Seeking knowledge of street sweeping in the city that never sleeps?

When you walk in the streets of big cities at night, you will see many faces, what beautiful faces. Nowhere (I mean where I have been) is it so pleasant to shoot Times Square on a hot summer night (as shown in Figure 9- 13). There are many lights, neon lights and exciting people here, more people than anywhere I can think of. It is very interesting to shoot all these charms and vitality. If you stay in one place for several hours, you won't see the same scenery twice. Bring more memory cards.

When capturing the essence of a scene like Times Square (or the downtown area of any big city on a busy night), the most important problem is to find an impressive and colorful area, and then try to capture these essence in a photo. For example, the way I used to shoot Times Square was to find a possible shooting location and shoot for a long time.

Because there is a strong contrast between the darkest and brightest areas, I try to make the brightest neon lamp reach excellent exposure when measuring light, and then raise or lower the reading by one or two levels through peripheral exposure. I usually shoot in manual mode, because it can carefully handle the exposure of specific areas and prevent the exposure instrument from being deceived by headlights and people who walk through the lens.

If the depth of field is mainly considered (usually), then the peripheral exposure c is realized by changing the shutter speed. But if you want to get the moving flow in the picture, set a specific shutter speed and don't care about the depth of field (because you can use a smaller aperture at a very diffuse shutter speed, the depth of field is usually not a problem). In a place like Times Square, it's a little difficult to take pictures that can clearly capture the action. Although the neon lights and signs in these places provide a lot of light, the actual streets are a mixture of bright lights and very dark areas.

In addition, there is no tripod when taking pictures. You can find fences and trash cans on the street and lean on them firmly. The city photographed at night will not be as clear as expected, but I think the color and vitality in the photo can complement the soft image well. Of course, if you want to shoot a special place, then a tripod can significantly improve the quality of the photos.

night?market

If you are lucky, there are night markets and snack night markets near your residence (and travel there), and hunger does not overwhelm your desire to shoot, then you can shoot many exciting themes. The trick to taking excellent night market photos is to walk into the night market, set the camera to the highest ISO (unless shooting in a weak sky can provide several levels of extra lighting), and walk around in front of each booth. Most professional travel photographers will tell you that getting there is only half the job, and making friends with the host will make it easier for you to shoot the scene you need, buy a snack or buy something symbolically.

The scene in the photo of China and Hong Kong: "Every night, the shopkeeper will set up a stall to block the street. They sell shirts, electronic products and souvenirs. There are also many restaurants and makeshift tables on the street. " This is the perfect environment for shooting at night.

If possible, try not to use flash, because Gavin's photos are a good proof that you can use the existing light to create more artistic and exotic photos. Learn to lean against the building or put your elbow on the table to stabilize the camera, so that you will find that if you use a camera and lens that support the anti-shake function, you can safely use the shutter speed of 1/4s and longer. Always try to include something that is actually happening or can imply action in the photo, because it can make the photo very interesting, even if some actions are vague, it will make the photo better.