What is Urban Landscape Photography?

Urban landscape photography captures images of cities and towns where the focus is on the man-made aspect of the urban environment. While landscape photography captures the essence of nature from forests, woodlands, waterfalls and deserts, urban landscapes capture our man-made impact on the landscape, from parks and gardens to residential, public and industrial buildings. It’s a fast-growing photographic genre capturing towns and cities’ dynamic and ever-changing environments.

History of Urban Landscapes

French inventor Nicéphore Niépce took what is widely regarded as the first urban landscape photograph in 1826 or 1827. His image showed parts of buildings and the surrounding countryside of his La Gras estate as seen from a high window. It is the oldest surviving camera photograph in existence. Just over a decade later, in 1839, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre took an image of an empty Paris street. The absence of people in the scene is caused by the daguerreotype’s 10 to 15 minute exposure time. Anyone moving through the scene is eliminated, and only those standing remain.

Distinct genre

Urban landscape (also called cityscape photography) is often confused with Street photography. However, the genres are quite distinct. Street photography captures candid moments of people interacting in and around the city. Urban portraits are also a different genre, one where the photographer captures posed or staged images of people against a city backdrop. Urban landscapes photograph the man-made structures. Rather than the people moving through it, the environment is the scene’s focus.

1. Black and White or colour?

Colour is everywhere in the city, from the cars, traffic lights and street signs to shades of brick and glass or the attire of pedestrians. If the colour aids your story, then go with it – if, however, it distracts and draws the eye to an errant pedestrian in a red jacket when you want the viewer to focus on the structure behind, try going black and white. The absence of colour prioritises shapes and patterns.

2. Perspectives and Point of view

Look for different perspectives from down at footpath level to up a couple of floors in an observation deck or multi-level carpark. A different point of view will tell a completely different story. Also, consider portrait mode to isolate or emphasise viewpoints

3. Lighting

The time of day and the weather has enormous impacts on your image. Sometimes, the golden hour works on a building or scene. At other times it’s at its best on a sunny (or cloudy) day. Consider what you are photographing and factor in the light to suit your vision. I chose a dismal, wet day to photograph the Avenue of Honour in the image above. Considering all the heartache and lives lost during WWI, I didn’t want a bright, cheerful, sunny day. The gloomy wet roads and scenes aligned more with what I wanted to portray.

4. Leading Lines

While leading lines are used in all genres, they come into their own for urban landscapes – roads and fences; all draw the viewer’s eye up or into the image. The spurts of water in the fountain lead the viewer to the building behind in the photo above. The ring of stones also leads the eye around and to the back

5. Depth of Field

Both urban and nature landscapes benefit from an F stop 11 and above. F16 will give capture more of the scene in sharper focus. On a sunny day, it’s the F16 rule. However, a dull or cloudy day at F16 would require an ISO of between 400 to 800.

6. Images with Impact

What you leave out of an image is as important as what’s in it. While elements of the image may be appealing to you as you stand in front of them – they don’t always work in the finished image. Too many points of interest make a confusing image, and the viewer is unsure of just what the image is about. What made you stop and want to take the shot? That’s the predominant feature – compose your image so that this feature is prominent. This is your focal point – it’s the part of your image that you want the viewer to see first. In the photos above, while I like the lightning bolts, they distracted from the bikes which was the reason I stopped to take the shot. So I recomposed and took another shot.

7. Framing your scene

Framing the image will draw attention to one part of your scene while blocking out distractions. Archways are great for this, as are open doors and windows. You will need to bracket your shots and blend to avoid the window being blown out by shooting into the light with windows.

Symmetry

When two halves of your image – horizontally or vertically – mirror the other half, you have a beautifully symmetrical image. It gives a clean, evenly proportioned and balanced look to the image. To take a symmetrical photo, you must be standing in the centre. When composing your shot, align everything up and exclude what isn’t symmetrical.

Urban landscapes preserve the ever-changing faces of our cities. Cities are constantly evolving, with new buildings going up and others coming down. So if you revisit the scene a few years on, it will always be a different scene from what you took years before.