My BEST SECRET for AMAZING cityscape photography - The magic 15 minutes window

Get my latest book by watching my new Masterclass here: photoserge.me/...
There is a very specific time that will make your cityscape look great 90% of the time, it is really my best trick for cityscape photography. It is a magic minutes window, called the blue hour but the best is right the beginning it is all about the contrast and details in the sky.
I will show you a good example of this in this theater photoshoot done in Florida.

[@lieslwalshphotography]

What I love about the blue hour in the morning is it's perfect time to get cityscape with the lights on and amazing sky with less people and cars on the street, so I can get very clean pics with fewer distractions. So worth it to get up early!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Nice that’s a good tip!!

[@1BigBucks1]

Yup, and also less people bother you

[@pbziegler]

So many photos taken in amazing places but in the middle of the day. After learning from Serge and getting over the pain of seeing how many of my images would have been vastly better had I shot at the right time of day, I have starting shooting only at sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour. Wow. What a difference. Now if I am out at other times I will usually process in black and white.

[@Giles29]

Blue hour, morning or night, is really great for urban photography

[@jordanhaleigh4598]

Thank you this is AWESOME! I want to get into photography. All I have is an iPhone but i so enjoy playing with shapes and lighting and the emotions evoked within a landscape

[@pcproffy]

Thanks for the video. Appreciate the detailed explanation of your technique.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You are so welcome!

[@kathytoth995]

Very inspiring Serge..... Persistence Pays Off! "Talent x Effort = Skill; Skill x Effort = Achievement" equation is from Angela Duckworth and her great book, Grit. Congratulations and I see you are a GIVER vs TAKER!

[@Gadrosful]

Wow great work Serge thanks a lot

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You are so welcome :-)

[@Call_Me_Mom]

I have been through the masterclass twice and was distracted both times just at the point where the instructions for downloading the book are given. I'm not going to watch it again. But I do thank you for sharing your tips and techniques. I have found them helpful in my own work.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Okay nice well you can contact support and they will give you the book :-)

[@jamiermathlin]

This picture would make a wonderful day to night :-) You should let me have a go Serge. Hope you are well.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

That’s a great idea!

[@abdourahmanyoussouf4541]

Hi Serge why you swiched Sony over the Canon ?

[@Moshe_F3A]

Merci beaucoup Serge très bonne vidéo!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Avec plaisir :-)

[@MindGem]

You take great pics and I learn a lot about lightroom. I've been searching, I see too little on how to actually take the shots. Any chance you'll make more newbie tutorials on how to actually set your settings for these low light eavning shots?

[@verbone]

I stayed right by Maison Rose. Good food, and good people working there.

[@OlegAlferev]

Thank you!

[@Calisto34]

I've learned more from your tutorials than any other KZbin photographer. Subbed!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

That’s soo awesome!! Thank you so much!!

[@catherinegodefroy6991]

Hello Serge, I had a tuff time and I am pleased to look at your tutos again; ( My parents are getting hold and I had to look at them , They caught the Covid and I caught the covid also but nothing special for me only very tired) Thank you for your video, always very interesting and helpful - By the way I have a question to ask you , when the city lights are burned , is it ok for a print ? same thing for interior design sometimes I noticed it's a little burned is it ok ? I wish you a lovely day - Catherine from Paris

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Bonjour Carherine! I am sorry to hear about your situation and for your parent as well but happy to see you here! Well actually no it doesn’t really work because in printing the burn part will be the actual paper.. so you won’t have a nice effect :-)

[@popiemac4579]

Very informative. When you take pictures during the blue hour, are you exposing for the sky, under exposing slightly, then once you’ve established your exposure you move your focus point to where you want to focus? Also, do you have a sweet spot for aperture?

[@donquique1]

You can expose to the right prior to highlights clipping. Once you set your exposure, reduce the iso 2 to 3 full stops [ie if your iso is 800, you halve it twice for two full stops] to iso 200. Your photo will be dark but will give you cleaner blacks than shooting at higher isos.

[@alanalain4884]

Nice pictures Serge but at 9.06 it really looks like a sky replacement composite. Tonalities/luminosity and clouds size don't seem to match, but I could be wrong (I live in LA too though, know the place and the city lights intensity don't seem to mach with the sky lightness for such contrast difference, even after edit). So, is it a sky composite ?

[@marclabro]

very nice tuto and retouching. can we recover a "bad time" image with luminar ai filters ? i don't understand very well what is this masterclass. Not explaine don link, just "register". Do we need to pay like any training course, can we look episodes when we want or be present at a certain time for webinars which i can't do... ? if we want to buy the book, how much is it ?

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Hello Marc, so yes you can recover some in post but the best is to capture the right light :-) For the webinar you can attend it for free and if you stay until the end you get my ebook for free or you can purchase the physical copy on amazon: photoserge.me/bookpaper

[@GoogleMapsGuy]

3:10 just raise the ISO. I personally like night photos of lit up skyscrapers and buildings.

[@GoogleMapsGuy]

Ofc the there still is the issue of lighting I understand that, have the subject provide the light.

[@hani7up]

A little odd to use the extended centre column of the tripod, don’t you agree?

[@KristijanJankovic]

wow I live close by you should have told us to be there hahahaha :(

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Next time! :-)

[@topflight2358]

Has anyone seen the discount code he says hes giving for 4th july sale on skies?? Still shows reg price of$37

[@topflight2358]

Is everything he sells presets? , i get tons of emails for presets purche's BUT does he or anyone teach the actual process??? so we dont use presets, ??

[@MAPratama45]

I wonder if my sony a6400 with kit lens can get the quality like that in blue hour n night time 🙄 let me get out and take a shot and i'm gonna tag u on my instagram Not close enough with your result. i'm burned watching your videos, man.. this is so fun 🤣

[@thelion9588]

It will work mate! I have 6400 too and they turn out great!

[@nord7556]

Use raw format, try to open shutter for longer and keep iso low.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Exactly what Forrest says :-)

[@nord7556]

@@SergeRamelliPhotography learnt it all from the best in business! 💖

[@ozcan999can2]

Hello, what lens do you use for street photos?

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

sony 24 105 mostly

[@Nick-ox6gz]

lauzy

[@donquique1]

Lmao. Some of my best photos are hand held long exposureat night. Shooting a 15 minutes window is so unimaginative and limiting. But then again, my work is not featured in galleries around the world. ..

[@UweRoclawski]

My city is dark and ugly. No money for illumination and since Covid all people are working at home and the buildings in the city are empty and dark at night. Not the best time for "amazing" pics :-D

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Hmm okay but if people are in their house they must turn on the lights so maybe you can play with that..

[@UweRoclawski]

@@SergeRamelliPhotography I will try my best. At the moment we have a corona night curfew from 22:00 - 05:00, so no night shots possible :-(

[@Ramin_mat]

The book is free only if you buy the 47$/month workshop. What a crap

[@Nick-ox6gz]

very fake