Dawid Sadkowski – Enviroment

HNC Photography Evaluation

2 City architecture

16mm, 1/1600s @f2,8 ISO100

Research and planning

One of my favourite city photographers is Camilo Tower. I like it when it shows urban,
geometric patterns and it is all strongly contrasted. I was also looking for inspiration on the
instagram profile which brings together various photographers @republic.of.symmetry

At the selected location, I knew what the light conditions would be at a given hour. I wanted the
shadow of the buildings to cover the street and to enter the buildings on the opposite side of the
street, so that it would still be possible to reflect light in their windows.

Contact sheet

Camera technique

For this photo I used a polarizing filter to reduce the intensity of reflections in the windows.
As I wanted to freeze the car's movement in the frame, I decided to use a short exposure time. To
maintain the best possible quality of the ISO100 photo, I decided to open the aperture as much as
possible.
 Composition

The Rule of Thirds in this photo is the key word. A street crosses horizontally at one third of
the height of the photo. We have the horizon at two-thirds. We have tall buildings on both sides
vertically. The street and buildings form a line leading to the very centre of the photo where there is
a crossroads. And all of this is a frame for a pickup truck driving down the road. The reflections of the
light in the buildings added a big-city character.

Post processing

In Lightroom, after applying some basic tweaks, I slightly changed the calibration towards
blue. Then, in the HSL panel, I adjusted the colors to the blue tonality of the photo. I also corrected
the distortion of the lens to gently draw the pickup to the recipient of the photo.

Self-evaluation

Although I find this photo quite good thanks to the composition, I think I could have made it
better. First, I lost my focus slightly because of my mistake. I forgot to switch the autofocus mode
from AFS to AFC which would help me focus on a moving subject. I could also close the aperture and
extend the exposure time. 1 / 500s would be enough. It is a pity that the road width is not on the
same level. In the next, similar circumstances, I would try to take this photo with a telephoto lens. I
managed to find interesting weather because it was raining a moment earlier and the asphalt on the
road was wet (unfortunately only partially). When I got there a few moments earlier, maybe I could
still catch reflections in the puddles.