Shooting from skyscrapers and high viewpoints gives dramatic, sweeping city views – but glass, reflections and scale bring challenges. The keys are beating window reflections, composing the vast scene, and timing the light. Here’s how to photograph from skyscrapers and high vantage points.
If you’re not a fan of heights, like me, then I warn you now this guide, though amazingly helpful may not help those worries! Either way, it’s good to know what opportunities to try out if you ever find yourself up high and taking photos from a skyscraper.
While in London, I took the chance to go up the iconic Walkie Talkie building – a business centre on Fenchurch Street. The building is in a cluster of remarkable modern architecture and features a public ‘sky garden’ for tourists to visit (for free may I add). Here are my 5 tips for photographing from a skyscraper.
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1. How to Stop Glass Reflection
The first issue you’ll encounter when shooting from inside to out is that there’ll be reflections and glare at every turn. The trick to shooting from skyscrapers and avoiding these anomalies is to get the lens as close a possible to the windows.
For relatively cheap you can pick up a rubber collar to affix to your lens that acts like a giant flower/petal hood to cut down on the reflections and press up against the glass without damage – highly recommended in this situation.
2. Dealing with Glass Tinting
The other challenge when shooting through glass is the tinting. Unfortunately, architects and designers didn’t think about us photographers when creating these skyscrapers and their windows are invariably tinted in someway to help with heating.
This means that some of your photos may have a green/grey tint to them. It’s not the biggest issue as you can rebalance this tint in editing with the ‘tint’ slider for example.
3. Which Filters to Use
When you’re up in the skyscraper your horizontal view will be more sky than ground so remember to compensate for this peak in exposure by using the right filter.
Graduated ND (Grad ND/GND) filters are best to use to lower the exposure in the top part of your shot without affecting the lower (but remember to twist your filter correctly if you turn your camera to portrait orientation! Oh the errors I’ve made forgetting this!)
Grey and Blue GND filters give different results and show be used appropriately depending upon the weather. Standard grey GND filters give more detail around clouds, whereas blue ones enhance the colours of an already blue sky.
4. High Angle Compositions
Don’t just stand and take all your shots at eye level – embrace the fact you’re hundreds of feet above the world and look back down at street level. In busy cities such as London the perspective of street life was totally different. I saw buildings and roads as simpler structures, just like a map.
Blocks of buildings made interesting urban compositions and the roads around them created great leading lines. This type of elevation offers a unique view of the world so take advantage of it – you’ll feel like you’re the Google Earth satellite!
5. Cityscape Panoramas
The beauty and scale of some locations can’t be captured in just one frame so try out a panorama cityscape when shooting from a skyscraper. Many digital cameras, and phones, have this function built in, but you can also do it manually for a higher resolution image.
Pick a point in your city scape and take the shot. Pan yourself across to take the next, BUT make sure your next image overlaps parts of your first to make sure there’s no gaps in between. Do this as many times as you want to capture the full scene.
When it comes to compositing Photoshop and Lightroom both have automated ways to stitch all the shots together. In Lightroom, select all your images, preferably in order of how they should be arranged.
Right-click and select PHOTOMERGE > PANORAMA. In Photoshop the option is under FILE > AUTOMATE > PHOTOMERGE.
Shooting from Skyscrapers: Final Words
While we don’t all find ourselves travelling up skyscrapers every day some of these tips and tricks to shooting from at high elevations are transferrable to photographers who love to hike up to the hills and shoot from aircraft.
If you’ve put any of these tips into action, then show us. I’d love to see your shots from high elevation in the gallery if you’re an iPhotography members.
For more, read our guide to cityscapes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I photograph from a skyscraper or observation deck?
Get the lens close to the glass and shoot square to it to cut reflections, turn off flash, use a wide lens for the sweep (or longer for details), and shoot at blue hour for the best balance of sky and lights.
How do I avoid reflections shooting through high windows?
Press the lens (with a rubber hood or your hand) right against the glass, shoot square to it, wear dark clothing, and block ambient light behind you. A lens skirt or even a dark cloth helps.
What is the best time to shoot a city from height?
Blue hour, just after sunset, balances the deep blue sky with the city lights beautifully. Golden hour and night both work; blue hour usually gives the most dramatic, balanced cityscape.
What settings work for shooting from skyscrapers?
Through glass you often cannot use a tripod, so a wider aperture and higher ISO keep the shutter usable; brace against the glass. Where tripods are allowed, use a low ISO and longer exposure at blue hour.
How do I compose a sweeping city view?
Use leading lines (roads, rivers), include a landmark as a focal point, mind the horizon and keep verticals straight, and decide between a wide sweep or a longer-lens detail of the cityscape.