Street Photo Analysis: Behind the Photo No15 - Lightshow

A lightshow Street spectacular taken at/near the Tottenham Court Road Tube Station on the Charing Cross Road in Central London. One of those now you see it now you don't moments… with the lighting which you get this time of year but for short periods. Backlit woman in silhouette adds a human element and as they say "Job Done". Taken Friday the 13th September 2024.

Friday the 13th, unlucky for some but not for this photographer. The sun this time of year if you catch it at the right time and in the right location can produce some spectacular scenes but they don't last for long. Ten minutes tops....... often less.

It helps if you know where the sun rises and sets and know this in advance. This is where it pays to get creative with your exposure triangle and push some boundaries and really hit those high contrast scenes out of the ball park.

If you are shooting in black and white, it's easy to just to focus on the high contrast ends of the spectrum as in the black blacks and the white whites but it's the all important shades of grey in between the make a high contrast photo such as this truly shine.

This was one of a number of shots taken at this location, each one looks completely different. The main index page of pavementpulse.com and the header with the woman in silhouette was taken on the same day and at the same time and place.

When you see a lighting situation like this, milk every second of it.... because they don't come that often........ especially here in the normally sun starved UK