The Shard
Sagittarius
Just back from London where I spent a week, one of the thing I did was to visit "The Shard", for the moment the tallest building in Europe (304.3 metres, 998 feet), and went up to the viewing platform on the 72nd floor (entrance fee £25/$39!). I had had to book ahead and chose the 10am time slot because the weather forecast said that by then the sun would be out and I had hoped to be able to take photos while the sun was comparatively low on the horizon. The views from the top are impressive but it was a slightly hazy day and all of the photo I took were pretty useless. I set my camera for the programme for taking through glass and most of the time I was careful enough to put the lens as close to the glass as possible to avoid reflections, but the results are really pretty poor. Most people taking photos didn't seem to be aware that standing back from the windows that they would be photographing mostly reflections.
So, a little advice for anyone visiting London and contemplating doing the same thing, the views are impressive but on a hot Summer's day there is bound to be haze and it simply isn't worth taking photos. The best time to take photos would be on a very cold, sunny Winter's day when you are unlikely to have a heat haze.
Just to give you an idea I'm including one photo called "Bad reflections". I'm including two more of well known landmarks just to give you an idea of the hazy conditions.
The best photo I took that morning was actually taken at ground level while I was walking towards "The Shard" and that was (ironically) reflections of a building in the glass of a modern building. I should have spent a bit more time on the composition and maybe it would have been better had I taken it vertically rather than horizontally, to show more of the modern building. As it is, you can only really see part of the glass fronted building in the top left hand corner of the photo.
PS: If you did go up to the 72nd floor on a bitterly cold but very sunny day, be warned that the 72nd floor is open to the sky and you would probably freeze your nuts off!
Hope this might be useful
So, a little advice for anyone visiting London and contemplating doing the same thing, the views are impressive but on a hot Summer's day there is bound to be haze and it simply isn't worth taking photos. The best time to take photos would be on a very cold, sunny Winter's day when you are unlikely to have a heat haze.
Just to give you an idea I'm including one photo called "Bad reflections". I'm including two more of well known landmarks just to give you an idea of the hazy conditions.
The best photo I took that morning was actually taken at ground level while I was walking towards "The Shard" and that was (ironically) reflections of a building in the glass of a modern building. I should have spent a bit more time on the composition and maybe it would have been better had I taken it vertically rather than horizontally, to show more of the modern building. As it is, you can only really see part of the glass fronted building in the top left hand corner of the photo.
PS: If you did go up to the 72nd floor on a bitterly cold but very sunny day, be warned that the 72nd floor is open to the sky and you would probably freeze your nuts off!
Hope this might be useful
"You can be young without money but you can't be old without money"
Maggie the Cat from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." by Tennessee Williams
Maggie the Cat from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." by Tennessee Williams
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