KLCC Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
One of the most magical times of day, in terms of lighting, is twilight. That period as the sun sinks and the light fades can produce some excellent conditions for photography. You’ve probably seen rich, blue skies in architectural photos of buildings – this is the time of day those photographers come out to play. It’s also a favored time for anyone looking to shoot city lights, as it’s the time when they start coming on and mix well with the natural ambient light (ie fading light from the sun).
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Depending on your latitude, you’ll probably only have a short time to shoot in, as the light fades to full dark very quickly. Shoot quickly and shoot a lot. Don’t worry if things are blurry or out of focus, you can always delete them later. Use a tripod or beanbag if possible, or gradually increase your ISO to keep your shutter speed sufficiently high for handheld use. Increasing ISO will introduce noise that you may have to deal with during post-production. My current noise reduction software of choice is Nik’s Dfine 2.0. I use it as a plug-in to Lightroom and it’s by far the best noise software I’ve come across.
When shooting the photograph above, I was fortunate that it was a very clear, blue sky day and this was reflected in the resulting blue sky. If you’re looking for a little more blue, for example on an overcast day, try setting your camera’s white balance to tungsten. It’ll give the sky a rich blue color.
Don’t neglect your foreground. You’ve got beautiful light in the sky, so don’t waste it by choosing an uninteresting foreground. If you can find something reflective, that can give an added depth to your imagery. Buildings and cityscapes in general are popular choices, as are boats in a harbor.
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