How to escape the summer Tokyo heat and still shoot every day?
The heat and humidity in Tokyo during the month of August are relentless. In order to beat the heat, I start early, very early.
Long Shadows/Early Morning Tokyo Contact Sheet
What: Long Shadows and Silhouettes.
The early morning light creates long shadows, an orange glow, and a strong backlight. The backlight can be used to create silhouettes of your subject(s) giving your background a chance to tell the story. It can also create striking shadows. Today’s game is to capture those shadows as clean and crisp as you would a portrait.
I like to use f8-f11 to ensure a great amount of depth of field, and a fast shutter speed, 1/500 to create a pin-sharp image. These settings may force a higher ISO. In order to make the cleanest image a bit of balancing act is required to keep the ISO as low as possible while maintaining the f8/f11 and 1/500 shutter speed. Lower ISO will also give you access to your camera’s best dynamic range. Which helps to protect the shadows and highlights, both of which are important. in today’s shoot.
The long shadows can be a lot of fun to play with. Aside from the mirror effect of shadow coming directly from the feet of the subject, capturing a shadow as it bends around a wall or building can make some interesting shots as well.
Today I made shadow the main subject by obstructing the view of the person. Images #1, 2, and 3 in the contact sheet above are my favorites of the day. Each one separates the subject from its shadow, making the shadow the subject. Image # 2 is quite fun with the man running, but images # 1 and 3 are a little deeper in meaning and closer to what I was trying to convey. My own experience commuting often leaned toward a sense of solitude/anonymity despite being surrounded by people on the train. Image #1 and 3 are getting close to that. Two figures within their own separate veins of light in #3, and the more apropos version of being focused on one’s phone and not the immediate environment of #1.
When: The best time to beat the Tokyo heat and still make great shots.
The early morning hours of 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM will provide beautiful light, ample subjects, and respite from the scorching heat and humidity that is Tokyo in the summer. A typical day here would have a temperature of 35c at the hottest. Starting early can see those temperatures drop to 27c. Avoiding dehydration and heat stroke are great benefits, for the main reason to start early is the ability to fully concentrate on what I am creating.
Click on the gallery below to see today’s images.
How: ISO Shutter Speed Fstop and Forethought.
A low ISO would be preferred, my camera’s native ISO is 64, as that will give you the most dynamic range your camera can offer. In order to use a shutter speed of 1/500, which helps to freeze motion in the commuters, I need a higher ISO of around 800. As the sun comes up I start to bring that down stop by stop to around 400. At ISO 800 dynamic range on my camera is just starting to dip from the base ISO. The fstop of f8/f11 will provide the depth of field necessary to keep everything in focus. Combined, these settings will provide a sharp well-exposed, and well-focused image. Of course, some adjustments will be needed from exposure to exposure.
A sound technical knowledge will often yield good results, but I want to move past good and towards great. Don’t you? The other variable not often spoken of is previsualization. Having forethought of what you want to shoot and how you want it to look. In this case, I knew long clean shadows would be prominent in each image, I understood the commuters would be in hurry, and that there were manmade structures that could be used. Awareness of those elements and choosing to create a specific image is the key to capturing what’s in your mind’s eye.
Why: If it is so hot and humid why bother?
The simple answer is a need to create. A complicated, yet more fulfilling answer is the challenge of making what I feel when I feel it, despite the circumstance. The challenge of working with busy commuters, backlight, moving shadows in a city that has just awoken and must soon be ready for business. The challenge of previsualizing an image and creating it, by the culmination of the right spot, right time, the right gear, and right frame of mind all for just an instant. Learning how to do that consistently, that’s why I do it.
Where: Kawaguchi Station. A state of emergency is still in effect for Tokyo. This keeps me close to home.
