What is the Definition of Urban Landscape Photography?
Landscape photography is an exciting pursuit of beautiful scenery, spectacular light, vibrant colors and great detail. Urban landscape photography is no different. It focuses on the man-made environment and the dynamics of life within that place. Images catch the eye through bright lights, a play of colors and the use of lines to create a dynamic visual design. Urban landscape photography falls under the landscape category but the flow of working with the available light can be very different.
How do you Take Urban Landscape Photos?
Equipment
The equipment used in Urban Landscape Photography is pretty much the same as what traditional landscape photographers use.
- High-Resolution Camera with Manual Functions
- Lenses
- Stable and Sturdy Tripod
- Cable Release/ Remote Timer
- Filters
Landscape photography is not just a documentation of reality, but the translation of a vision or idea. That is why it is a requirement that the camera has full manual functions because the photographer’s vision might not be one that an automatic camera can execute. Cameras in automatic modes tend to limit exposure time or aperture and freely increase ISO sensitivity. That may not always be ideal for optimum quality.
About 70% of the time, wide-angle lenses are used to present a perspective of being in a grand scene. However, standard or even telephoto zoom lenses also come in handy for distant subjects. A sturdy tripod and cable release aid help ensure sharp images and filters make make a wider range of exposure techniques possible.
Urban Landscape Photography Techniques
Urban landscape images are the summation of key important elements that create a bright, grand, and often futuristic scene.
A Grand View
As mentioned above, urban landscape images showcase collectively the architectural marvels of a city. The various structures form the grand futuristic vista.
Correct Exposure & Sharp Detail
Much like any landscape photograph, exposure can make or break the beauty of the image. It is important to be able to show as much detail as needed and have them clear and sharp in frame. Knowing the optimal aperture setting of the lens you use is crucial to be able to ensure sharpness.
Composition & Visual Path
Composition is what separates an ordinary photograph from a work of art. A well-composed photograph leads the viewer’s eyes into and around the photograph. In landscape photography, good composition gives a unique perspective to the viewer, one that most people don’t usually see. In urban landscape photography, visual paths are easier to find because of the lines that are readily found in a city. May they be on the buildings, the roads, crosswalks or whatever, these lines can be used to draw the eyes into the photograph.
Unique Perspective
What’s beautiful about photographing the city is that there are more ways to get around the location and find interesting angles. Bridges, Platforms, even benches can be used to find a unique angle. If you are lucky, you can maybe find an observation deck from one of the buildings to emulate an aerial perspective.
Motion
Lastly, being able to illustrate motion in a still photograph gives it a more dynamic feel. This can be done very easily at night with a tripod and even during the day with the help of neutral density filters. Day or night, long exposures illustrate the motion of countless elements in the environment. Clouds, flowing water and vegetation blown by the wind are the usual moving elements in landscape photography. In urban landscapes, moving people, cars and even planes can also be the elements of motion. Long exposures compress time into one image and show what has changed in the scene for the duration that the camera was exposing. This somehow shows that the location lived at that moment.
Final Thoughts
Landscape photography illustrates an environment and the dynamics of light in any given place. Urban landscape photography combines this with the movement of human life and human creation. A man-made environment inhabited by man.
Nicco Valenzuela is a Landscape Photographer and photography writer from the Philippines. He specializes in photographing Urban Landscapes both in his home, the urban jungle of Metro Manila, and various cities around the world.
