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Learn How To Use Your Digital Camera

Twin Towers of Light

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© Frank Veronsky

While I dread the anniversary of 9-11 every year, I have to say I relish the opportunity to photograph the beautiful tribute to those who have fallen. The Towers of Light are 2 beams of blue light that are lit every year where the Twin Towers used to stand. It is a magnificent sight and creates a very strong and lasting image in the minds of those who experience it and those who attempt to capture it’s beauty in the camera.

For this image I was lucky enough to have access to my own fire escape on 14th street in NYC which provided a great vista. When trying to capture scenes like this I find the best time of day is just as the sun has set so there is still some light in the sky. You don’t want the sky to be completely black. And if you get lucky enough to have Some cloud cover they will provide extra color from the setting sun and interest to the composition. You will need to put your camera on a tripod and experiment with exposure. I find no one exposure is correct in situations like this. Longer exposures and lower ISO can provide you with greater depth of field and wispier clouds. Shorter exposures and higher ISO will provide less shake especially if it’s windy. Just remember the higher the ISO, the more noise you will get in your image, especially with longer exposures. I like to shoot with the lowest ISO possible. Obviously this will effect your exposure calculations. And if you can, always shoot RAW. That will give you all the information you could possibly need to make the best image.

Once the image is captured I like to put it into Photoshop and maybe NIK Color Efex to get the most out of it. Colors adjustments, contrast, dodging and burning are all essential parts of making an image look polished. For images like this experiment with the Shadows/Highlight tool in Photoshop. It will help you get the most out of your dark areas and light. Try the Tonal Contrast and Contrast Color Range in NIK Color Efex. It will give you great detail in all areas of your image and enhance or subdue colors.


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