Jay Bisura, the famous photographer from Thailand, explains the creative art of low-light cityscapes using Long exposure camera techniques.
We joined Jay Bisura at his Bangkok Photo Studio for a masterclass on how to photograph low-light cityscapes and get amazing results. Jay Bisura is one of the best Bangkok photographers (you can visit his website here www.photoeditingretouching.com).
The tips in this article are applicable to any type of camera besides Nikon that we used. We started first with general tips for our low-light theory and then headed out onto the streets of Bangkok to capture some amazing low light cityscapes photos.
Jay Bisura Camera Settings
Jay Bisura first showed us how to dial correct camera settings while using a tripod to get perfect results. Tripod is a must in photographing low light cityscapes.
Jay explained how he prefers using a wide aperture, such as f/2.8. which produces a shallow depth of field, perfect if you want to get bokeh effects in the background, blurry background while stopping down to f/n will create a beautiful starburst effect on stationary lights due to the effects of diffraction.
Jay first sets up his camera’s base ISO. After he dialed incorrect shutter speed in order to capture light trails from traffic moving through our scene, as can see on our first photo. Jay explained how exposure can’t be universal, how there’s no one size fits all exposure.
While capturing the light trails of incoming traffic or people, it is very important to keep the camera as steady as possible. Jay always uses remote shutter dongy, to trigger his Canon camera shutter. You could also use the camera delay trigger, that you can find on most of the cameras these days, which allow you to tell the camera to automatically trigger shutter after a few seconds.
Going slower and slower on camera settings will create longer trails of traffic, people, and increase the motion blur of the cars themselves to the point that they can disappear completely. Jay explains that when you slow down the shutter, more light hits the sensor on your camera which might cause you to get an overexposed shot.
Jay recommended using Exposure Delay mode over the other options in-camera settings because this both reduces vibration, locks up the mirror and allows us to set the delay timer.
Low light photography tips are perfect for real estate photography.
Jay Bisura STEP BY STEP MASTERING THE ART OF LOW-LIGHT CITYSCAPES TIPS
LOW LIGHT CITYSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIP NUMBER 1
Keep everything steady. First, we put our camera on a tripod and turn off Vibration Reduction in-camera settings, as VR motors can cause slight movement of the shot. After that we use remote shutter release to trigger the camera exposure, preventing any shake – instead of holding the camera in our hands.
LOW LIGHT CITYSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIP NUMBER 2
Be sure to take the picture at the correct time. Observe the surroundings, how busy the street is. It is important to study the timings of the traffic lights because our goal is to photograph long streaks vehicle lights, not empty street or cars that are waiting for the green light. Write down the timing of the traffic
before it comes to a standstill again and let that be the ground of selecting correct shutter speed in your camera settings.
LOW LIGHT CITYSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIP NUMBER 3
Dial-in the correct settings in our camera. Put the camera in manual mode and select aperture of F/11 to get that beautiful starburst effect on static
street lights. Next, dial the shutter speed to something like 8 seconds to capture the trails of the incoming traffic.
LOW LIGHT CITYSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIP NUMBER 4
Set the correct white balance in your camera settings. The blue cast makes images appear colder, while yellow makes them warm. Jay Bisura favorite settings is daylight setting, which has a neutral white balance of 5560K, then lower the setting to let’s say 3500K to get that Blue effect of the image.
Bluer color casts make pictures appear colder, whereas yellow adds warmth. A good starting point is your camera’s Daylight setting, which has a white balance of 5560K; the lower the value the cooler the image, while higher values are warmer.
Our main image was shot at 3500K.
LOW LIGHT CITYSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIP NUMBER 5
STRUCTURING YOUR COMPOSITION is super important. There are so many things going on in the streets of Bangkok or any other major city. Jay Bisura likes to exclude unnecessary elements from that shot that might distract the viewer’s eye. So, focus your shot on a single point of interest for a stronger and more interesting composition.
