ChicagoHenge 2015

ChicagoHenge

The fall equinox (and some decent weather) made for for a perfect photo op downtown this week as the sun was setting precisely down the center of the streets running east-west. I’m glad I went downtown to the loop early because the spot I was hoping to shoot from - the bridge leading from Millennium Park up to the Art Institute - was already closed. Other east/west streets were also blocked or difficult to shoot from, so I needed the extra time to scope out a good vantage point. I ended up waiting for the 6:47 pm sunset on the steps of the Art Institute, a location that both gave me an elevated vantage point as well as interesting subject matter in the distance (the El station). There were at least a dozen other photographers out there, all of us waiting for that perfect moment.

In a scenario like this, shooting manual is the only way to go. Shooting in AV or TV mode means the camera might adjust the the shutter speed or aperture and cause a fatal over or under exposure. For this photo, my settings were ISO 1000, SS 1000, f/5. This isn’t optimal; I would have rather traded shutter speed for a greater f/stop but the photo still worked. In the second photo, I had adjusted this and shot ISO 1000, shutter 250, f/9.

Once my settings were locked in, I framed a shot and kept the camera to my eye until I saw the perfect composition of trains, cars, and people traveling through my frame. This meant holding the camera up to my eye, ready to shoot, for several minutes before the bike went through the frame. I was also watching the small window of light in the El station, hoping to see a photogenic silhouette that could make the photo something special.

Although there was great light that entire hour, the optimal shot looking down the street for “ChicagoHenge” only lasted a minute or less. There was little time to make adjustments, chimp, or move to another vantage point. I was lucky to have the biker and the other subjects pass through the frame at just the right moment. But that said, I was also prepared for it and had a good idea of what I was looking to photograph.

I edited these photos pretty heavily in Lightroom. This isn’t something I do too often, but I recently came in possession of some LR presets and they proved to work well with the colors and subject matter. I also wanted to switch these images up just a little, so even though I don’t create many B&W images I desaturated the rich reds and yellows to see if I could still have a great photograph based on the subject matter.