10 Tips for Photographing Cityscapes During Blue Hour
May 21, 2020
Words and images by Craig Turnbull (@cturnbull.photos)
Craig Turnbull is a Sony Digital Imaging Advocate, freelance photographer and photography educator based in Brisbane. Craig’s work ranges from portrait to event and product photography, and he has a particular passion for photographing cityscapes.
Image credit: Craig Turnbull
| Sony Alpha a7R Mark III | Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens | f11 | 15 sec | ISO 50 |
Just like with most other forms of photography, light—or the quality of light—is the most important factor. For this reason I like to wait for the blue hour: the twilight period shortly after sunset or before sunrise. During this time the sky often changes to a vibrant blue colour before it gets too dark, or what we refer to as night. Unfortunately, the blue hour doesn't last long and takes place at slightly different times each day.
Recommended Gear for Cityscape Photography
- Tripod
- Camera body and lens
- Filters (optional)
- Shutter remote (optional) – alternatively, use a 2 sec timer on your camera
Tips for Shooting Cityscapes at Blue Hour
1. Planning is paramount, so utilise an app such as GoldenHour.One. This will show you when golden hour, sunrise, sunset, and blue hour occur each day.
2. Arrive at your location ahead of time to scout the area for the best possible composition. I often use my phone to quickly move around the scene, change perspectives from low to high and even capture a few test shots for easy review.
Once you have decided on your composition—perhaps with some foreground detail, leading lines or some other interesting detail—you are ready to set up your camera gear.
3. Don't forget to take into account the aspect ratio your camera is capturing in – most likely 3:2. For printing and particularly framing, this is not a common size and you may have to crop to accommodate. Likewise for social media platforms such as Instagram, which look visually appealing at either 8x10 or 1x1. If you capture too tight, you may lose an important part of your image.
4. Ensure your tripod is set up on a stable platform. Timber boardwalks etc are susceptible to movement when people walk by, resulting in an unsharp image. To further minimise any camera shake, use either your camera’ s inbuilt 2-10 second timer or attach an external remote shutter release.
In addition, ensure any lens or in-body image stabilisation is turned off, as this can actually introduce motion blur if you’re shooting on a tripod.
Image credit: Craig Turnbull
| Sony Alpha a7R Mark III | Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens | f16 | 13 sec | ISO 100 |
5. Attach your camera to your tripod, ensuring the camera strap is not flapping in the wind (this may also cause an unsharp image).
With cityscapes in particular, it is important to level your camera both left and right and up and down, using either the level on the tripod or, if available, the electronic level in camera. If your camera is pointed too far up, city buildings will start leaning inwards and if aimed too far down, they will lean outwards.
6. I prefer to capture cityscapes in A or AV mode (Aperture Priority) where I set the aperture (f-stop or depth of field) typically between f8 and f16 and the camera automatically sets the shutter speed to achieve the correct exposure. As the night sky gets darker the shutter speed will get longer and longer.
For manual shooters, the process is much the same. Set your ISO to 100, aperture between f8 and f16 and use your exposure meter or histogram to set the shutter speed and achieve the correct exposure. As the sky gets darker and the city lights brighter, you manually adjust the shutter speed to maintain the correct exposure.
7. Since a tripod is being used and during blue hour there is usually still quite a bit of light, you can set the ISO to the lowest available value – usually 100 or 200 depending on your particular camera. I sometimes like to reduce the ISO to 50 if not using ND filters. This will allow you to achieve slightly longer shutter speeds to smooth out water or clouds earlier in the night.
8. I achieve the best exposure by exposing for the highlights: the bright city lights. You can do this easily by using your live view display or EVF (electronic viewfinder) and moving the focus area box over the brightest part of the frame. For advanced users, you can use the histogram to check for any spikes on the right-hand side. I may also use exposure compensation to adjust the exposure up or down slightly.
Lately, I’ve also been experimenting with the Sony Alpha ‘Highlight’ metering mode in combination with 1 or 2 stops of + exposure compensation.
Note
With mirrorless cameras, be careful using the LCD monitor or EVF to gauge exposure. If your brightness settings are set too high you'll find your images are much darker when you go to edit them on your computer. I like to set both the LCD and EVF brightness on my Sony Alpha cameras to manual and -1.
9. For focusing, I like to keep things simple and don't worry about the often talked about hyperfocal distance or focusing 1/3 of the way into the frame. I simply change to manual focus and using the LCD or EVF (on mirrorless cameras), zoom in using the + button on the back of the camera to a city building near the back of the frame that has a well lit sign. Then I slowly turn the manual focus ring to achieve focus. As long as you don't adjust the focal length (zooming in and out) the correct focus will be maintained.
10. With all of the above set, it's now just a matter of capturing a frame with the perfect light – something that doesn't always happen, but remember, there is always another day.