Urban light

Rod Lawton demonstrates two editing techniques to intensify and dramatise the light in your urban life photography for striking scenes

- Rod Lawton

When you’re photographing urban life in all its variety, you are naturally concentrating on angles, shapes, juxtapositions, and timing. It’s all about camera technique and developing those visual skills and reflexes that can make street photography so compelling.

But light plays a big part too. When you’re shooting in urban environments, the light can change constantly, from the sunny side of the street to the shady side, from interiors to exteriors and from narrow alleyways to grand plazas. 

The light can be a key part of the composition, whether it’s creating strong, graphic shapes that lend your images impact or whether it’s setting the mood or the feel of the scene you’re capturing.