Using the Night Portrait Mode
A great shot of Rainbow Bridge from a cafe on the shore of Tokyo bay. My pharmacist friend was visiting in Tokyo, and took this shot using his “night portrait mode”. Some cameras don’t have this option, but you can get the same effect manually. Raise the ISO speed, set the IV setting to quite light, use the flash and take a 3 second exposure. The trick is to explain to your subjects that the picture is a time exposure, and they mustn’t move for 3 seconds after the flash. I think that might explain the somewhat strained look on the young people’s faces.
Even though they look a bit awkward, you can still tell they are having a great time. I like that he thought to take the picture before they started to eat, so you can wonder what it is in their bowls. I asked. He said it was “loco-moco” – a tropical rice bowl affair with spam and a fried egg on top.
I love the extra signs and chairs in the foreground. It gives the classic city lights scene a sense of reality, as if to say, “Yes, some of us live here, and its a real place and time, not just a picture postcard.”
Once again, thanks to Tokunaga Masayoshi for the great snapshot.