DO’S & DON’TS
DO
Familiarise yourself with the physical facts about the bridge you wish to photograph, as well as its surroundings and accessibility.
Look at previous images to study the variety of lighting conditions and composition ideas. Such references can help with lens choices and favoured times of day.
Take spot meter readings from the brightest part of the scene (usually the sky), and any shadow area to work out the exposure variance of the scene.
DON’T
Trespass. Due to their importance to the local transport infrastructure, some major city bridges may have restrictions on public access.
Expect to get the most precise composition without a tripod. Bridges are prime examples of the symmetry to be found in engineering. Only careful framing can show this at its best.
Just shoot from your standing position. With a wide-angle lens, even small adjustments of camera angle, height and perspective can make significant improvements to the balance of your composition.
CHOOSING A VANTAGE POINT
The world’s biggest bridges may vary considerably in design and form, but the practical requirements of photographing these dramatic structures are nearly always the same. Many span a scenic bay or harbour, as in the case of the much-vaunted Sydney Harbour and Golden Gate bridges. Studying a local map reveals the best access points for photography as well as the direction of the sunlight in relation to the different aspects of the bridge. If shooting from the shoreline at the base of either of these enormous structures (and many others like them), you will need a tripod to provide a stable support to ensure that the horizontal line on the water’s surface does not slope within the frame.
A walk along the shore in both directions is also advisable before deciding on a shooting position.
Stop frequently to look through your camera and see how the structural lines and angles of the bridge alter in the viewfinder as you move nearer or further away. A zoom lens is convenient to save some legwork, but changing the focal length also alters the optical characteristics, introducing varying degrees of distortion depending on the focal length and angle of view. Instead, it is simpler to use a fixed focal length lens, such as a 50mm ‘standard’ lens and make any changes to perspective simply by using your feet. Of course, the sweeping curves and towering uprights of modern suspension bridges, like those spanning Britain’s Humber, Severn and Thames rivers, can be exaggerated for greater visual impact
by the optical distortion of a wideangle lens. Ultimately, framing the scene is a subjective decision because so much architectural symmetry and compositional balance can be altered appreciably in the viewfinder simply by taking a step or two forward or back, or by changing the shooting height of the camera from the ground.
SKY LIGHT
More often than not, especially for bridges located on shorelines, a large area of sky will be included in the background of any photograph. Depending upon the weather, subsequent cloud cover and time of day, this will have a huge bearing on the exposure variance of the scene. By comparing spot meter readings of the sky with those in shadow areas, the variance in exposure readings will reveal the level of overall contrast. Most cameras today have a high dynamic range (HDR) capacity to help balance out these exposure variances, but some photographers still prefer to use neutral density (ND) graduated filters for greater control. These filters reduce any excessive contrast between a bright sky and shaded subjects and are made with varying density levels, typically resulting in a 1-, 2-, or 3-stop added exposure to compensate for the amount of light that is filtered. They are straight-forward to use, with the filtered half of the filter placed over the brightest area of the scene (usually the sky), to reduce the contrast variance to a level that can be rendered by the camera’s image sensor.
By their location and design, bridges are a subject that will always feature a large amount of background, and should be given as much consideration in framing your photo as the bridge itself. By paying due attention to the background, the relationship and significance of the bridge to its surroundings becomes more evident. In some instances, such as the controversial road bridge linking the Isle of Skye to mainland Scotland, the rugged and imposing mountains on both shores illustrate how this bridge can be viewed both as an incursion into a much-loved wilderness, or an island community’s lifeline to the mainland. The reality of that dilemma may help determine if the proposed ‘Celtic Crossing’ is eventually viewed as a bridge of sighs, or a bridge too far.