Assignment 2: Lower Light

After a brilliant bright sky weekend, I opted to return to the Hypohaus and the other office buildings in Arabellpark just before sunset to capture the changing light and explore the opportunities that the changing light would bring.  This time I took a single lens and camera, my 5D2 full frame paired with a 70-300 IS zoom, still focusing on detail and abstraction, but this time no trees, or at least not intentionally.

Approaching the banks, I used the telephoto at its full extension of 300mm to capture the following photograph that heavily compresses the buildings, creating another almost abstract image:

For this photo set my goal was primarily to capture more details of the Hypohaus and show the changing light.  I was surprised by the degree to which the change was obvious.  I left the camera on auto-WB and shot the following two frames about 25 minutes apart.

Aside from the obvious change in perspective due to my being very much closer to the building for the second shot the change in colour is spectacular.  Processing these images I have refrained from pushing the colour, just increased the contrast a little.  As the building is covered in silver metallic panels the building colour changes with the colour of the light being reflected, creating a powerful golden sheen as the sun fell.

The next 3 images are close ups looking for interesting geometries, taking advantage of the golden light:

I was hoping to need higher ISO for these shots, but the strong reflection meant that the most I needed was ISO 400.  I have something of an issue with the high ISO requirement of this assignment, using image stabilized, fast lenses, really does not ask for high ISO until the light is so poor that good photography is negated by the lighting.  I also find that the quality of the full frame sensor up to ISO 400 is as good as other cameras at ISO 100.

The next shot is another compression of buildings, in this case the two buildings imaged are a good 100m apart, but the telephoto provides great foreshortening, at the price of f/11, but still ISO 100 and 1/60s.

With the next shot I tried to capture the repetition of the cylindrical forms offered by the Hypohaus:

Still following the declining light, the Hypohaus slowly faded from gold to a red tinted bronze (however, still ISO 100 and 1/30s at f/5.6):

I need to buy a crappy non-IS really really slow lens!  OK, I could pop the aperture down to f/22, but what would that prove.

For my last few photographs I started to explore the reflection of the Hypohaus in the opposite Munchener Bank.  This is back to my more abstract thinking:

I then attempted to combine the reflection of the Hypohaus  with the artificial colours of a restaurant and bar opposite

These last two shots are examples of very mixed lighting, with neon, florescent strip, and the naturally lit reflection.  I am a little unsure about the composition, but certainly find them to be interesting images

Well, quite a good day, I am pleased with these images, but still challenged to find a thread that works in the context of the assignment and also to meet the 4 photo types asked for in the brief.

This would be easier approached as an indoor artificially lit still life, but that would take me away from what I am currently trying to explore and place me back into a very nice comfort zone.