8 Best Ways To Improve Your City Photography
Night view of city skyscrapers in Chongqing, China
City photography has gained a ton of popularity among enthusiast photographers and hobbyists. With cities being the most accessible to many of us, it’s easy to see why city photography gets so much attention. City and architecture photography are among some of my favorite genres and I’m always looking for new ways to improve. These are the 8 best ways to improve your city photography.
Explore New Places
Much of city photography is about having an adventure. Wandering through different parts of the city can often present you with opportunities for unique shots. Find new streets, buildings, or areas to photograph. After all, if we just kept photographing one area or the same building, our photography would not progress over time and our portfolio would remain very limited. Seeking out new areas in your city is a great way to broaden your subject matter. Don’t be afraid of photographing an industrial area or a lesser-known district.
Riverside cityscape with boats and buildings framed through a bridge in the Castlefield district of Manchester, England
Only visiting the city center where all the cool buildings are can be tempting but after a while, you’ll run out of subjects to photograph. Remember there is usually something to discover in each area, and as an urban photographer, it’s up to you to get out there and find it. This will broaden your subject matter and is a great way to improve your city photography.
Use Angles
Whilst out in the city we need to look for different angles. Ask yourself, how tall is the building, can you photograph it from across the road, or at the other side of the river maybe even at the top of a nearby hill or down by the river bank? There are endless ways to photograph a street scene or city skyline and trying different angles is an awesome way to improve your city photography.
The Vessel a contemporary structure in the Hudson Yards office and retail development in New York City
Remember to walk around and create different angles rather than just zooming in or out. Although zooming can also be great, if you still aren’t getting the shot you desire, then that composition’s downfall usually has something to do with where you are standing. After all, it was the great Ansel Adams who said “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”
Get Creative
Countless creative techniques can be used when photographing cityscapes. Using different lenses, leading lines, shooting from the floor, and getting close-ups of architectural structures are all great examples. Try to make use of everything you have. Don’t be afraid to try different lenses or equipment to get more out of your imagery. Try using zoom lenses when you need to get in close to a part of the street or city scene. Alternatively, use wide-angle lenses if you are already too close to the scene. Creativity is vital to improve your city photography.
Night view of Songdo financial district architecture from the lake at Incheon Central Park, South Korea
City photography is about organizing chaos in a creative way. If you do not have the lenses then don’t worry, just try to get creative with composition, lighting, or whatever else you do have. Creativity is the key here and using your surroundings or equipment is the best way of achieving it.
Long Exposure Photography
Long-exposure photography is a great way to create unique imagery and improve your city photography. This comes into a category of its own as it enables us to do so much. Long exposures can create effects such as smooth water, motion blur, or light trails. I am a big fan of long exposures and there is a great deal you can do with this technique. The trick is knowing when to use long exposures.
Long exposure of the Prague Castle and old town along the Vlatava River in Czech Republic
When used correctly and with the right elements in the frame, it can transform your image from a basic shot to an amazing city scene. City scenes with water and clouds like the one above can create a dreamy effect that smooths out the water and presents a motion blur in the clouds. Scenes with people will create a blurred-out effect which can also make for an interesting shot. Overall long exposures are a great way to improve your city photography and can be used in many different ways.
Plan Your Shoots
Planning shoots appears insignificant at first but once you start planning, it can really help. Planning will allow you to focus on your photography. Leaving a shoot too early because you haven’t allocated enough time means you will likely rush and miss important shots. You might be waiting to photograph the sunset, but if you haven’t planned enough time you may have to leave that location early. Even obvious things like this are sometimes not clear until you have made the mistake a few times. Timing is everything and we wouldn’t want to miss a sunset, sunrise, or blue hour, due to poor timing.
Porto riverside old town buildings at dusk in Portugal
Planning also allows us to remember the small things like charging our batteries, packing our tripod, formatting sd cards, or even checking the weather in advance. When you plan shoots you will a better chance to improve your city photography as you'll maximize the chances of success and leave little room for errors.
Include People
Including people in your city photography can drastically improve your city photography. The key is knowing when to include them and figuring out where in the frame they belong. Do they distract from the image, or do they add a sense of space or atmosphere? Is that particular person the right one or do they stand out like a sore thumb? Making a conscious decision on their placement, who the person is, and what they are wearing is key to the balance of your cityscape. Pay extra attention to how the image looks with people, and without them. What the person is wearing, how close they are and do they add anything to the photograph?
Old street with traditional Chinese arts and crafts shops in the Ancient Culture Street in Xian, China
Some photographers like to blur out the people in their images through long exposures as previously mentioned. Whilst others like to include people directly in the foreground or slightly off to one side of the frame. There is no rule here and the creative decision is entirely yours.
Night Photography
I am a big believer in night photography and see it as one of the best ways to improve your city photography. It makes you think of photography in a different way, being more careful of the way you photograph subjects. Street lamps, lit-up buildings, headlights of traffic, and dimly lit streets all make for interesting subjects.
City Skyscrapers of the Kuala Lumpur financial district at night
We need to take into account the distance between the lights and the camera. Will it look too intrusive in the image, and is there too much contrast between light and dark? The colours in the scenes will change as you have many different lights and you will have to find a balance between them. This will make you think of light in a new way and you will see vastly different results in your day, sunrise, or sunset photography. Some of which might be better or worse. Not every scene is suitable for night photography. But when you find the places that are, and you get the timing and balance of a city scene right, then night photography can become very rewarding and really improve your city photography.
The Right Light
Understanding light correctly is one of the best ways to improve your city photography. Light is a photographer’s means to create imagery and without light photography is meaningless. Light is the basic necessity of capturing the image onto the camera sensor. But great light is something special and is essential in making photography that is worth viewing. It gives us the ability to transform our images from basic bland city photography to amazing works of art. Reflections on water, shadows, illuminated buildings, and backlit skyscrapers are some of the characteristics I’m referring to here.
Traditional Spanish architecture in Seville, Spain
Ask yourself do you want to capture this photograph during sunset or on a foggy morning, at dusk, or at dawn. A sunset might look great from the right side of the city but we might miss that sunset if we can’t identify where that light is coming from. Weather forecasts can usually help with this. Evening views are typically better where the buildings light up and you can capture the office lights. This is important for city photography as light determines what kind of images we end up with. Before going to shoot, ask yourself when is the best place to capture that area at that time of year. Light changes a lot in each season and we want to make the most of what each season has to offer. A lot of this is weather and time-dependent but when you think of great light as a vital part of your shoot then you can improve your city photography dramatically.