London Night Photography

Scottie68

Scottie68

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Hi all. A bit of advice please.
Im planning on going to London tonight to take some night shots. Has anyone got any good location tips and also some valueable setting tips. This is a last minute idea so not had much time for any planning in advance!
This is going to be my first shoot, so really dont want to come back empty handed :'(

Equipment taking: Nikon D700, Nikon 14-24, Nikon 24-70 and obviously my tripod :)

Any advice will be more than appreciated
 
A little cliched maybe but I always like long exposures of the London eye, Battersea Power Station and Westminster Bridge.
 
I think that there are that many photo's taken in London everyday of the year especially of the tourist areas that the important thing is to try and do something different.

This is one taken in probably the most photographed locations in London it must be in the top 10, but I hope that I have taken it different to most and given it a nice twist.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwhcvt/5372481282

Matt
MWHCVT
 
London is one of those cities where a couple of lifetimes wouldn't do it justice. There's just so many photo opportunities.

What type of shoots are you looking to do?

Have a look at this thread. I hope it gives you an idea of where you may want to go.

I've done a long walk that took me from Sloan Street => Vitoria => Parliament Square => Embankment => London Eye => Tate => Millennium Bridge => St. Paul => City => Covent Gardens => Trafalgar Sq. => Leicester Sq. => Piccadilly Circus => Regent St. => Oxford St. => Marble Arch => Edgware Rd. => Paddington station ... this took a good 8 hours, but was one of the most pleasant walks I've done with my camera in and around London.
 
A river walk is definitely a good way to warm up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ausemmao/sets/72157625788707813/

Starting at Tower Bridge and walking west, or Chelsea and walking east will let you get a lot of building and river views, and if you take the Thames Path along the South Bank, you can find things along side streets. Hampstead Heath is another option if you wanted a less common skyline view.
 
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Get yourself down onto the South Bank. Suggest get the tube to Embankment station which is opposite the Royal Festival Halls, then head West to Westminster. Go across Westminster Bridge (good for shots of the London Eye and the HoP, then set off East along the Thames town to Tower Bridge.

You'll get to the Millenium footbridge which is becoming fairly Iconic these days. After Tower bridge, come back over the Millenium Bridge to St Pauls which is lit up at night.

That should give you 2-3 hours of shooting :thumbs:

Linky to my last evening in the City.

The other option is to head for the West End, around Piccadilly, Leicester Square and Covent Garden, but I haven't done that for a while (well not with a camera, and I'm normally too p***** to notice what's going on when I am there :lol:)

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
Wow, love the shot. What settings and WB was used for this? You really have captured the the different lighting so well.
 
Scottie68 said:
Very nice ... how long was the exposure?
Click to expand...

Hi this was a 10 second exposure, but it was still very light and as a result it was using f/29 which I know is really small but that's what was needed.

If you want any help with light trails check out my light trails guide shown in my signature

Matt
MWHCVT
 
What about from the top of Greenwich hill by the Observatory, can get quite a good view of Canary Wharf lit up?
 
agree with ausemmao about hampstead heath (however if you do up there you will need a torch, very minimal lighting).

musicman did you happen to take these around 7.30 today, saw a someone down there at that location shooting with a tripod as i walked past! nice shots really like the vividness of the night sky!

Ally pally as well gives some good views up on clear nights sky as well
 
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yeah i discovered that on my first night visit there! i politey asked why, he said it was private property and it was health and safety matter. fair enough i said, but he did day say to me come back late and use it after everything had closed up for the night, which was quite nice so i did!
btw musicman my previous post before yours was a reference to you but i stupidly put the wrong name in :bang:
 
I wondered... :)

No, I was there about an hour earlier than that with my 5D perched on a pocketable 1970s Yashica ST-7 mini tripod.

Security at More London are a bit random about whether they'll stop you using a tripod or not. I try not to attract attention with a big Manfrotto these days.

And it's easier to carry on the train.
 
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it was good day to be out and about with a camera, i was trying out a bit of random street photography down on southbank at the time! They never said anything to me when i was shooting Tower Bridge from your location a few months back so i think there quite lenient. anyway enough of the thread hijack :lol: the southbank certainly for some low angle night time shots if you can avoid the a crane in shot!
 
Musicman said:
Plenty of opportunities to be had.

As it happens, I snatched a couple of shots on my walk to the station this evening.
Click to expand...

sorry - off topic for a second.... what sort of station do you mean?
 
Thanks for all the advise, really helped. Well here we have a couple from last nights shoot. Unfortunately the wheel had stopped turning so couldn't get the effect i was after!

5519406377_190aa18149_b.jpg

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5519433829_3230d79caa_b.jpg
 
nice captures scottie, liked how you got the cloud formation to show up in these pics.
Bit of heads up for tower bridge is the first night time bridge lift in a very long time is on 21st May at 21:30 be certainly worth a chance to capture!
 
Scottie68 said:
Thanks for all the advise, really helped. Well here we have a couple from last nights shoot. Unfortunately the wheel had stopped turning so couldn't get the effect i was after!
Click to expand...

Nice set.

TBH, I wouldn't worry about the London Eye being static. It's my favourite of the lot :)
 
Very nicely done :)

Went out tonight as well to take some, will get them up to view soon.
 
Lovely shots by the op! Well done, London Eye is my fave.

There is a guy on flickr whose night photography of London is well worth a look IMHO http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidgutierrez/

Ausemmao can you describe the settings for the black and White shot of the street performer please? Really like it.
 
dubcat said:
Lovely shots by the op! Well done, London Eye is my fave.

There is a guy on flickr whose night photography of London is well worth a look IMHO http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidgutierrez/

Ausemmao can you describe the settings for the black and White shot of the street performer please? Really like it.
Click to expand...

Shutter speed: 1/20sec
Aperture: f2.8
ISO:1600
Focal length: 40mm

Greyscale conversion was done in ACR, with contrast boosted from 25 to 45 or thereabouts (I find RAWs tend to be less contrasty than what I see when I shoot), and the blacks and brightness adjusted to keep the image balanced. Then one brightness and contrast layer, and 10-15% opacity dodge and burn layers in Photoshop.

The full EXIF is available on flickr all my images, click on taken with a Nikon D3100 (they really should make it more obvious :))
 
ausemmao said:
Shutter speed: 1/20sec
Aperture: f2.8
ISO:1600
Focal length: 40mm

Greyscale conversion was done in ACR, with contrast boosted from 25 to 45 or thereabouts (I find RAWs tend to be less contrasty than what I see when I shoot), and the blacks and brightness adjusted to keep the image balanced. Then one brightness and contrast layer, and 10-15% opacity dodge and burn layers in Photoshop.

The full EXIF is available on flickr all my images, click on taken with a Nikon D3100 (they really should make it more obvious :))
Click to expand...

Thanks very much :). I will have to have an experiment.
 
Scottie68 you nailed it, great set of pics shame about the eye but still a great pic
 
Lovely set of pics scottie loving the last one with the eye from across the road and the tower bridge
 
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