Part 7 … and a cityscape at sunset
How to match natural and artificial light to capture a stunning city sunset
Cityscapes at sunset surely don’t come much more pictureperfect than Pulteney Bridge in Bath. Locating myself on the east bank of the River Avon, I looked to capture the fading ambient light as it made way for a range of artificial sources.
With the camera on a tripod and the aperture set at f/16 to get a ‘star’ effect in the street lights, I chased the decreasing light levels with lower and lower shutter speeds.
Although 6,000K (the Cloudy white balance preset) gave the most pleasing results when I viewed the resulting raw files, I thought that images captured at 3,200K (Tungsten) and 4,000K (White flourescent) were quite fun – the latter really emphasised the pink clouds. And at 7,000K (Shade) the fingers of street lights spilling across the sheen of the river gained an warm orange hue.
Now you’ve seen the many benefits of using your camera’s manual settings, it’s time to get out there, take control and transform your photography.