I am more than happy to admit that I am more of an accidental picture taker, than anything else. I generally get by with more luck than skill, but they say it's better to be lucky than good. Someone does at least. But something I have really not tried very often is photography at night. Mainly because when I take out my camera I just about never remember to bring a flash, since I prioritise different lenses over flashes. Anyway. I also just about never take out a tripod either. I will do, at some point. When the weather is better I suppose. Anyway. So I was down on the Bund one night, as you do, and I happened to have my camera with me. So I thought I would try my hand at long exposures. Not really having a clue as to what I was doing, I just guessed. A lot.
I had to rest the camera on a little ledge to do this. I think I may have held down the shutter for about 10-15 seconds. I simply had the aperture open as wide as it would go, which I think on this lens is only about 4 or something. Not great, but whatever. But the results are not too shabby. Not having a tripod and due to the level the camera was resting at, I have cut out the top of the Pearl Tower (the building that looks like a rocket ship) in every shot. Which is a shame. But such is life.
This I just held down longer, you can tell from the halo effect.
This is the Bund. Maybe I left the shutter open a little too long, but I am glad that it is a pretty quiet evening so there is no-one in the photo. The reason being that it was so bloody cold.
I like the effect of the street lights as they go down along the river. And the buildings down the end stand out nicely.
So the tallest building in the background is the Shanghai World Financial Centre. It's like the 3rd tallest building in the world. I keep meaning to go up and get a good view of the city, but when the weather is nicer, I think it will be better. Next to it is the Jin Mao Tower, which is one of the highest hotels in the world. I remember back in the day before they finished building it. Until 2007 it was the tallest building in Shanghai. They are planning on building something else there that will be taller than the pair of them. Glorified pissing contest methinks.
