When Light Dances

Landscape photos are prone to under- or overexposure, as I have said a number of times. I think most of you are familiar with situations when the sky is all too bright when you are trying to keep the mountains in the same picture at a normal exposure. And you will underexpose the mountain if the sky has a normal exposure, at the other extreme. Never mind the gradient filter for a while. You can still get decent pictures if you give it more thought and decide what kind of image you want.

Take a look at Photo 1, a seemingly typical shot you can find in a tourist album for the Forbidden City of China. Notably, it has appropriately captured three elements with different levels of brightness: the sky, the architecture, as well as the shaded area. Bear in mind that the main subject — the architecture shown here — is not like trees or mountains that are less reflective. So, choosing this subject in the first place is a good choice because it will be less prone to great contrast in brightness. Secondly, the colors of red and blue together in the photo are good. More importantly, this picture attracts the eye because there are at least three levels of brightness in the picture, adding interest. Additionally, the geometry created by the diagonal lines makes the picture more dynamic. And of course, you have to take a few shots with different apertures to find the most appropriate one.

To achieve a picture like Photo 2, with shadows clearly seen, you have to take some test shots too. All in all, you cannot take these two pictures unless you use a manual mode. Likewise, you have to totally control your settings (to achieve a “darker” picture, in layman’s terms) if you want a picture like Photo 4. Mark a smaller aperture and leave some part of the photo in total darkness so that the architecture is made more prominent and the sky won’t be as bright as a white sheet. To take an indoor picture with a beam of sunlight like in Photo 3, a manual mode is as important. Just keep in mind that only the most important element in the photo needs to be exposed nicely and forget the rest. That’s how to make your photos look more professional.

Equipment Setup

With the help of the handy Falcon Eyes Lighting Kit and V5-flash, shooting outdoor portraits with mixed light source is a lot easier.

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Alex took a journey into the historical past, the Ming Dynasty of China, for his pursuit of rich architectural photos.

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Alex captured the sweet and sour of hardworking people’s lives in Hong Kong.

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We are always told that our resources so scarce. To people who live in Hong Kong, that means the piece of ‘land’ they are residing on. No joke, the price of land is really, really expensive here. And land developers are consistently and desperately searching for valuable ‘land’ for ‘redevelopment’, which then results in a conflict between people who want to preserve their land and the ‘plan’ that will replace the land with new development, a mall, high rise buildings, and the like.

Land is an abstract word. Actually, what we’re talking about is an old-fashioned street market. In the four photos here, we see a glimpse of this market located in Hong Kong’s Central District. People sell all kinds of fresh fruits and produce. Most of the customers are residents in the neighbourhood and many are middle-aged and older people. I’m sure they love this market.

Some day this area will be replaced by ‘new developments’. And there will be one place less for avid photographers to get their colorful pictures. The color depicted here is so warm and welcoming I should say. They look nice with the ambient light here, fresh fruits, friendly people. Farewell then.

Equipment Setup