Literally Looking Down On Melbourne
Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHONEver since I got this Pentax K100D, my first digital SLR, I made a conscious decision to have the camera with me whenever possible. That was a good call, because I've been able to take scores of shots that I would otherwise have rued. When a Black Hawk helicopter flew across the city skyline, I heard the rotors even before I saw the chopper - and I was able to get two or three quick frames of a very rare sight. When smog obscured an entire skyscraper, I was able to shoot a sequence of shots over a spell of five minutes, capturing the unusual vista.
And even for comparatively mundane scenes like this, where cloud and early morning sun endow the central business district with strong light, I am able to swing the camera up to my eye and shoot immediately. This is a fairly unusual angle to present Flinders Street Station and part of Melbourne's skyline, because I was on the eleventh floor of a city building.
For this shot, which was one of three, I used a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second, F 6.7 and an ISO speed of 200. In case you're wondering, no, the image has not been enhanced at all. And I should tell you that I had the flash off - because it was taken through a window!
