Sometimes, when you arrive at a location to shoot something, you find that the light isn’t right, or some other things can go wrong. For example, when I joined a city tour of Sydney when I was there years ago, I arrived at the lookout point near the Mrs Macquarie’s Chair with the light in the wrong direction. This is supposed to be one of the best locations to shoot the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge but in my case, it’s severely backlit. The sun also appears in the frame, making things worse.
I suddenly had the idea of hiding the sun behind the trees, and underexposing the scene to silhouette the 2 icons of Australia. The result turned out pretty good. The starburst caused by the lens’s aperture blades is an added bonus. This has become one of my favourite shots.
