In this first write in the series of THE STORY BEHIND A PHOTO, we will look at a photo taken on a night stroll. Why it was photographed and which elements of importance have been involved.

Photograph captured with Summilux 50mm 1.4 mounted on Sony A7rV

There were two elements in this scenery which drew my attention. First of all the lines in the ceiling followed by the border at the right and the building at the left. It made a clear line with an obvious disappearing point when I placed myself at the centre of the pathway.

Perspective

There are different ways to alter the perspective. Either by lowering the camera position a bit, which demands you either kneel or lower the camera slightly and aren’t so old (I am 60) that you can’t get up again. (Giggling). This changes the perspective. In this case, I kept it almost at eye level, tilted the camera and thereby changed the framing to include more of the ceiling.  This adds more interest and enhances the lines.

Light and colours

Secondly, I had attention focused on how the colours played with lightning up the ground, wall and ceiling. I knew this would be a colour photo because of the light play.

When the framing is set it’s just about being patient and waiting for a person to walk by. It may not be the very first person who approaches that makes the picture interesting, but in this case, there was this one picture. One exposure, and that’s it.

Checking the light and colours, and then trying a few different shots with people passing is normal, but there wasn’t much happening at that time so this one had to work.

The final picture came up with a young woman with a cigarette and a jacket that also took the colours of the light. The picture photo was done.

Below I show another image taken that night. On that, you can see the location where I photographed the girl at the left side of the picture.