Photographing during COVID-19

In April 2020, Dubai’s lockdown changed my daily routine as a photographer. With outdoor shoots on hold, I spent time organising my photo library, revisiting old images, editing and learning online.

But after a while, I missed making photographs.

My balcony became the starting point for a personal project: photographing the Dubai skyline at different times of day. The viewpoint stayed the same, but the light, weather and choice of lens gave me new ways to interpret it. One evening, I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets I had seen that year.

At the time, I had been using Nikon cameras for years. For this project, I decided to work with a Canon EOS R and explore a different system.

Teaching workshops brings me into contact with photographers using many camera brands. Working with different equipment helps me understand their tools and answer their questions more effectively.

My kit included:

Canon EOS R
Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L
Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM
Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Really Right Stuff clamp
Lightning trigger

One View, Different Compositions

My balcony overlooks Dubai Marina. Although the view is impressive, photographing from one fixed position limits the angles available.

That limitation encouraged me to look more closely. Wide-angle lenses helped me photograph the broader skyline, while telephoto lenses allowed me to isolate buildings, patterns and details.

Returning to the same view throughout the day also revealed how much a composition can change with the light.

The view from my balcony overlooking the Dubai Marina - Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM

Photographing the Changing Light

Daylight

Strong daylight creates shadows and contrast that can work well for architectural details and black-and-white images. When clouds added movement to the scene, neutral-density filters gave me another way to experiment with longer exposures.

Golden Hour

The softer light around sunrise and sunset brings warmth and depth to the skyline. Clouds can add atmosphere, while changing light across the buildings creates opportunities to emphasise their shape and texture.

Blue Hour

Blue hour is one of my favourite times to photograph a city. The remaining ambient light balances with illuminated buildings, helping retain detail in both the skyline and the sky.

The useful shooting window can be short, so I prepare the composition and equipment in advance.

Night

At night, bright building lights and darker surroundings make exposure more challenging. I often capture several exposures and blend them in Photoshop to retain detail across the scene.

Lightning

Stormy weather brought another opportunity: photographing lightning above the skyline. I used a lightning trigger with the camera set to manual exposure.

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM mounted on RRS travel Clamp

Wide-Angle and Telephoto Lenses

A wide-angle lens shows the relationship between buildings and their surroundings. My tilt-shift lens also gives me control over framing and helps keep vertical lines straight when used carefully.

With conventional wide-angle lenses, tilting the camera can make buildings appear to lean. Perspective correction in post-processing can help, although it may require cropping.

Telephoto lenses offer a different approach. They let me isolate individual towers, simplify the composition and explore details that are easy to overlook in a wider view.

Switching between these approaches helped me find variety within the same skyline.