London Photography, bit of advice please

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lukewoodford

FYI, I am Luke Woodford.....by Luke Woodford
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Hello, im going to London on Thursday to photograph lots of interesting buildings and people and other things I like the look of. I have compiled a list from a thread I found. I want to do alot of shots when it gets dark e.g. iluminated bridges and buildings. Can anyone give me some andice on shooting them to get the best results? Is there anything I need to know? Maybe there isnt but I dont want to have to go back for a while:) In my bag will be D300, 50mm 1.4, Tamron 17-50 2.8 and SB-800. Thanks
 
battersea bridge is good place to get a pic at night.
havent seen it on TPF yet, but heres an image i borrowed from google

2240893629_2666335e95.jpg
 
Shutterman said:
Take your tripod for the after dark shots its a must.
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Oh yes I will be, its not a great one but it keeps the camera sturdy and whenever I take a shot I always put the camera on a self timer (2 sec) so I dont risk moving the camera.
 
I've got a number of photos of London after dark in my SmugMug gallery - here. You should be able to see the settings used for each photo, but in general:
* manual exposure mode
* aperture set to f/8, because that's where the lens is usually best
* ISO set as loow as it will go (100 in my case)
* shutter speed around 5 to 10 seconds - experiment and adjust as required

Your shots will look better if you take them just after the sun has gone down, assuming that there is some colour in the sky. But obviously you can't cover much ground in the half-hour or so that gives you. (Mine were all taken much, much later because they were the product of having a job where I was working in London until virtually midnight each day - so I took the camera out after work to wind down before going to the hotel.)
 
StewartR said:
I've got a number of photos of London after dark in my SmugMug gallery - here. You should be able to see the settings used for each photo, but in general:
* manual exposure mode
* aperture set to f/8, because that's where the lens is usually best
* ISO set as loow as it will go (100 in my case)
* shutter speed around 5 to 10 seconds - experiment and adjust as required

Your shots will look better if you take them just after the sun has gone down, assuming that there is some colour in the sky. But obviously you can't cover much ground in the half-hour or so that gives you. (Mine were all taken much, much later because they were the product of having a job where I was working in London until virtually midnight each day - so I took the camera out after work to wind down before going to the hotel.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, your picures are amazing.
 
A few other pointers. Avoid London Bridge 16.00-19.00, it's stupidly busy with the City foot traffic exodus. You are quite likely to have your tripod kicked or even face snotty comments.

Head to the bouncy bridge (Millenium) or the More London area for just after sundown, there's plenty of scope around there. Though do be prepared for the usual secuity speeches and anti-tripod bo-larx!
Then walk to St Pauls, not far, some nice oppertunities around there.

London Eye another good area but again tripods aren't welcome :'(

As for settings, pretty much agree for night shots @ f/8 and set the speed accordingly. Just experiment and take plenty of shots at different settings. Take 10 shots, one may be good, take just one or two and they could be both bin contenders.

Don't forget, remote or use timer, and mirror lock up to reduce any shake.

Have fun.
 
London after dark with all that equipement. Keep your eyes open.
 
London is fantastic, take a walk along the south bank and get shots of the setting sun off as many bridges as possible. if you want some company in central london drop me a pm I'm not working until after dark on Thursday.
 
Matty777 said:
A few other pointers. Avoid London Bridge 16.00-19.00, it's stupidly busy with the City foot traffic exodus. You are quite likely to have your tripod kicked or even face snotty comments.

Head to the bouncy bridge (Millenium) or the More London area for just after sundown, there's plenty of scope around there. Though do be prepared for the usual secuity speeches and anti-tripod bo-larx!
Then walk to St Pauls, not far, some nice oppertunities around there.

London Eye another good area but again tripods aren't welcome :'(

As for settings, pretty much agree for night shots @ f/8 and set the speed accordingly. Just experiment and take plenty of shots at different settings. Take 10 shots, one may be good, take just one or two and they could be both bin contenders.

Don't forget, remote or use timer, and mirror lock up to reduce any shake.

Have fun.
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Thanks for the info, im really excited now. Whats mirror lock up by the way? ill be using 2 sec self timer as I dont have remote.
 
It's when the mirror flips up prior to the shutter firing (as opposed to all in one go) The mirror flipping can make a minute shake that "could" affect what otherwise would be a pin sharp long exposure image.

Have to consult your manual (or Google) dunno how those peculiar Nikons work!!:canon: :D :D
 
Can't help with the subject, but good have fun on your trip, Luke.

Also, how do you like your Tamron? I bought it for my wife a while back, but she's going back to prime (until I get her a Nikon 28-70 2.8 ugh... women are demanding). I've since taken over the lens and find it to be quit a nice catch at that price.
 
F-Stop said:
Can't help with the subject, but good have fun on your trip, Luke.

Also, how do you like your Tamron? I bought it for my wife a while back, but she's going back to prime (until I get her a Nikon 28-70 2.8 ugh... women are demanding). I've since taken over the lens and find it to be quit a nice catch at that price.
Click to expand...

Yeah I like it, great for the price, I will be using my 50mm 1.4 for all my portrait stuff (unless I want wide angle effect) but it will have great use today for buildings and candids. I like to use my 50mm alot for DOF and at 2.8 its sharper than the Tamron. Im off to get the train now, ill post some pics later on.
 
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