Urban Landscape Photography – How to Capture Better Urban Landscape Photos
If you love the hustle and bustle of the big city life, then you must also enjoy urban landscape photography. Needless to say, there is something worth photographing beyond the grey, gritty concrete, graffiti covered walls and towering buildings. There is a unique and exciting photographic opportunity lurking in almost every corner of the city – if you know how to do it right.
So, how do you capture interesting and awe-inspiring photos of the great urban landscape? How do you capture the vibrancy and unique personality of a city? Here are some tips that can help you achieve all these and more!
Tips for Shooting Awesome Urban Landscape Shots
Equip yourself with the right gear. In photographing the urban landscape, you should pack your wide angle lens and your zoom lens as well. Using wide angle lenses gives you the flexibility to experiment with depth of field while your zoom lenses will help you capture more detailed shots of buildings and street scenes. You should also bring your UV and polarizing filters, some extra batteries and a monopod or tripod with you and pack it all in a sling style camera bag for easy access.
Shoot when the time is right. Ideally, you should do your shoot during the early mornings or right before the sun sets since you will get great lighting conditions during these times. Additionally, shooting during early mornings will give you the opportunity to capture urban shots with less clutter so you can concentrate on the taking pictures of the architectural structures instead.
On the other hand, shooting before night time and well into the night gives you the chance to explore the effects of city lights. Do your research by personally visiting the sites at different times of the day to see which time would be perfect for the shots you have in mind.
Capture the essence. While capturing the true essence of a place can be quite a challenge, accomplishing this feat can make the difference between an average shot and an excellent one. To help you achieve this goal, you should consider the significance of the place to you and how it makes you feel. Do this and you’ll surely find a way to incorporate such feelings into your shots.
Explore interesting angles. To come up with unique, interesting photos of the city, you should look for angles that are not readily accessible to the average photographer. Consider exploring angles, reflections and textures that other photographers have missed and use them to make your shots more interesting.
Shoot in the suburbs. While most of the action takes place at the very heart of the city, you should also consider shooting in the suburbs. Head for a place where rundown buildings still exists. For all you know, this is where you can capture the most intriguing shots of the day.
Capture the old along with the new. Most cities offer a mix of the old and the new – new buildings interspersed with old ones. You will also see a lot of old buildings being demolished and replaced with modern skyscrapers. While some may view it as necessary for the continued development of a city, some may consider it as the destruction of history. Use the power of contrast to make your photos more interesting!
Put an interesting spin to your shots. Don’t fall into the trap of shooting a certain urban landscape using the same perspective used by other photographers. Do so and you’ll lose all your chances of capturing photos that are interesting and appealing to your viewers’ eyes. Instead, you should explore how to capture such images in a way that it has never been seen before. Try to be more creative and you’ll surely come up with some winning shots all the time!
Do you think urban landscape photography is for you? If you do, all you need to do is to consider these tips and you’re ready to start shooting.
I hope this article helped you in one way or another.
You can get more mind-blowing, clever guidance on Landscape Photography tips here.
Start shooting and enjoy it,
Ray Baker
