This is my first blog post anywhere so I thought I would begin by discussing my last shoot of 2008, NYC at Sunset from the Top of the Rock. The Top of the Rock is the tallest building located at 30 Rockefeller Center in NYC. Although I was born and raised in NYC this was my first trip to the top and I must say, the view is spectacular. I had literally planned this shoot for months. My plan was to wait until the conditions where just right and I am proud to say that I nailed it by getting exactly what I had previsualized prior to my trip. The more you know what you and your camera can do, the more you will be able to capture the picture that you first saw in your mind.
The planning for this trip included time of day, time of year and weather. I wanted to shoot sunset and that means being at my location at least 30 minutes prior to sunset. The time of year was important since that dictates the position of the sun in the composition. In six months the sun would be too far to the right to be placed in a well-balanced composition - in this case, I wanted it in the 1/3 position. Lastly is the weather. Obviously I needed a day when it is not overcast and not too cold. The strong winds at the top along with freezing temperatures makes it difficult to handhold (no tripods allowed) for sharp shots in good light and I had to also be able to handle low light since I shot until about an hour after sunset.
My equipment included a Nikon D300, fisheye lens (perfect tool for this vantage point), 17-55 f/2.8 and 85mm f/1.4, all carried in my Lowepro Nova 3 shoulder bag. In addition to the 180 degree field of view provided by fisheye lens, I used a small aperture, f/19, to create a sunstar to add sparkle to the fireball, else it will only be just a small orange bright spot. I used my fisheye lens the most to capture the big picture, particularly sunset looking north towards Central Park, and to capture a south view sunset series of four captures at 30 minutes before sunset, sunset, and both 40 and 50 minutes after sunset. This series of currently shown as a slideshow on my homepage with many of the captures in the NYC gallery on my website and larger versions on my pbase TOR gallery which include shooting info below each image and shots of Rockefeller Center at Christmas from fround level. All images were shot handhheld and some where captured as handheld HDR’s by shooting bracketed exposures with a fast burst rate. Some of the sunset captures were blends of two exposures - the best exposure for the sky and the best of the earth. As the light got low the exposure range could be captured in a single image but the conditions were still brutal. The last shot of the sunset series, 50 minutes past sunset, was shot at f/4 and ISO 1600 and only ¼ sec, so good technique was critical to the end result.
I am proud of the results and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Your comments to my fist blog are certainly welcome.
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