An Affair with Tokyo Tower

Watching the skyline of Tokyo from Tokyo Tower was spectacular enough, but I just couldn't see Tokyo Tower itself in the view. However, there are other observatories around Tokyo, like the one at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, but Tokyo Tower is not visible from here.

The best observatory to see Tokyo Tower is the one at Mori Tower at Roppongi, as the building is close enough to Tokyo Tower and it has also the advantage of being at the centre of Tokyo itself.

It is always good to visit an observatory an hour or two before the sun goes down. The reason being that the evening sun gives a very warm side lighting to the subject.

And when the sun has just set, the sky turns really blue, providing a very good background for the subject.

When the sun has totally set, the artificial lighting comes into life to paint your photo. This photo was taken from the open deck of Mori Tower, the tallest open deck in Tokyo which is open to the public. As there is no glass panel to block the view, I didn't have to worry about the problem of reflection.

As the sky gets darker, the artificial lighting turns brighter and more vivid.

You should snap as many photos as possible, provided you have a steady tripod.

If you don't have a tripod, your photo will turn out to be like this:

If you have a tripod but there is an earthquake, your photo will turn out to be like this:

So, don't leave your tripod at home if you intend to shot some night scenes.

Don't forget to take a series of shots to be stitched together. A panoramic view of a night scene is always more breathtaking than a normal view. You may click on the photo below to see a bigger image.