Neon Signs in Taipei

Here in East Asia you’re never far from a neon sign, and the same often applies to any big city anywhere in the world. Particularly for the traveler, knowing how to photograph these signs can add some local color to your travel photos.

A tripod and remote shutter release is best, allowing you to achieve optimum depth of field but neon signs are often bright enough to be handheld if you raise the ISO a bit.

If you’re unsure where to find these signs, try any entertainment, restaurant or shopping district at night. Keep your eyes open during the day – the signs obviously won’t be lit but you may see some potentially interesting ones to come back to in the evening. If possible, try to photograph them at dusk. There’ll often be a vivid, deep blue color in the sky that will really make them stand out.

Sometimes the signs will flicker across the different parts, with different letters or numbers lit at different times. The cycle through these usually takes no more than a second. If you want to capture of all it alight make sure you set your shutter speed accordingly.

Shoot at different focal lengths. Some signs will look best when they fill the frame, others when the surrounding street life can be sign. You can also try zooming during the exposure to create a different kind of effect.

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