The Story Behind the Shot.
Museum of Arts and Sciences, Valencia | Canon R5 + 24-70mm F2.8 RF // 58mm // f/2.8 // 1/6000s // ISO 100
Many readers will recognise the location, the city of arts and sciences in Valencia, Spain. It’s one of the most popular places to photograph in Europe, an architectural marvel! I saw a lot of photographers at this location taking the same photo as everybody else (excellent composition, mind!). When I’m in popular tourist destinations I always challenge myself to take a photo that nobody else has taken, if its busy I try to use crowds and low aperture to frame images, on this occasion as it was quiet, I opted to compose with a tripod and wait for the right moment.
Composition
The morning sun cast a nice shadow into the background, bonus points for still water and perfect reflections (the reflection isn’t photoshopped!). I set my tripod at an angle offset to the symmetrical composition and intentionally placed the shadow from the pillars in-between them. The next part was simply to wait for the right moment. After watching a few crowds walk by I noticed that I could fit people between exactly four shadow gaps, I could create a ‘Beatles Abbey Road style’ photo! I could expose at 1/6000s so freezing the subject wouldn’t be the issue, the timing of my trigger finger would! It took me another few minutes to get that right.
Right place, right time, with a little luck!
I did research the sun angle and weather before my visit to this location, so I knew that this area would be well lit. The lucky part was the still water. After I captured this image, a gentle breeze picked up and the reflection in the water disappeared, I’m grateful that I was able to capture the moment before it passed by!
Post processing
In total, four exposures stitched together in Adobe photoshop, but first I made some basic adjustments in Lightroom. I decided to go for a cooler white balance, this would make the pillars more neutral and add blue into the shadows which would complement the subjects’ clothes. Very subtle adjustments were also made to vignette and crop. Lastly, I masked each subject and lifted the shadows. It’s one of the easier photos I’ve had to edit thanks to the great conditions on the day.
Accessories used for this photo
Polarpro CPL: https://link.amazon/B0c2ejwCo
Peak Design Tripod: https://link.amazon/B0935KTKF
