The Recipe for Getting This Type of Shot

SCOTT KELBY

Characteristics of this type of shot: colors; visual interest inside the window; composition that shows details.

1. The key to this shot is composition in the viewfinder. Don't try to capture the whole building or the entire wall. What makes this shot interesting is that you're not trying to capture everything you're just showing one detail of the building, which suggests the whole. Plus, by getting in close, it begs the question: "What's inside that window? Who put those things there? What's in those blue boxes?" It makes the viewer think. Also, the window isn't dead centerit's off to the left, which adds to the visual interest.

2. To capture a window in a city life shot like this, you're going to need a zoom lens (this was shot with an 18200mm zoom, with the length around 100mm).

3. You can shoot this in program mode and have the camera do all the work (as I mentioned earlier in the book, I often shoot in program mode while shooting city life so I can quickly get the shot without having to make any adjustments to the camera).

4. A polarizing filter will help you see through the glass by reducing glare.

5. City life is usually hard to capture with a tripod, because the shooting is often spontaneous and if you set up a tripod in a downtown area, the only spontaneous thing that will probably happen these days is the response of the security guards, so it's often best to hand-hold your shots.