Hello guys,

This is my first post in this forum, and also my first topic. Before that, my name is Nadly Aizat and I am from Taiping, Perak. Just recently finished my engineering studies in New Zealand and currently "doing nothing". So I filled that gap of "doing nothing" with my hobby, which is photography.

So, in this thread I would like to share or to talk about cityscapes. Well, basically cityscapes is just like shooting landscapes, but instead of spending time in the countryside or in the rural areas (just like what I did back in NZ) we don't have to go any further than our hometown to shoot.

Tips on the best time

The best time to shoot cityscapes are usually during the "blue hour". Blue hour is the time, I think roughly around half an hour before sunrise in the morning and half an hour after sunset. At this time, most of the artificial lights, neon lamps are still turned on, which really adding up to the scene. At some occasion, it is good also to shoot at night especially when it is cloudy because the lights in the city are being reflected by the clouds.

Because it is dark during these times, any moving things that we captured on our camera will form streaks of lights that we call it "light trails". It can serve as leading lines (one of the compositional tool when composing an image).



Tips on the best place

As for me, I would like to shoot from rooftop, or any high vantage points. There are many spots in Kuala Lumpur, some of them are publicly accessed while some are within the private properties. If there were any security concerns raised during your presence, I would like to suggest you to leave. If you have any friends who works in these places, kindly ask them to let you in

Other than that, we can also shoot from the ground level. Aim for places where it got movements like roads, pedestrian walks etc.



Tips on the equipment and settings

Two basic stuff - A camera with lens and a sturdy tripod. Since it is dark that time, hand holding your camera will introduce blurry images. Another good thing to have is the remote shutter. If you don't have a remote shutter, then set the timer on your camera for each shot. Talking about lenses, I usually use an ultra wide angle lens. But sometimes, in order to pull out the details of the buildings, we can use the telephoto lens.

Talking about settings, I usually set to the Aperture priority (A) and shoot at f/8-f/11. Since the dynamic range of the scene that time are quite high, I prefer to do Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) and bracket up to five exposures. And, I shoot in RAW format.

About composition, it just the usual things you heard - in example the Rule of Third, putting in the foreground interest, etc.

Know your subject, and know what you want to put into the image.



Tips on the post processing

As I mentioned earlier, shoot in RAW so that you could have greater flexibility when you want to convert these files into JPEG format. This including brighten parts that are too dark vice versa, or if you found color cast then you could tweak the white balance.

Basically, my work flows are as follows:

1) Converting RAW files into JPEG using Nikon Capture NX2.

2) HDR processing of the bracket sets of JPEG files with Photomatix Pro. Save into 16 bit TIFF files.

3) Further minor adjustment (level, curve, sharpening, noise reduction) with Adobe Photoshop CS5.

4) Save as JPEG. Upload in Flickr and then facebook.


That's all for now. Here are some of my images that I have shot within this year.




Thanks for visiting

Gorgeous pix Nadly.

wow... Your pictures are awesome!

Thanks for the tips appreciate it really much.

Very good sharing and thanks for those tips

your HDR photos look lovely.

young n talented keep the photo flows

thanks


thanks mingyuyu


thanks mate


thanks bro. Feel free to ask if you have anything


thanks kenary820

jelatek? near the jelatek lrt station?

pro.... wish to see more of ur picture here

Kudos! Really well done.

Any suggestions for easily accessible rooftops for some good shooting? Preferably one without security chasing you away? (I'm more into filming, so probably can't gun and run) dXD

Yeap. There are two spots there which is Flat PPR Jelatek (yellow color) and another higher Pangsapuri Berembang Indah. Go to the top floor.


thanks dude. I will post some more throughout time. Feel free to ask me anything if you want to.


Well as for starting, you can try Pangsapuri Berembang Indah at Jelatek. Or to get 270 degree of view around Kuala Lumpur, go to the parking lot at level 14, GM Plaza near Chow Kit (like in pictures #6 and #7). At GM Plaza there are security guards though, but in my cases before I did tell them that I wanna go up taking photos so they let me in.

This post has been edited by Nadly Aizat: Jun 25 2013, 04:49 PM

the pangsapuri berembang indah, they allow?

as long as you keep your manner up there then should be fine. the top floor where I shoot the pictures are beside the emergency stairs and not in front of the resident's door so it is great enough.

aite, thanks

Hmmm.... Alright thanks. I doubt if there's security they'll let me film even if my intentions are true. They're kinda edgy when it comes to outsiders. Hahaha.

Very nice pics . When you say you go to the top of the building, is it the roof level (where water tank is located) or top most floor level? Is the access to roof not normally locked?

This post has been edited by HiroBoroi: Jun 27 2013, 10:34 AM

Thanks Rooftop here means the top, open area of the building. There are some that are accessible since they have restaurant on the top floor (in example #19 which is from Level 39 PNB Darby Park). In case like this, you have to be their guest which means that you have to drink or dine there. Quite expensive though

And some others are from the roof and helicopter pad, which I haven't been through. I am coming to KL again next two weekends and hopefully to try new places.

ohsem bro!

edited

This post has been edited by futurevision_ben: Jun 27 2013, 02:33 PM