Capturing The Toronto Skyline by Alpha Whiskey...

Ok, so I know there's a lot of shots of the skyline here and it goes without saying that I was somewhat enamoured, not just with the skyline itself, but also with the experience of shooting it. These shots are intended to show the beauty of the skyline over the course of the 75 minutes I spent shooting it, in changing light and positions. Reflections in the water and the colour of the sky varied over the course of that time owing to both the stillness of the water, the presence of mist and the changing light through twilight to dusk.

My original plan was to shoot it from Polson Street but at the last minute I changed my mind and took a ferry to the Toronto Islands. I timed my arrival to be before sunset so that I would have the time to set up and get the shots I wanted. I found myself completely alone on the shore of one of the smaller islands; just myself and my tripod and camera. The solitude and silence, but for the water lapping at the shore, was a truly serene experience.

Before sunset there was too much light for a long exposure so I attached a 10 stop ND grad filter to my lens. This enabled me to use a slower shutter speed without resorting to too narrow an aperture where diffraction would kick in. I also set the ISO to the default 200.

As the light waned I removed the filter and was still able to use slower shutter speeds. The cloud cover precluded either a rich sunset or my preferred cobalt blue dusk but there emerged instead a pleasing fusion of magenta and pink clouds against the bluish dusk sky.

I was soon able to resort to using the LIVE TIME feature on my Olympus, a great way of seeing the exposure progress and enabling one to stop it at any time. The Anit-Shock feature (1 second delay) was also engaged to prevent movement from depression of the shutter button. My preference when shooting city lights is always to err on the side of slight over exposure, just to catch a little more dazzle. Highlights can always be toned down in post.

In the water in front of me was bench (I didn't put it there!) that I used in a few shots as a focal point in the composition, particularly to slow the movement of water around it and achieve a more ethereal look.

Eventually the dusk blue surrendered to the black of night, although the city lights in the skyline still created a haze of red and yellow colour around them.

Some images were taken from the ferry and also from Casa Loma but most were shot from the islands.

These were all shot with either the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8 or 40-150mm F/2.8 on the EM-5 body. Some of the images may seem a little bright and colourful but to me the beauty of a skyline is in its vivid colour and light against the sky. And my postcard style always calls for a little 'pop'.

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Comments

BillyWillsApr 20, 2017 08:19 PM

Really nice work!!! I think I like the last one the best, something about that slow ripple, very captivating...

Patrick Samson-DoelApr 25, 2017 04:51 AM

Beautiful photos of Toronto. Absolutely love them, especially the ones from the island with the picnic table. FYI there is an event each May - typically last weekend of May - called Doors Open which opens some of our nicest building to the public. Great opportunity for photos each year (although a bit busy/crowded at times) - I imagine you'd capture some great shots.

Alpha Whiskey PhotographyApr 25, 2017 05:45 AM

Many thanks Patrick. Sounds like a great event but I'll be elsewhere in May! :)

Thank you Billy! :)

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