Shibuya at Night

[hambino]

Ugh. Finally bought a tripod and posted up at the big cross walk in Shibuya. I LOVE Shibuya at night: the people, the lights, the taxis, EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, my pics are beyond blah and boring. I played around with different shutter speeds, exposures, heights of my camera, etc and when I look at my pics the only thing I see is frustration. Its like I'm clicking away the soul of the city. Perhaps this sounds a bit dramatic but arrrrrrrrrrgh I'm frustrated!!! I used 2 lenses last night: SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 and a Sigma AF 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6. The pics whose EXIF info has a focal length are the ones used with the latter lens; the pics whose focal length says "n/a" were taken with the former. I think I'm only allowed to post one pic in here so here's the one shot I'll post; but the link to the album is at the bottom of the pic and if anyone could take a couple of minutes to flip through the pics to get an overall feeling of what I need to work on (or where to focus my attention to start out with since I know I have A LOT to work on) I'd really appreciate

From 20100828_NewSannoWeekend

Picasa Web Albums - Lauren Hamburg - 20100828_NewS...

Photo information
Camera: PENTAX Corporation
Model: PENTAX *ist DS
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1.3 sec
Aperture: 20.0
Focal Length: 50mm
Flash Used: No

[tokyotom]

First of all, of the pictures you took, why did you decide to post this one?

[hambino]

Originally Posted by tokyotom

First of all, of the pictures you took, why did you decide to post this one?

Bc its the only one that even mildly entertains me. I thought it was kinda cool how with the longer exposure I remember how the taxi wasn't in the picture when I clicked it but then when I looked up it was right there

[Sterling]

Your photo is underexposed. I'm sure it would come to life a little if it was bright enough to see anything. Also, it looks like for this shot, you need to angle the camera up. As it is, 1/3 of the photo is of an empty dark road. Pretty tough to make that interesting.

[hambino]

Thanks, Sterling. I was hoping to get the people right when they cross the street but you're right, its a pretty boring pic. That crosswalk is one of my favorite spots in tokyo, though; when everyone crosses the road it looks like pure chaos and then it goes from 100 to stopped as soon as the lights at the crosswalk change. *sigh*

[hambino]

Originally Posted by Sterling

Your photo is underexposed. I'm sure it would come to life a little if it was bright enough to see anything. Also, it looks like for this shot, you need to angle the camera up. As it is, 1/3 of the photo is of an empty dark road. Pretty tough to make that interesting.

Thanks, Sterling. I was hoping to get the people right when they cross the street but you're right, its a pretty boring pic. That crosswalk is one of my favorite spots in tokyo, though; when everyone crosses the road it looks like pure chaos and then it goes from 100 to stopped as soon as the lights at the crosswalk change. *sigh*

[lee kivi]

Hi Hambino, my suggestion in addition to less street would be to change the angle. The tree on the left just looks like a dark blob in a night photo. With more of an angle looking down the street you would probably have more lights to add interest and also some light trails from the cars tailights. You would still be able to see the pedestrian mob and wouldn't have so much dark street.

[hambino]

Thanks, lee! I'm definitely going to try and find a better spot to shoot from next time. I'm just so super bummed that ALL my pics came out so awful and I don't even know where to begin to try and make them better

[KansaiGreenie]

Hi Hambino,

Congratulations on getting a tripod and welcome to the world of night photography.

I'm just so super bummed that ALL my pics came out so awful and I don't even know where to begin to try and make them better

Don't worry about it. Night photography is very different from shooting in the day. You have all the usual things to worry about plus a few other things as well. The tree on the left is a really good example. During the day, the tree would have detail and color and could provide a nice contrast to urban environment, but at night it's in shadow and just goes black. Learning how to compose with the shadows and negative space is challenging and takes some time. What you need to do is practice.

Exposure: 1.3 sec
Aperture: 20.0

The 1.3 seconds is about right, but f/20 is too small. I usually shoot at f/8 or less.

...going to try and find a better spot to shoot from next time

Try to find a pedestrian's crossing bridge, a shopping center, somewhere that you can get above the crowd. That way you can shoot down on the traffic and people. It will be a more interesting angle. It seems to me that whenever I see a image of the big crossing Shibuya it is not at street level, but from above looking down on the street.

I looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

KG

[hambino]

Arigatou, Kansai-san! After you mentioned most of the pics being at higher level I remembered there were these PERFECT steps outside of the 109 building and nobody was on there; I very easily could have chosen to shoot there instead. I guess its hard for me to accept that to actually capture the picture I have in my mind I need to remove myself from the action b/c I LOVE being in the middle of it all! I thought about that on Fuji too: to get the best pics OF mt. fuji you can't be ON mt. fuji!!!! Anywho, you guys have given me some great notes and I plan on using them and practicing my lil heart out!