The Cityscape Guide: Shooting the Shot

A continuation of my previous post, The Cityscape Guide: Just a Start, I will take you through the actual shooting of the shot and any tips.

First off and I know Chris Smith preaches this as well over at Out of Chicago (read his blog, even if you are not in Chicago, great information there), but you need to have a tripod.  Now I don't have the best, heck I don't even have a carbon fiber one, but it is sturdy and since it is aluminum it holds up better than a lot of others.  Just heavy to carry :-)  You need a tripod, for sharpness if not for anything else.  Since I tend to shoot later in the day or early in the morning at f/stops of 5.6 or higher I need it also for the exposure time.

My first step is to set my ISO and f-stop.  For the f-stop, by a lot of trial and error I know where I want to be on my lenses to get a clean, clear photograph.  I tend to stick between f/5.6 and f/13.  I set this first then my ISO, usually 100 but this depends on the next item.  

I always shoot bracketed, doesn't matter if I am doing an HDR or not later, usually 5 shots.  This is where while setting the ISO you need to watch your exposure time.  Depending on the time of day, you can have your two brightest exposures be at 30 seconds (on my camera that is the longest before bulb).  The decision must be made either go higher on the ISO to bring the brightest exposure to 30 sec or shoot manual brackets and use bulb to take that brightest shot.  I have done it both ways and will continue to.

The biggest issue with all this is do you trust your camera's meter.  Usually the answer is no, this is where you have to go with your gut and knowledge to get the exposures you need.  Enough shadows and highlights without blowing it out.  Though with Lightroom 4 you really have amazing power to fix a lot of these issues.  But that is for another day!

From here it is just shooting your shots and enjoying the view!!