BLOG 2013
THE SHARD PHOTOGRAPHY IN LONDON
01/12/2013
The View is situated at the top of The Shard, on floors 68, 69 and 72, and almost twice the height of any other viewing platform in London. The view from the platforms is 244m(800ft) above the capital and really is breathtaking. I booked the tickets for 5pm as this would be when the evening would be drawing in and allow for some atmospheric night time photos. The Shard are very strict on photography, with a small bag being allowed in, no tripods or monopods and no images are allowed to be sold commercially. Bizarrely when I contacted the press office prior to today you could only book commercial photography in the morning and not at night time, I guess this gives them a monopoly on the evening images. You can venture up a few more levels where you end up being higher up with an even more elevated view, I preferred the lower view as you had a better angle of view.
Settings were always going to be a case of pushing the ISO up and between 6400-8000 was the ideal range, I used manual settings and 1/60th @ F4 gave me two thirds under exposure when I used the exposure points on the brightest part of the image. Martin was using a slower shutter speed and with his 16-35mm was able to gain some wider shots, the glass is angled so the lens needs to be pushed up against the glass as much as possible. I stuck with the 24-70mm, the lens hood is fairly shallow and the rim minimised any strong reflections. The view is amazing and all of the iconic buildings, St Paul's, London Eye, Tower Bridge are easily recognisable. The aerial photo showing St Paul's was actually taken during a 30 second exposure at F22 ISO 100, I used the camera bag as a sturdy base for the camera to obtain the image. At £25 it seemed good value as their were no time limits, be interesting to make a return visit in the daytime next year.
Earlier in the day we visited the Taylor Wessing Portrait prize at the National Portrait Gallery, as controversial as ever. Also Trafalgar Square provided a nice mix of candids and stock images before we arrived at the Shard. Had some fun with the 15mm fisheye in Kings Cross Station with its webbed designed roof.
Settings were always going to be a case of pushing the ISO up and between 6400-8000 was the ideal range, I used manual settings and 1/60th @ F4 gave me two thirds under exposure when I used the exposure points on the brightest part of the image. Martin was using a slower shutter speed and with his 16-35mm was able to gain some wider shots, the glass is angled so the lens needs to be pushed up against the glass as much as possible. I stuck with the 24-70mm, the lens hood is fairly shallow and the rim minimised any strong reflections. The view is amazing and all of the iconic buildings, St Paul's, London Eye, Tower Bridge are easily recognisable. The aerial photo showing St Paul's was actually taken during a 30 second exposure at F22 ISO 100, I used the camera bag as a sturdy base for the camera to obtain the image. At £25 it seemed good value as their were no time limits, be interesting to make a return visit in the daytime next year.
Earlier in the day we visited the Taylor Wessing Portrait prize at the National Portrait Gallery, as controversial as ever. Also Trafalgar Square provided a nice mix of candids and stock images before we arrived at the Shard. Had some fun with the 15mm fisheye in Kings Cross Station with its webbed designed roof.
