Every photographer goes into a photoshoot with one goal: to come out with a picture that they or their clients love. There are many accessories on the market for your camera that can assist you in any photo situation. But let’s review specifically the ten accessories every photographer taking cityscape photos needs.
STURDY CAMERA TRIPOD
Taking photos of a cityscape, especially if you are hoping to capture city lights by night and long exposures, must be steady. In order to make sure you get the best photo of your cityscape, invest in a quality tripod. You can set up your camera and never have to worry about compromising your camera’s focus settings because of a sudden movement. This is also great if you need to stand close to the edge on a rooftop to get your shot. This will keep you from standing dangerously close to the edge and reduces the likelihood of a fall.
REMOTE SHUTTER RELEASE
Using this alongside your tripod can help decrease the likelihood of you or anyone else moving the camera before the shot is taken. This can also be great for long exposure photography or closeup shots. Simply plug the device into your camera and take photos without having to move or tamper with your camera before you take your shot.
LENS PEN TO CLEAN
Every photographer knows the frustration of having specs of dust or dirt on their lens. Because lenses are very sensitive, dust and dirt will easily show up on your photo. Lens pens are portable and are the size of, you guessed it, a pen. It generally has two sides, one with a brush to dust the lens, and the other with a cleaning tip. For a more thrifty option, photographers could purchase a lens cleaning cloth. The combination of both is even better, so you are sure you can clean the camera lens in any situation.
COMFORTABLE NECK STRAP
Many cameras already come with these, but some photographers don’t like the feel of them. Instead of doing away with it entirely, try upgrading your strap. This will make your camera easier to carry while reducing the risk of breaking your camera after dropping it. Camera straps of Blackrapid are very popular.
POLARIZER FILTER
These filters can do wonders for any cityscape photographer. Polarizing filters are used to manage reflections, suppress glare and make colors more saturated. Half cloudy and sunny days are the best days to use the polarizers and will make almost every photo much better.
SPARE BATTERY
Spare batteries are always a good thing to keep in your camera bag in any situation, but especially if you are shooting cityscapes. As a cityscape photographer, you can take as many photos from as many angles as you’d like. If you’re shooting during the golden hour or the blue hour, that means you could be out for quite a while trying to get your perfect shot. Get an extra battery and charge it so you never have to wrap up a shoot early because of a dead battery.
WIDE ANGLE LENS
Wide angle lenses are the best lenses to use when you are taking a photo of a city’s skyline. They can help in a number of ways. Mostly, a wide angle lens will keep you from having to travel outside of your city to get the entire skyline in your shot. Another good situation to use wide angle lenses are the real architecture shots inside or outside buildings. A cityscape photo taken with a wide angle lens really looks different compared to a shoten taken with a standard lens.
NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER / BIG STOPPER
Go for long exposures if you have water and/or clouds in the frame. With a dark neutral density filter of 10 stops (also called a Big Stopper) your photos look completely different and more professional. Suppose your shutter speed is 1/30 without filters, a Big Stopper will make this shot 30 seconds. The result is smooth water and fuzzy clouds. You will love it!
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
As a cityscape photographer, you will want to take hundreds of photos of your cityscape from different angles and vantage points. You will need a memory card with a lot of space to do that, but you need to store those photos also on your computer. After a while you will notice the internal hard disk will get full so make sure you have an external hard drive to store all your cityscape photos.
GOOD CAMERA BAG
Be sure to purchase a camera bag or backpack to help you transport your camera and its accessories to your shoot location. This is vital as it will prevent you from accidently leaving behind some accessory you need for your shoot. Also make sure the camera bag has a system to hold your tripod. This prevents you from carrying your tripod by hand.
Hi there! Such a wonderful post, thank you!