London underground

SteveSc

SteveSc

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Steve
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I had a few hours on bank holiday Monday to get out with the camera but due to storm Katie didn't really know where to go but finally decided on a flying visit to London. Having only an hour or so I did some research into interesting tube stations to photograph. As a result these shots are not the most original but it's something different for me and I enjoyed the learning process, both in taking the shots and the editing. They are pretty much what I had hoped to achieve and it's probably the first time I have been happy with my conversion to black and white. Having said that any suggestions to either composition or processing is welcome.

Baker Street tube:
Waiting by Steve, on Flickr

Canary Wharf tube:
Up to the light by Steve, on Flickr
 
Love them both, absolutely :)

First one is a cracker.
 
I think that they are both great shots. I shall have to look more closely the next time that I am on the Underground.
 
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Very well rendered!
 
They're really really good, the first especially which shows a great eye for light and how to shoot in B&W.
 
Gritty mono conversions, love #1 :)
 
Nawty said:
They're really really good, the first especially which shows a great eye for light and how to shoot in B&W.
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Thanks, I can't take to much credit for the ideas as there are quite a lot of similar shots on flickr but as I'm really just learning it was a helpful experiment on both using light and converting to B&W.

gramps said:
Gritty mono conversions, love #1 :)
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Cheers, I've just installed the google nik collection that I read about on here a few days ago and had an experiment with Silver Efex Pro. It's the first time I have produced a B&W that I have been happy with.

Chappers999 said:
Both fantastic images
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Thanks :)
 
2 shots you should be very proud of, both the light and conversions are awesome :)
 
Both great but as someone who commuted to baker st for a year or so, I love the first one. Brilliant.
 
Fantastic set, I also especially like no1 although I'm amazed at how deserted he escalators are on the 2nd. Mono suits them very well too.
 
WingTsun said:
Great shots, love them both and the conversions.

Out of interest, did you get a photography pass or just whip the camera out and take a few shots? I'm just wondering how hard they are about requiring a pass if you're just snapping a few quick photos, as opposed to setting up a tripod etc..
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I mainly just had the camera out while I was going around the tube network, the Baker street shot was handheld as the station was reasonably busy and I didn't want get in anyone's way so I just sat on a bench while waiting for the right opportunity. The Canary wharf one was actually taken on a tripod, I took a couple hand held first but as it was so empty I decided to take the risk and set up the tripod. At one stage a member of staff wandered over and I thought he might ask me to stop but I just smiled and said hi and he just carried on.

jakeblu said:
Fantastic set, I also especially like no1 although I'm amazed at how deserted he escalators are on the 2nd. Mono suits them very well too.
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Thanks. The 2nd one was taken at Canary Wharf at about 9.30, as it was a bank holiday the whole network was pretty quite and as Canary wharf is such a business area it was even more so. There were a few people around but it was easy enough to wait for them to move through.
 
SteveSc said:
I mainly just had the camera out while I was going around the tube network, the Baker street shot was handheld as the station was reasonably busy and I didn't want get in anyone's way so I just sat on a bench while waiting for the right opportunity. The Canary wharf one was actually taken on a tripod, I took a couple hand held first but as it was so empty I decided to take the risk and set up the tripod. At one stage a member of staff wandered over and I thought he might ask me to stop but I just smiled and said hi and he just carried on.
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Interesting and thanks for the reply. I figured they wouldn't bother about someone just pulling out a camera and taking a few shots. I'm sure many people do that all the time, especially with all the tourists that travel on the tube. I probably wouldn't have dared pull out a tripod, though. :D
 
WingTsun said:
I figured they wouldn't bother about someone just pulling out a camera and taking a few shots. I'm sure many people do that all the time, especially with all the tourists that travel on the tube
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I had the same thoughts, I wasn't sure of the requirements for a permit but I just took the view that the worse that could happen would be for me to have to delete some photos or just be asked to move on.
 
SteveSc said:
I had the same thoughts, I wasn't sure of the requirements for a permit but I just took the view that the worse that could happen would be for me to have to delete some photos or just be asked to move on.
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Usually I think it's just a case of move along, I've snapped a few and never had a problem although not using a tripod
Think the only place I was told no was near the London Eye, I believe it was classed as a trip hazard although I wasn't told of for laying down to get a low shot.
Surely folk would trip over me more than a tripod :D
 
I like the baker street one, on the west bound platform there are photos (old ones) of the station in its former glory and one of them was composed in the same way as yours but it had more ornate deco that the morning station. such a shame that they got rid of a lot of the old lamps etc
 
SteveSc said:
Cheers, I hadn't been to Baker street station before but really liked it, Felt it had much more character than most and I'd like to go back again to explore a bit more.
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The metropolitan and circle lines generally do. Baker st is one of the oldest.
 
ricky1980 said:
I like the baker street one, on the west bound platform there are photos (old ones) of the station in its former glory and one of them was composed in the same way as yours but it had more ornate deco that the morning station. such a shame that they got rid of a lot of the old lamps etc
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I didn't notice any photos up while I was there, I would like to go back sometime and have a proper look around the station as I was limited for time on Monday.

cambsno said:
The metropolitan and circle lines generally do. Baker st is one of the oldest.
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That's useful to know, hopefully I'll get the opportunity to explore a few other stations on the line.
 
WingTsun said:
We covered that a few posts up, Ricky.
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didn't realise it was hand held shots. i don't think they will let you do it with a tripod. i have been told previously by tube staff that you can take pictures hand held and no flash.
 
ricky1980 said:
didn't realise it was hand held shots. i don't think they will let you do it with a tripod. i have been told previously by tube staff that you can take pictures hand held and no flash.
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I believe he did use a tripod for one shot. I wouldn't have dared but he seems to have got away with it.
 
Both lovely shots, will make me look twice now when I next go to London to see if anything I could photo on the underground.
 
StreetSnapper said:
Two lovely pics there. Baker Street is a favourite of mine, too.

The Nik software is brilliant for B+W conversions - and it's now completely free. You can get it here: https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
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Thanks, I downloaded the Nik software last week when I saw it was free. Looking forward to learning how to use it better.

Stuart Mc said:
Great shots especially the 2nd one
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Craig_85 said:
First one for me.
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Thanks, it's good to hear they are both liked.

ricky1980 said:
didn't realise it was hand held shots. i don't think they will let you do it with a tripod. i have been told previously by tube staff that you can take pictures hand held and no flash.
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WingTsun said:
I believe he did use a tripod for one shot. I wouldn't have dared but he seems to have got away with it.
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I was fairly confident that handheld would be OK (although I think strictly speaking they could stop that as well). I only used the tripod as it was so empty and I was right up against a fence and not likely to cause any issue. At the same time I was quite prepared to stop if asked, as I mentioned earlier a member of staff came over to just a few feet away and didn't say anything but I would have stopped and if necessary deleted the images. I wasn't there to get into disagreements and would have accepted their requests.

ynot said:
Nice work Steve.
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Thanks, I have had a quick look through you website and you have some great images.
 
Both of them GREAT shots. I'm wondering how did you manage to avoid any people in the second one and just one person in the first picture. Works really well in B&W.
 
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