A few nightshots of Boston

[SpenserHeaps]

Went out tonight and drove around boston taking photos. C&C Appreciated.
1.http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119577600-O.jpg

2. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119577613-O.jpg

3.http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119577627-O.jpg

4.http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119577641-O.jpg

[DrPablo]

Nice job Spenser, we have some similar shots from that very spot. I'd suggest trying to keep the camera very level when shooting with such a wide FOV, because you've gotten some convergence of vertical lines. The TS-E 24 helped a lot with shots from this spot for me. The frst and last shots are my favorite of the series. Take a look in this gallery of mine for some ideas from this spot and elsewhere.

http://www.pbase.com/drpablo74/boston

[KROHN27]

Great shots! for some reason when im taking pictures of the sky, I always get the sky right and the city scape wrong, or the city scape right and the sky wrong (the sky overexposed and the city ok, or vice versa)... perhaps you could pm me or share some tips?

[SpenserHeaps]

Thanks very much for the tips Paul, and some very nice shots you have.

I dont have any very good advice for getting both the sky and city scape correctly exposed. in these shots they were close enough that I could capture the sky and bring out the city a bit more with some dodging. you can try doing an HDR image if you have CS2. you must have your camera on a tripod, and take several shots at varying exposures, and then you can merge them into one shots with a much wider range of expsures in CS2.

[rammy]

Nice photos, like the first one. I've been to Boston, brings back nice memories :-) Hoping to go back there soon.

Great shots! for some reason when im taking pictures of the sky, I always get the sky right and the city scape wrong, or the city scape right and the sky wrong (the sky overexposed and the city ok, or vice versa)... perhaps you could pm me or share some tips?

It is difficult exposing for sky vs ground. The f-stop difference can be quite a lot. I always meter off the sky to try and get that right first cause I don't want to blow out the whites in the clouds if there are any and make sure that the shadows on the ground are not full of black. Check the histogram and make sure no peaks on the left side go above the scale. Make sure you meter for the blue sky and not the clouds. If the sky is full of clouds then spot meter or meter the whole scene. You may need to try a couple of times and check histogram to see if you got it.

If I have my camera bag with me then I use the graduated ND filters. I expose for the ground and put a 2 or 3 stop filter for the sky.

If I don't use the grad filters then I always make sure I am shooting in RAW cause then I can make two exposures PP on the computer. The original will be for sky and the adjusted for the ground. OR, use the quick mask or add a levels adjustment layer and mask out the sky. Changing the levels to then adjust for the ground.

In some cases, you maybe lucky and the contrast between the sky and ground will not be that great so you can meter off the whole scene and get a good exposure.

I'd also recommend getting "understanding exposure" by Bryan Peterson.

[SpenserHeaps]

I'd also recommend getting "understanding exposure" by Bryan Peterson.
I second that.

[Vini]

Nice series, especially the first and last.

[SYS]

Ahh... brings back memeories of my Boston years....

Nice job.

[Owain Shaw]

The first and last are my two favourites, the lines leading into the corners works great as a perspective thing. One of my favourite compositional tools.

[DrPablo]

I think you've captured sky and ground very well in these shots.

The problem that many people run into with HDR, manually merging photos, and even with graduated ND filters is that you distort the normal and expected light relationships in the real world. Even the great Galen Rowell, who lived with a GND on his camera, has some images that while dramatic aren't very believable.

You chose to take these shots in the absolute perfect lighting for night cityscapes (though living in Boston I know that these were probably taken at around 4:30 in the afternoon if you took them recently). In this lighting you will not resolve much unlit detail on the ground -- but, your dominant color cast will be from the sky (and not streetlights), the lights from the buildings and cars will shine through, and deep, rich shadows of the ground will lend a sense of peacefulness to it.

To be sure this is low contrast lighting you're shooting in at twilight. You'd probably find not more than 4 stops of dynamic range out there unless you're counting the bright lights. That's well within the capture capabilities of your camera (I know people can technically measure 8 or so stops with the sensor, but for practical purposes you don't really capture meaningful detail over that big a range). If you look at the bottom picture and think about it in terms of Ansel Adams' zones, the sidewalk, the dark clouds, and the river are close to middle gray, which is by definition zone 5. The sky probably ranges from zone 6 to zone 7+, and the dark buildings and foreground details are at zone 3-4. So that's about a 4-5 stop dynamic range, some of which can be compressed using RAW.

The trick is capturing scenes in bright daylight where you can really have 8 stops between the highlights and shadows, and you expect to see detail in those shadows. But if you always shoot in conditions like this, you're golden!

[Chappy]

Real nice shots. :)

Is that Gov't Center and Mass General in the 2nd pic by any chance? I used to live in NH and have been to Boston many times. I miss going there. Boston is a nice city.

[sfaust]

Nicely done Spencer. I think I've shot from those same locations in the past. You've captured them well.

[SpenserHeaps]

thanks for the comments. heres some more.
5. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119747155-O.jpg

6. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119747172-O.jpg

7. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119747191-O.jpg

8. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119747215-O.jpg

9. http://spenserheaps.smugmug.com/photos/119747120-O.jpg

[SpenserHeaps]

You chose to take these shots in the absolute perfect lighting for night cityscapes (though living in Boston I know that these were probably taken at around 4:30 in the afternoon if you took them recently).
You pretty much hit the nail on the head there. First one taken at 4:36:30 PM.

[Chappy]

Was that Gov't Center or do you prefer to not answer? Storrow Drive? Back Bay?

[sfaust]

The building in the 2nd image wasn't Goverment Center. Not sure, but I think its in the area of Mass General, but not Mass General itself. I recognize it, but can't place it. The first, third, and fourth are along Memorial Drive.

[SpenserHeaps]

i really couldnt tell you, my dad drove me around because i dont know my way driving through boston at all. we went down the cambrige side of the river and thats where pretty much all of these are. im sure someone else on here can tell you where they were all taken?

[DrPablo]

The building in photo 2 is on the Cambridge end of the Longfellow Bridge (and all the photos look like they were taken either from there or from Memorial Drive beneath the bridge). The building is on the other side of the river from MGH and Mass Eye and Ear.

[Chappy]

Thanks for the replies. All nice photos.

I lived in Chelsea for a short time in 1981. Had a nice view of the skyline from there. :)

[NJPDDC]

Very nice photos. I was in Boston in September and saw most of the places that you shot.