The Afternoon Sun in Sydney, Australia

in Photo-essaylast year

Good Photographers have a signature style, you should be able to look at a photo and know instantly that's a so and so. My lack of a signature style might tell you I'm not a good photographer.

But the closest I get to a signature style is what I present today it's relies on deep shadows, warm colours which is done with a combination of things.

In camera it's underexposure, like about 1 to 1.5 stops of underexposure, I do it with manual adjustment of the holy trinity of camera settings. The first of the shots below has a ISO of 160, and Shutter Speed of 1/250 which is where I'll start and then we adjust the aperture get the look I want in the eyepiece - the First shot F9, the Second F13 - this is normal.

The Afternoon Light1 (1 of 1).jpg

And you get something that looks a little like the above, well more than a little, I do some stuff in post production, but honestly not much, I almost never crop, composition is done in camera, but I do tend to up the dehazing to give the skies a bit more depth, and normally the vibrance, which is the mid tones of colour, rather than saturation (which is all of the tones)

The Afternoon Light 2 (1 of 1).jpg

So that's that's the technical side of things, The tricky part is getting the right location, and the right weather. Location is Sydney, Australia. I don't live in Sydney, I live in Melbourne, but like my Melbourians who work in white collar industries I would be in Sydney on business at least 3-4 times a year. More specifically this is Chippendale, just south of the city, how to some old factories that have been converted into amazing developments, and the University of Technology Sydney or UTS

The Afternoon Light 3 (1 of 1).jpg

Just being there is not enough, you need light, for that you are going to need either late afternoon or early morning. This as you'll guess from the title is the Afternoon, in winter.

The Afternoon Light 4 (1 of 1).jpg

Then you have to think about how the light will fall, Western facades are useful, but maybe it can face North or South if you can get the shadows to fall across them.

The Afternoon Light 5 (1 of 1).jpg

And then the buildings, you have to go one way or the other, Old, red bricks is perfect, they will come alive in the warm yellow and orange light, shapes works as well. Or of course you could go ultra-modern, try to get some life into what is considered soulless.

The Afternoon Light 6 (1 of 1).jpg

And you have to work quick, or quickish, that light isn't going to last for more than 30 minutes or so, so know your settings, and snap away.