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3 Practical Tips to Improve Your Blue Hour Photography

21 Dec

The post 3 Practical Tips to Improve Your Blue Hour Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

1 - 3 Tips for Blue Hour Photography

Most people are familiar with the term Golden Hour – used to describe that time just after the sun rises or just before it sets. The light is soft, extraordinary and sought out by many. However, if you pack up your gear when the sun drops below the horizon, you are missing out on another magical time!

Also known as twilight, Blue Hour refers to that time of the day just before or after the Golden Hour. Depending on your location, it may be shorter (or longer) than an hour but happens before sunrise or after sunset. If you want to capture images of this amazing time of day, here are a few tips to help you get started.

1. Timing is everything

There is a unique quality of light available at blue hour. The sky has a vivid hue of blue and purple. Perhaps even hints of your fallen sunset, cresting sunrise colors: yellow, orange and red. In either case, the sun is below the horizon, but its light is indirect and still visible. If you are shooting cityscapes after sunset, wait for the lights to come on and for the sky to darken a little, so you can shoot longer exposures.

2 - 3 Tips for Blue Hour Photography

As mentioned above, depending on your location your Blue “Hour” will vary. If you are closer to the equator, both the Golden and Blue “Hours” are shorter. Similarly, you have more shooting time when further away from the equator. Blue Hour times vary by season and, depending on the time of year and location, may not even occur immediately before or after the Golden Hours. There are locations where blue hour happens up to forty-five minutes after sunset!

3 - 3 Tips for Blue Hour Photography

When in an unfamiliar environment (e.g. traveling), one option is to get there early and wait. There are also apps and websites available to help you determine Blue Hour based on location. If you use the latter, scouting your environment beforehand still proves useful.

2. Keep it steady

Same location as above, but at a different time of the year

You may get away with shooting sunrises and sunsets without a tripod, but it is non-negotiable for blue hour. This is especially true if you want to shoot cityscapes with a smaller aperture (to get those beautiful starbursts). A tripod is a must for long exposures and allows you to shoot at lower ISOs, thus reducing noise in your images.

You can further reduce camera shake by using a remote shutter release. This useful gadget helps you minimize touching the camera. If you do not have a remote, use your camera’s timer, so that the image is taken a few seconds after you press the shutter button.

Bonus tip: Long exposures use more battery power, so pack a few spares.

3. What settings?

There is some flexibility when it comes to Blue Hour photography, depending on your subject.

If you are shooting a cityscape or skyline, most likely you want to keep your buildings sharp. In an image like this, your depth of field (f-number) will determine your settings. You can start at f/8 and go higher – keeping in mind that a higher f-number means a slower shutter speed.

5 - 3 Tips for Blue Hour Photography

If you are shooting light trails from cars against your blue sky, your shutter speed will determine your settings. This interesting subject comes to life with slower shutter speeds. On the other hand, if you want to freeze action in your Blue Hour, you need faster shutter speeds. Due to the lower light available during Blue Hour, this may mean shooting at lower f-numbers and increasing your ISO.

6 - 3 Tips for Blue Hour Photography

Conclusion

Blue hour is a beautiful part of the day that is often overlooked for the more popular Golden Hour. It is an amazing time to experiment with different captures and challenge yourself to work quickly in your limited “hour”. Plan ahead and envision your outcome, so you can maximize this time of day. Cityscapes and other subjects can come alive due to the unique quality of light available. Experiment, have fun and share some of your Blue Hour photography below.

The post 3 Practical Tips to Improve Your Blue Hour Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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Tips for Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour

19 Sep

Neutral density filters (ND filters) are essential tools when it comes to shooting cityscapes at blue hour. Even without an ND filter, you could shoot for a few seconds of exposure (using a small aperture like f/13) when the light falls towards the end of dusk.

But those opaque filters let you take even longer exposure photos (minutes, not just seconds), and create beautiful effects such as light trails, silky smooth water, rushing clouds, etc., by slowing down the shutter speed by a certain number of f-stops.

Singapore - Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour

This Marina Bay (Singapore) photo was shot with a 2-second exposure (at f/13) without using any ND filter. The sky looks good, but the water isn’t smoothed out at all, as that exposure is way too short to create silky smooth water effect that is seen in the photos to follow.

How ND Filters Make Your Exposure Longer

ND filters come in different strengths, some popular ones are 3-stop, 6-stop and 10-stop. The bigger the number, the darker the filter (i.e. the less light that is let through) and the longer the exposure will be.

For example, a base shutter speed of one second (i.e. when no filter is attached) can be extended to as long as 1024 seconds (over 17 minutes) with 10-stop ND filter attached, as each “stop” doubles the exposure time:

1 second > 2 seconds [1 stop] > 4 seconds [2 stops] > 8 seconds [3 stops] > 15 seconds [4 stops] > 30 seconds [5 stops] > 64 seconds [6 stops] > 128 seconds [7 stops] > 256 seconds [8 stops] > 512 seconds [9 stops] > 1024 seconds [10 stops]

It’s easy to calculate when a base shutter speed is a simple number like one second, but what about starting with, say, 1/15th of a second? This is where the Long Exposure Calculator app (for iOS) comes in handy and makes your life easier, as it automatically calculates a required shutter speed for you (look for an Android equivalent here).

ND filter and app - Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour

Neutral density (ND) filter (left) and Long Exposure Calculator app (right).

Using Different Strengths of ND Filters for Your Desired Effect

In this article, we’ll take a little deeper look at when to use which ND filter for your desired effect at blue hour.

3-Stop ND Filter

I don’t use 3-stop ND filter when taking cityscapes at a waterfront, as the strength is too mild to create a silky smooth water effect. Hence, my use of 3-stop ND filter is limited for scenes that have no water to be smoothed out, such as the photo below with light trails of moving cars, which doesn’t require a very long shutter speed.

Shanghai skyline - Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour

Shanghai skyline (China) shot with a 25-second exposure (f/8) using a B+W 3-Stop ND Filter (77mm). The base shutter speed was 3 seconds, ISO 100.

Singapore skyline shot with a 10-second exposure (f/13) using the same 3 -stop ND filter. The base shutter speed was 1.3 seconds, ISO 100.

This mild strength 3-stop ND filter (i.e. not so long exposure) isn’t all bad, though. It allows you to take a number of photos during blue hour, unlike more dense filters like a 6-stop ND filter where you can take no more than a few photos due to a longer exposure time required per photo.

6-Stop ND Filter

I almost exclusively use a 6-stop ND filter when shooting cityscapes at a waterfront. To create silky smooth water effects, slowing down 3 stops isn’t quite enough, but a 10-stop one is way too strong. For example, a base shutter speed of 2 seconds (i.e. with no filter attached) gets extended to 15 seconds (with 3-stop ND filter), 128 seconds (with a 6-stop ND filter) and whopping 34 minutes and 8 seconds (with a 10-stop ND filter) respectively.

Shanghai - Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour

Shanghai skyline (China) shot with a 164-second exposure (f/11) using a B+W 6-Stop ND Filter (77mm) in order to achieve my desired effect of silky smooth water. Had I used a 3-stop ND filter, the water wouldn’t have been smoothed out this much (base shutter speed: 2.5 seconds, ISO 100).

Marina Bay (Singapore) shot with a 163-second exposure (f/13) using the same 6-stop ND filter (base shutter speed: 2.5 seconds, ISO 100).

I typically aim to shoot with a base shutter speed of 2-3 seconds when using a 6-stop ND filter, which extends the exposure to 128 -192 seconds respectively. In order to create a silky smooth water effect, 2-3 minutes of exposure seems just right.

By the way, if you’re planning to buy only one filter for cityscape photography at blue hour, I’d recommend nothing but a 6-stop ND filter. I’ve probably photographed 90% of my cityscapes at blue hour using a 6-stop ND filter. It’s really a game changer if you are interested in doing this kind of photography.

10-Stop ND Filter

A 10-stop ND filter is a kind of special filter that lets you expose extremely long (longer than necessary in most cases!). Personally, I don’t really find 10-stop ND filter useful for shooting cityscapes at blue hour, as the exposure goes too long (even starting at a base shutter speed of 1/2 second gets extended to 8 and a half minutes), and digital noise caused by long exposure becomes too unbearable (even with in-camera long exposure noise reduction turned on).

So, this extreme filter’s use is rather limited to pre-dusk or even earlier in the day, not towards the end of dusk. In fact, one big advantage of a 10-stop ND filter is letting you take long exposure photos while the sky is still bright, which is something 3 and 6-stop ND filters aren’t up to the task of doing.

With a 10-stop ND filter, I usually aim to shoot with a base shutter speed of 1/4 or 1/3 second which is extended to 256 and 341 seconds respectively. I tend to avoid an exposure that exceeds 6-7 minutes, as long exposure noise starts to creep in.

Such a base shutter speed (1/4 or 1/3 second) can normally be achieved around sunset time or before, therefore you don’t really see deep bluish hue that’s typically seen at the prime time of the blue hour. Instead, your photo will have a surreal look that is very unique and distinctive to 10-stop ND filter.

Singapore skyline shot with a 258-second exposure (f/8) using B+W 10 Stop ND Filter (77mm) with a base shutter speed of 1/4 second, ISO 100.

Singapore skyline shot with a 259-second exposure (f/7.1) using the same 10-stop ND filter (base shutter speed: 1/4 second, ISO 100).

Conclusion

I hope this post helps you get started with shooting cityscape photos at blue hour using neutral density filters. I’m sure that you’ll be hooked in no time and can no longer shoot cityscapes at blue hour without one!

If you have any questions or tips to share, feel free to do so in the comments below.

The post Tips for Using Neutral Density Filters for Cityscape Photography at Blue Hour appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Out of the Blue

08 Sep

Here is another easy one for you.

Get out there and find some blue things to photograph this week for the photography challenge!

You can look for blue things, shoot during Blue Hour, or use some split-toning on a black and white image to make your something blue for this challenge.

Blueberry image by dPS writer Stacey Hill.

In post-processing, removed most of the color tones in the image except for blues, and a little bit of green/teal.

Oil and water and a bit of color make for a fun afternoon photography project.

Weekly Photography Challenge – The Color Blue

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

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Tips for Shooting Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour

05 Aug

You have probably seen out of focus cityscape bokeh photos with pleasing lights, like the photo below. The term “bokeh” comes from the Japanese word “boke”, which can be translated as “blur”. You should be familiar with bokeh effect that is typically seen in portrait photography where a shallow depth of field is used to purposefully throw the background out of focus (i.e. bokeh) and draw attention solely to the subject.

Unlike portrait photography, everything is thrown out of focus for cityscape bokeh photos that we’re trying here. It makes colourful light orbs appear prominently in the image and creates a unique art style. If you haven’t tried these cityscapes with bokeh lights before, follow along with the simple four steps below. It’s super easy!

Singapore - Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images

Singapore skyline with bokeh lights at blue hour (26mm, f/4.2, 15 seconds, ISO 100).

Step 1: Find a location with enough lights

Shooting at popular cityscape photography spots works great, but any place (such as a road in front of your house) might be suitable as long as there are sufficient lights. The choice of location isn’t very critical, as everything is blurred out, anyway.

My favourite spot to shoot from is an overhead bridge. It always gives pleasing results with many different colors of light sources available (buildings, cars headlights and tail lights, street lamps, traffic lights, etc.).

Shot from an overhead bridge in a suburb. You don’t necessarily have to go to the city center to shoot photos with bokeh lights (34mm, f/2.5, 1/2.5 second, ISO 100).

Step 2: Start shooting 10-20 minutes before the end of dusk

Cityscape bokeh images won’t work if the sky is still bright. It’s around this time (10-20 minutes before the end of dusk – check gaisma.com for your local dusk time) that city lights have been turned on, and the deep blue color of the dusk sky creates a beautiful backdrop for glittering bokeh lights.

Singapore - Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour

Singapore skyline with bokeh lights, shot exactly at the end of dusk (28mm, f/4.5, 6 seconds, ISO 100).

Shooting after dusk with the pitch black sky as a backdrop also works fine, but I personally prefer shooting during blue hour.

The same view shot 20 minutes after the end of dusk (28mm, f/4.5, 13 seconds, ISO 100).

Step 3: Use Aperture Priority mode and a wide aperture

You may start with the smallest f-stop number and adjust to your liking. A wider aperture (smaller f-stop number) results in larger bokeh orbs, as seen in the photos below that were shot at the exact same location at different settings (top: shot with f/1.8, bottom: shot with f/4).

Shot at f/1.8

Shot at f/4

Step 4: Switch to manual focus

Use manual focus (as opposed to autofocus) and turn the focus ring until the lights are completely out of focus. This is easy as pie, but if the word “manual” turns you off, you can remain in autofocus and do the following, too.

Set to single-point AF (autofocus).
Hold up a lens cap (or a small item) towards the sky in front of you, as seen in the photo below.
Focus on the lens cap and press the shutter button halfway down to lock the focus (which makes everything else out of focus).
Move the camera to reframe the shot as you like and press the shutter down the rest of the way.

Singapore lens cap - Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour

No Fast Lens, No Tripod Needed

In order to capture these pleasing cityscape bokeh effects, you might be thinking that you need a so-called “fast lens” (i.e. a lens that is capable of opening up to f/1.4 or f/1.8, for example.) that portrait photographers typically use.

No, you do not! In fact, you can take these bokeh photos using f/3.5 on your kit lens. Some photos in this post were shot at f/4.5 on my trusty Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5, hardly a lens that is considered fast.

Furthermore, you can take these bokeh photos handheld (i.e. without using a tripod), as shooting with the aperture wide open (or close to it) helps keep the shutter speed high enough. Anyway, stability and sharpness aren’t very critical, as you are shooting photos that are completely out of focus!

The only occasion I use a tripod is when I want to create smooth water by using a neutral density (ND) filter. Then, a tripod is a must, as the exposure lasts at least for several seconds even if you’re shooting with the aperture wide open.

Singapore CBD with bokeh lights at blue hour, shot with a 3-stop ND filter attached (20mm, f/3.5, 13 seconds, ISO 100).

One View, Two Images

What I particularly like about shooting cityscapes with bokeh lights is that a single view can produce two completely different images, one in focus and one out of focus, like the photos below shot at the same location.

At blue hour, I typically shoot an in-focus cityscape with a few minutes of long exposure first. Once finished, I switch to manual focus and shoot out of focus photos with the cityscape bokeh lights until the deep blue hue in the dusk sky is gone.

By the way, I like shooting with a little smaller aperture like f/3.5 to f/4.5 so that the shape of the skyline is still recognizable for those who are familiar with the place.

Singapore in focus - Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour

Singapore skyline in focus (18mm, f/11, 194 seconds, ISO 100).

Singapore out of focus - Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour

Singapore skyline with bokeh lights (18mm, f/3.5, 8 seconds, ISO 100).

Conclusion

I hope this article helps you get started with cityscape photos with pleasing bokeh lights if you haven’t tried previously.

As a cityscape photography enthusiast myself, I’ve found it quite fun to shoot something that looks completely different from otherwise ordinary cityscapes. If you have any questions or tips to share, feel free to do so in the comments below.

The post Tips for Shooting Out of Focus Cityscape Bokeh Images at Blue Hour appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Olympus launches blue edition of the Pen E-PL9 for denim lovers

02 Jun

Denim lovers will be delighted to know that there is soon to be a camera that will go with all of their outfits. In honor of this ubiquitous fabric “that suits everyone” Olympus has launched a denim-blue version of its new Pen E-PL9 compact system camera to appeal to fashionable photographers everywhere.

The camera will sit alongside the existing white, black and brown models, but will be a special edition likely to be available from a limited number of retailers in each market. It will feature a blue leatherette on the front and back of the body, along with the silver top plate and accents around the buttons on the rear, and will come with a silver barreled lens.

In the UK the blue E-PL9 will only be sold through John Lewis stores, at the same price as the standard colors – £649.99 with the 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 pancake lens – and will be available early this month.

Press release

Recently launched Olympus PEN E-PL9 now available in blue, white, black and brown

Denim love: Olympus launches special edition of their latest PEN camera model in blue

London, 01.06.2018 – To quote the British Elle Magazine in March, “denim is a fabric that suits everyone”.* To celebrate the ongoing love affair with this perennial material, Olympus is introducing a special blue edition of their recently launched PEN E-PL9 camera.
This special edition of the compact and lightweight PEN E-PL9 not only takes great pictures and movies but is also an easy and stylish addition to any denim outfit.

Already a firm favourite with the blogging community, the Olympus PEN series combines performance, superb build quality, and discrete take-anywhere size with a visual style that makes it as much part of an outfit as any key accessory. The new special edition blue version joins the existing white, black and brown models launched in March.

We sent lifestyle blogger and photographer Debs Stubbington of @bangonstyle to Miami with fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin to bring the blue colour to life:

“Miami’s sunny skies and blue waters were the perfect backdrop for the blue Olympus PEN. With all the incredible features and image quality of the
E-PL9 but a new bold colour, the blue model has fast become my new favourite”

Pricing & availability
> Olympus PEN E-PL9 blue with M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 EZ Pancake lens at £649.99 RRP** from early June 2018

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

19 Jan

Blue hour, especially the one in the evening (yes it happens before sunrise too!), is probably the most popular time of day to take cityscape photography with dazzling city lights illuminated. But exactly when is the prime time of blue hour that could result in you getting the best possible shots?

Singapore - How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

Singapore skyline at blue hour.

Hong Kong - How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

Hong Kong skyline at blue hour.

Blue Hour Photography Requires a Tripod

One note before we get started. Although you could shoot handheld at blue hour by bumping the ISO up, it’s always advisable to use a tripod in order to shoot clean (noise-free) photos with low ISO (e.g. 100). It also comes with an added bonus of letting you do long exposure photography with smoothed-out water, etc.

For your information, sample photos shown in this post are all shot using my trusty Manfrotto MT190CXPRO3 carbon-fibre tripod.

Tripod - How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

Setting a tripod up and getting ready for blue hour.

Finding out Your Local Sunset and Dusk Time

Let’s get down to business. In terms of timeline, SUNSET comes first, followed by DUSK 20+ minutes later. The time between sunset and dusk is called TWILIGHT, and NIGHT falls once dusk is over.

To find out your local sunset and dusk time, simply go to timeanddate.com and search for your city (e.g. sunset and dusk time in Singapore on January 26th, 2018 will be 19:18 and 19:40 respectively). Or alternatively, search Google using “dusk date city” format (e.g. dusk January 24th, 2018 Singapore). Then, Google returns a dusk time even before the first result. Checking a dusk time has become a second nature to me whenever I’m shooting at blue hour, locally as well as traveling abroad on holidays.

Note: Apps like PhotoPills are also really helpful for planning shooting times and figuring out the sunrise, sunset and dusk times daily in any location worldwide.

Timeline - How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

Sunset to dusk in timeline. Towards the end of dusk is the best time to shoot blue hour photos with beautiful bluish hue in the sky.

Aim for Shooting the Last 10 Minutes of Dusk

In this 20 or so minutes between sunset and dusk, the first 10 minutes are still not quite “ripe”, as city buildings are not yet fully lit up, and the sky hasn’t yet taken on the beautiful bluish hue that appears towards the end of dusk. Use this time to decide on your composition, do some test shots, etc.

This Singapore skyline was shot 15 minutes before the end of dusk (six minutes after sunset) at f/13, 1.6 seconds, ISO 100. The stage isn’t quite set yet, as the sky is still bright and not many of the city lights are illuminated.

When there are about 10 minutes left before dusk, more city buildings will be lit, and bluish hue starts to appear in the sky, getting deeper and deeper with every single passing minute. It’s these last 10 minutes of dusk that are undoubtedly the prime time to shoot blue hour photography.

In addition, the limited available light at blue hour allows for your shutter speed to naturally get longer, especially with the use of a small aperture. Shoot in Aperture Priority mode and use a bigger f-stop number such as f/13, which helps create smoothed-out water and rushing clouds effects (provided that you’re shooting with a tripod).

ND filter - How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour

A neutral density (ND) filter is an item that will enrich your blue hour photography experience and images.

Add an ND Filter

To enhance such effects, try shooting with a neutral density (ND) filter attached. ND filters help reduce the light that is coming through the lens, allowing you to use much slower shutter speeds.

For example, with a 3-stop ND filter attached, a base shutter speed of 2-seconds is extended to 15 seconds. For a greater effect, use 6-stop ND filter to extend a base shutter speed of 2-seconds to 128 seconds (just over two minutes), which gives your photo a surreal and dreamy feel that is typically seen in long exposure photography, like Marina Bay (Singapore) photo below.

This Marina Bay photo was shot three minutes before the end of dusk (f/13, 135 seconds, ISO 100). The blue hour sky looks just right – not too light, not too dark, not overly vibrant. Also, an exposure of 135 seconds (with a 6-stop ND filter attached) helped create a silky smooth water effect.

Blue Hour Suddenly Ends after Dusk

Blue hour photography is sometimes mixed up with night photography, which starts once dusk is over. You might be surprised to find out that night falls almost suddenly after dusk. It doesn’t even take 10 minutes for the blue hour sky at dusk to turn into pitch-black night.

Personally, I never shoot after dusk. Photos shot after dusk tend to come out very dark and colors look muddy as there is little bluish hue left in the sky. Your photos will look considerably different if you miss this prime time of blue hour even by a mere few minutes.

This Hong Kong skyline was shot 8 minutes after the end of dusk. The bluish hue in the sky quickly disappeared, and the scene turned into the dark night rather abruptly.

Conclusion

In fact, what we call blue “hour” seems to last only approximately 10 minutes towards the end of dusk (depending on where you are located relative to the equator).

Blue hour photography is quite a time-sensitive genre, as this prime time of blue hour sky ends in the blink of an eye. So, stay focused, otherwise, you could suddenly miss it passing you by under the fast-changing dusk sky. I really wish blue hour could literally last for an hour!

Editor’s note: it does in some parts of the world, at certain times of the year. If you want more blue hour time – travel farther away from the equator! Where I live in Canada blue hour is almost a full hour in the summer, versus 20 minutes where the author lives in Singapore.

The post How to Find the Best Possible Time to Shoot Cityscapes at Blue Hour by Joey J appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Video Tutorials and Tips for Shooting Blue Hour

18 Nov

Blue hour is a fantastic time to get out and do some night photography. Yes, you read that right – night photography is best done before it’s actually night time.

To help you out with blue hour photography here are three videos with examples and tips.

How to shoot at blue hour with filters

Ray Salisbury takes you on location at blue hour and demonstrates how he scouts a location for the best spot, finds a good composition and uses filters.

Get the timing right for blue hour

In this next video photography education guru Brian Peterson gives you tips for getting the timing just right when shooting blue hour. He’s on location in Las Vegas.

Blue hour photography examples

Finally, Brendan Van Son is shooting blue hour in Leiden, Netherlands. In this video, you can see how the length of blue hour varies greatly depending on your geographic location.

The farther away from the equator you are, the long blue hour will last. Where I live it’s usually about an hour, so it’s frustrating for me that it’s so quick in more tropical locations I like to visit. So you really have to plan ahead and be prepared when that is the case.

I hope that gives you some good blue hour shooting tips. Now get out there and give it a try.

The post Video Tutorials and Tips for Shooting Blue Hour by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Blue Hour

18 Nov

Blue hour is the time of day after sunset (and just before sunrise) when the sky still has some color it and it’s not pure black. This is the number one tip for shooting night photography – don’t shoot at night! If you want a dark, deep blue sky – shoot at blue hour.

This is a bonus – you don’t have to stay up all night getting shots for this week’s challenge. Just catch the blue hour and you’re good to go.

Blue hour in New York City.

If you need some help:

Video Tutorials and Tips for Shooting Blue Hour
5 Quick Tips for Better Blue Hour Photography
New Photographer’s Guide to Blue Hour
Recommended Gear for Doing Long Exposure Photography at Twilight and Dusk
Do you pack up and leave after sunset and miss the fun of night photography?
How to do Long Exposure Photography and Light Trails at Night

Weekly Photography Challenge – Blue Hour

Blue hour in Rome, Italy.

San Francisco – the complementary colors of blue hour make for stunning compositions. Use it to your advantage.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images on the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Blue Hour by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Tips for Shooting Cityscapes Through a Window at Blue Hour

10 Nov

Shooting cityscape photos from inside a building (such as an observation deck of a tower, hotel room, etc.) pose a different set of challenges that you won’t experience shooting outdoors. Here are a few easy-to-follow tips for shooting the city at blue hour, with a focus on how to eliminate unwanted reflections from the glass.

Japan - Tips for Shooting Through a Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Shanghai - Tips for Shooting Through a Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Vietnam - Tips for Shooting Through a Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

The reflection-free shots above of Fukuoka skyline (Japan, top), Shanghai skyline (China, center) and Ho Chi Minh City skyline (Vietnam, bottom) were shot through glass windows of Fukuoka Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory and Bitexco Financial Tower respectively – following the methods described in this tutorial.

Bring a mini-tripod

In order to shoot at blue hour, a tripod is essential whether you’re shooting indoors or outdoors. But some observation decks don’t allow tripods because they are seen as a hindrance for other visitors. In that case, you may try to bring in a mini-tripod like a Gorillapod, as it’s unlikely to disturb other non-photography visitors.

Even if tripods are allowed, you may as well bring a mini tripod just in case, as it comes in handy when there is no suitable space to set up a regular tripod.

Gorillapod - Tips for Shooting Through a Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Wipe the glass with a cloth

Glass windows of an observation deck aren’t always clean. Make sure to keep a cloth in your camera bag so that you can wipe an area to shoot through if it’s dirty. Obviously, you can’t wipe the other side of the window, though, so choose an area that has no stains, etc.

How to eliminate reflections off the window

This is the biggest challenge when taking photos through a glass window. The window works much like a mirror and it’s hard to completely prevent reflections (e.g. such as yourself, room lights) from showing up.

Typical tips to follow are shooting in close and as straight as possible to the glass (i.e. leaving a little gap between the glass and the lens so as not to let indoor lights creep in) and using a polarizing filter which helps cut reflections to some extent. Aside from these tips, I’d recommend the following “tools”.

Reflections - Tips for Shooting Through the Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Ho Chi Minh City skyline (Vietnam) shot through the window of Bitexco Financial Tower. I tried my best by getting the lens really close to the window (almost touching it) and using a polarizing filter, but the room interior and stray lights still got reflected in the glass.

Using a DIY blackout curtain

This might be an old-school method, but I recently came across a photographer doing this on the observation deck of Shanghai World Financial Center (see below). Not advisable to use such a large curtain, though, as it blocks the view for other visitors and you’ll run the risk of being asked to leave by floor staff.

Blackout curtain Tips for Shooting Through the Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Using a black jacket

I used to rely on this method and it worked relatively well. Set up a tripod very close to the window, and cover the whole rig (camera and tripod) with a black jacket to create a closed-in area around the camera so that no indoor lights get inside the jacket. Make sure to use a “black” jacket to reduce reflections, as a lighter-colored jacket does more harm than good and causes even more reflections.

Using black neck gaiter

This used to be my favourite method, as it doesn’t really catch the unwanted attention of other visitors (compared to using the jacket, etc.). The concept here is the same as using a jacket. To block any stray lights from getting in, wrap the black neck gaiter (neck warmer or scarf) around the lens and push the whole setup (camera and tripod) onto the window to completely shade the front element of the lens.

Jacket neck gaiter - Tips for Shooting Through the Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Using a black jacket (left) and a black neck gaiter (right) to shade the front element of the lens and cut reflections from the window.

Using a lenskirt

A lenskirt is a tool specifically created to cut out reflections. This is what I’ve been using for the past few years with great success. By attaching a lenskirt to the front of your lens and the pushing suction cups onto the window, it shades the front element of the lens. This helps cut reflections from the window, leaving no chance for any stray light to get in.

With a black neck gaiter, I always had to make sure not to have vignetting (dark corners) by checking through the viewfinder (due to the edges of the neck gaiter getting too close to the lens). But the window-facing end of a lenskirt opens up like a softbox, so there is no worry of any edge vignetting being introduced.

Lenskirt - Tips for Shooting Through the Glass Window of an Observation Deck at Blue Hour

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you take reflection-free cityscape photos through glass windows of an observation deck on your next visit.

Lastly, you may wonder why I didn’t mention a rubber lens hood (which is said to work well for shooting through glass). I’ve tried it before but found it prone to vignetting, especially at a wide angle like 18mm or wider. And, when shooting cityscape photos from high above like an observation deck, you’re very likely to shoot wide, therefore I’ve excluded it from the list.

If you have any other tips or experiences using these suggested tools in this post, please share them in the comments below.

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