools panel, there is a dedicated straighten button in the 
Options Bar.
Click on the Crop Tool in the Tools panel. Go up to the the Options Bar where there is a dedicated Straighten button. Make sure this is selected, click and drag along the crooked horizon line. Release it, and Photoshop straightens the line and crops the image in one action! The same process can equally be applied to vertical lines.
straightened-horizon-line
Horizon lines are easily fixed using the Crop Tool in Photoshop.
The Crop Tool in Photoshop CS6 is impressive. It now works non-destructively. But you must make sure Delete Cropped Pixels isn’t ticked up in the Options Bar (leaving this box unticked keeps cropped portions which can be recovered later if needed).
Delete-cropped-pixels
The Crop Tool in Photoshop CS6 works non-destructively if the Delete Cropped Pixels box is 
unchecked.
Inside most editing programs there is usually a choice of overlay guides, based on traditional compositional concepts like the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Ratio. You can read more about Composition in this article: Easy Tips to Help Beginners Understand Composition The crop overlays are great visual guides for good compositional techniques and makes it much easier to crop your image. I usually set it to Rule of Thirds.
So in the next image, I wanted the focus of this shot to be entirely on the sunflowers. The background, although blurred, is still too distracting with the color of the garments worn by the passersby.
sunflowers
Although the background is blurred, the colour of the garments worn by the passersby is too 
distracting.
I started with one of the aspect ratio presets. These can be found under this tab Unconstrained. I selected 5 x 7.
Aspect-ratio-5x7
There are various preset aspect ratios when you click on the Unconstrained tab. You can also save 
your own presets too.
I dragged the top right corner handle of the crop box down, and in towards the centre, to maintain this aspect ratio. By clicking on the image inside the crop box, I was able to move and reposition the image into place.
sunflowers-cropped
The sunflowers are now the main focus point in this image, and the green blurred background is complimentary, without being a distraction.
I am strong believer in using my feet to get close to the subject, or if you have a nice telephoto lens, then happy days. Unfortunately for my next shot, I didn’t have the option of either of the above.
I was at the zoo on a family outing, so I wasn’t taking dedicated shots for anyone. I was behind a barrier and a good 30 feet (approx.) away from the seals. I didn’t get time to think or compose for this shot. I just wanted to grab a shot of the seals.
seals-at-the-zoo
Seals taken at the zoo.
The day was fantastic weather wise, and these seals were really enjoying the sunshine. I wanted to crop in tightly, just on the seals, but I had the megapixels to play with because I had a 24 megapixel camera with me, which can produce a 20×13” at 300 dpi print. The final crop for this image would give me 5.5×4” at 300 dpi print.
seals-cropped
I cropped in tight to get a close-up of the seals. I didn’t like the railings at the back, but I would have 
preferred to have kept the reflection of the seals in the water, but there is always a trade off!
In this next shot, cropping in tight on a subject can convey more impact, especially for portrait shots. No two people reveal the same expression. As a photographer, some subjects are easier to capture an expression over others.
Emmet-and-Lucy
Emmet and Lucy enjoying the nice weather and the chat!
I wanted to convey Lucy looking at Emmet in an adoring fashion, I-only-have-eyes-for-you type of expression.
Lucy-cropped
Lucy hanging on to every word that Emmet is saying! The look of I-only-have-eyes-for-you!
Another way to convey impact is to focus on the action. Here, in this shot below, I cropped out my other daughter, so that the focus was on my youngest daughter running to shore.
fun-at-the-beach
Fun at the beach.
fun-at-the-beach-cropped
By cropping out my other daughter, the focus is on the action. It’s also using the Rule of Odds to focus on the single subject.
Cropping an image is a great way to apply the Rule of Odds. A good example of this is in the following shot. The two subjects are side-by-side. By cropping in tight on each subject, I have created two distinct head-shots from one single image.
two-portraits-together
Two subjects shot sitting on a bench side-by-side.
two-separate-portraits
After the image is cropped, I now have two distinct portraits.
Last but by not least, try and experiment with rotating your image to the left or right, and then cropping. This may be particularly useful with photos of tall buildings, where you want the focus to be on the height of the building.
I had taken the following photo in Berlin some years back from a boat on the river Spree. This modern building was quite impressive, but the reflection of the sky and clouds in the glass, caught my eye. It made for a nice abstract composition.
Berlin
A shot of a building while in a boat on the river Spree in Berlin. Compositionally, this by itself is 
not a good shot.
The Crop Tool in Photoshop has another feature, the Perspective Crop Tool. When you click on the Crop Tool and hold, a fly-out menu appears with four options. The Perspective Crop Tool is directly under the Crop Tool.
perspective-crop-tool
With some editing to highlight the reflection in the glass of this building, I used the Perspective Crop 
Tool to create an abstract composition.
Starting at one corner, click and drag across to the other corner, and repeat around the lines of the window frame. A grid appears around where you have clicked within the image. Click the commit button at the top in the Options Bar, or press the enter key. Make finer adjustments by clicking back to the regular Crop Tool.
perspective-crop-grid
The perspective Crop Tool in action.
abstract-composition
I created this abstract composition using the Perspective Crop Tool in Photoshop.
Cropping is, after-all, getting an alternative perspective to enhance a better composition.
To crop or not to crop, that is the question? Share your comments and images below please.

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How to Take Control of Aperture and Create Stronger Photos

aperture and composition
The focal length of the lens you use, combined with the aperture setting, determines how the camera sees whatever you point it at. This has profound implications for composition. Let’s look at them one by one.

Selective focus and bokeh

Selective focus occurs when you focus on your subject, and use a wide aperture to make the background go out of focus. Bokeh is the blurred parts of your photo. It originates from the Japanese word boke, and has come into use because we don’t have a word in English for it.
aperture and composition
This photo shows both selective focus and bokeh. I focused on the model’s eyes, and selected an 
aperture of f/1.4, to blur the background as much as possible.
There are several factors that affect bokeh.

1. Aperture

The wider the aperture, the less depth-of-field there is, and the more bokeh you get. Photographers that like to use selective focus buy prime lenses, as they have often wider maximum aperture settings than zooms.
But, you can still obtain nice bokeh with zooms, if you pay attention to the following points.

2. Camera to subject distance

The closer you are to the subject the less depth-of-field there is. This is a useful tip if you have a zoom lens with a limited maximum aperture (such as an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens). Just set the focal length to longest available setting, the aperture to its widest setting, and move in as close as you can. You’ll be surprised by what you can achieve.
aperture and composition
This photo was taken with an 18-55mm kit lens set to 55mm and f/5.6, the widest available aperture 
at that focal length. It’s not nearly as close to how little depth-of-field there would be if I had used an 
50mm prime lens at f/1.4 – but it’s still enough to blur the background.

3. Subject to background distance

The more distance there is between subject and background, the more out of focus the background will get, at any given aperture setting.

4. Quality of light

Light affects bokeh. Soft light (like that on an overcast day) produces smooth, even bokeh. Sunlight or reflections, create a different type of bokeh with more texture.
aperture and composition
I took this photo on an overcast day. The bokeh is very smooth.
aperture and composition
I took this photo in the early evening. The artificial lights reflecting from the shiny objects in the 
background have created a different type of bokeh.

5. The aperture blades of the lens

The more blades the lens has, the rounder the shape of the aperture, and the smoother the quality of the bokeh. Less expensive lenses tend to have fewer aperture blades, and may not produce the same quality of bokeh as better ones.

6. Other optical characteristics of the lens

Some lenses, such as the Helios 58mm f/2 lens, used to take the photo below, have optical characteristics (or more likely, flaws) that produce a certain type of bokeh. Lensbaby is a company that makes lenses that produce a specific type of bokeh.
Aperture and composition

f/2.8 on a prime lens

I’ve singled this aperture setting out because it hits a sweet spot when it comes to composition, especially for portraits.
If you have a normal or short telephoto prime lens, and use the widest aperture setting (generally f/1.2, f/1.4 or f/1.8) then the depth-of-field is very narrow indeed. Sometimes that works really well, but other times you need a little more depth-of-field to create a stronger image. It’s like any technique – overuse it and it becomes a gimmick.
The solution is to mix it up a little by using aperture settings like f/2, f/2.8, and f/4. You’ll still get a narrow depth-of-field and create some beautiful bokeh, but a little more of your subject will be in focus.
Using f/2.8 (or thereabouts) shows subtlety, restraint, and maturity.
aperture and composition
I took this photo with an 85mm lens (full-frame) at f/2.8. The depth-of-field is still shallow enough 
to blur the background nicely.

The middle apertures

Now we get into the middling apertures, those from around f/4 or f/5.6, to f/8, depending on your lens.
The effect of these apertures depends on the focal length of your lens and how close you are to your subject. For example, you could use a super telephoto lens (300mm plus) and shoot from farther away from your subject to create images with shallow depth-of-field at f/5.6, or get the entire scene in focus at the same aperture with a wide-angle lens (35mm and less) if you focus on the right spot and are much closer to your subject.
These middle apertures represent the transition between photos where some of the image is out of focus, to those where everything is in focus.
You can still use selective focus at these apertures (although perhaps not with wide-angles), although the effect is much gentler than with the widest aperture settings of your lens. Use these apertures when you want good depth-of-field but don’t mind if the background is out of focus a little.
aperture and composition
I used an aperture of f/4.5 for this photo. The depth-of-field is sufficient to get the man, the statue, 
and the wooden baskets in focus. The background is unimportant and doesn’t need to be in focus.

The smaller apertures

These are the ones you use when you need everything within the frame to be sharp, like with landscape photography. This can be anything from f/8 on a wide-angle lens, to f/11 or f/16 on longer focal lengths. With telephotos and macro lenses you can stop down to f/16 and still not get everything in focus.
The thing you need to be aware of here is diffraction. When the aperture gets too small, the light passing through it spreads out, and softens the image. Thanks to diffraction, images taken at f/22 are usually visibly softer overall, than those taken at f/8 or f/11. Noticeable diffraction may start at f/16 or f/22 on a full-frame camera, and around f/11 on an APS-C camera.
aperture and composition
An aperture of f/11 ensured everything in this photo, taken with a 14mm lens (APS-C), was in focus.

Take control

Every time you take a photo you should be thinking about what the optimum aperture is for the composition you want to make. Do you want to open the aperture and throw the background out of focus? Do you want to stop down and get as much as possible in focus? Or somewhere in between?
What aperture settings do you like to use with your photos? Do you use a Lensbaby or other lens that gives a certain bokeh effect? Please let us know in the comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your images.

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Saturday, June 20, 2020

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7 Tips to Improve Your Skyline Photos

Skylines-London-Photography-Tips
Is there a more iconic photograph to depict a big city, than a beautiful photograph of its skyline? Skylines can provide stunning photographs that have a big sale potential, but to capture those wow shots, you have to be prepared to plan for them in advance, and to allow time and patience, as well as determination, to capture them. Here are some tips to help you capture striking skyline photos.

1 – Plan in Advance

Like most types of photography, you will need to plan, and research, in advance to get the perfect skyline shot. It’s all about finding the right location, so before you even get on the plane you should have an idea of where you might be able to get a good view from, and with Google Maps it’s now easier than ever to plan your skyline photos. Start by looking at where the city center is on a map, and identify vantage points around it that could give you a good view. Keep in mind that if want to capture a wide photo of the skyline you will need to be a fair distance away.
Parks, river fronts, lakes, and harbors generally offer a good view of the skyline (if they face in the right direction), so look for these on a map, and make a note so that you can scout them out when you’re on location. You can also research image libraries to see what already exists, that can give you an indication of what viewpoints are available.

2 – Speak to Locals

No one else knows the city better than the residents and locals, so get friendly and take advantage of their knowledge. After all, the people who live in a city will often, over time, go beyond the post card locations and might be able to offer you advantageous advice, which gets you a unique image.
For example, as a Londoner, I know that most people head to the river or one of the number of bridges across the Thames to get a photo of London’s skyline, but you could actually get a very unique view from some of the amazing bars such as the Vertigo Bar.
Skylines-London-Photography-Tips
Speaking to locals means you could get unique views that others won’t see.

3 – Lenses, Tripods, and Filters

I’m one of the biggest advocates of not carrying too much equipment, however when you are photographing skylines it’s best to ensure you have what you might need. These include:
  • A tripod if you are photographing early morning, late afternoon, or at any other time that might need long exposures.
  • A wide angle lens is usually what you will need, but there may also be occasions where you need a telephoto lens if you are far away from the skyline.
  • An array of filters – these could be anything from Neutral Density filters to Polarizing filters and more.
The key is to make sure you have everything you need, as you might not get a second chance. So it might be worth paying for a taxi there and back, to avoid having to carry lots of heavy equipment or leaving something behind.

4 – Early Morning and Late Afternoon Light

It is not a coincidence that most of the skyline photos that wow, are usually taken at dawn or dusk. The hour after sunrise, and the hour before sunset, give a beautiful light, which can transform any scene. In fact, you can get two very contrasting photos taken from the same place at different times of the day. Instead of getting to your location at these times, aim to get there half an hour earlier so that you are set up and ready to go.
Skylines-Photography-Tips
Early morning and late afternoon light is a great time for photographing skylines.

5 – Wait for Night

After the sun has set it is tempting to pack up and go home. However, one of the best times to photograph the skylines of a city is at night, when the whole place lights up. Wait around for an hour or so after sunset, and you can capture the city skyline at its most glamorous. You will definitely need a tripod if you are planning to photograph at night, as you will have long exposure times, so make sure you leave your home or hotel room with it. Remember to keep safe at all times, and ensure that if you are photographing at night, you are in what are considered safe parts of the city.
Skylines-Photography-Tips
At night, the city lights make it come alive.

6 – Utilize Your Hotel

One of the best places to take photographs of a city skyline is from your hotel. A lot of the big hotels in cities have amazing open-air swimming pools, or roof top bars with beautiful views across the city. This means you can get great photos right from your doorstep. So prior to booking your hotel room, research and keep this in mind, and when you arrive at your hotel you can always ask if they have a room with a view of the skyline. I have lost count of the number of times I was able to take skyline shots from my hotel – and sometimes even from my own room (use the polarizer to eliminate reflections from the window)!
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These are just some of the photos I’ve managed to take from my hotels.

7 – Add a Point of Interest

Most city skylines have been photographed thousands of times, so sometimes it’s good to take a step back and add a point of interest to the foreground. Not only will this give you another differentiating shot from the same location, but it will also tell a different story which could be completely unique. Be on the lookout for people admiring the view, a runner with a dog, or cyclists, all of which make great foreground points of interest.
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An example of how adding a point of interest can make a photograph tell a much more interesting story.
There is no doubt that skylines can provide some incredibly striking photographs which can be stand-out shots on their own, but which can also work as part of a portfolio. But like all types of photography it takes planning and perseverance to ensure you capture the photos that will do the scene justice. Follow these simple tips and you’ll be on your way to capturing great skyline photos.
Do you have any tips or advice for photographing skylines? Share them and your skyline images below.

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