Real New Yorkers simply call it the Central Park Reservoir, but officially it’s called The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. The Reservoir stretches from 86th to 96th street, and from 5th avenue to Central Park West.
It’s going to be a long walk.
I wanted a specific shot of some particular Upper West Side buildings, so I entered Central Park at 90th street and 5th avenue and walked up a few steps to the gate surrounding the Reservoir.
Whenever I think of the Reservoir, I’m reminded of the movie Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman. To this day, there is a constant stream of joggers around the Reservoir, and the path around it is a sort of loose, sandy gravel to facilitate running. I wonder how many of those joggers have seen that movie.
Joggers — just like in the movies!
I didn’t know the Reservoir was decommissioned in 1993. That explains the lack of security around it and the low gate. I assume that if the Reservoir did supply New York City with water, no one would be allowed anywhere near it in this day & age.
Times Square is waaay down there.
The Central Park Reservoir is great to visit and watch the sunset on a nice day, or to jog around it if that’s your thing. There are many great views of the city and photographic opportunities to be had there.
The photos in this story were taken with an Olympus EM-10 and Lumix 14mm f2.5 & Lumix 25mm f1.7 lenses.
Union Square is one of my favorite places in New York City. It’s often the starting point for many interesting nights out. Union Square is also a great place to just sit down and relax — some nights, it’s the only destination.
A typical night in Union Square.
In the warmer weather you’ll find young people playing hacky sack or soccer. You’ll see skateboarders practicing kickflips and ollies, while street performers dance for dollars. There’s even a freestyle rap group that meets up there on Friday nights. And let’s not forget the chess players. Drop in a for a friendly game.
It’s all very friendly. Maybe.
In practical terms, Union Square is a major transportation hub. You can catch many subway trains here (4, 5, 6, L, Q, N, W and R). The L train can connect you to the 8th Avenue Line, so you’ll be able to catch the A, C, E after a quick ride.
Enter the subway. Or just hang around it.
Union Square Park stretches from Broadway to 4 Ave and from East 14th street to East 17th street. You can access the subway from many entrances in the park.
The photos in this story were taken with an Olympus EM-10 and various lenses.
The kit lens is the inexpensive zoom lens that comes with a new DSLR or mirrorless camera. Usually it’s made of plastic with a plastic mount. Years ago, kit lenses used to be very badly built and of poor optical quality. I have one old kit lens that was difficult to zoom in and out (it would become hard to turn and even get stuck at certain points). Even worse, it had optical problems, leaving one area of the photo very blurry while the rest of the photo was perfectly sharp. Kit lenses today are both built better and much better optically. Here are more good points about kit lenses:
They Are Cheap
Usually when you buy a new camera, the kit lens is around $100. For that relatively low outlay of cash, you get a lens that probably has very fast autofocus and may even have image stabilization built into it, as is the case with Nikon kit lenses. Due to its low cost, it’s less of a worry bringing it to places where you may not want to risk a more expensive lens.
Kit lenses make me feel safer riding the NYC subway.
They Are Versatile
Because they cover such a big focal range — allowing you to zoom from a wide shot to a close up shot and anything in between — they’re great for a lot of photographic situations. They are especially useful while traveling or at an event.
Photobombing, kit lens style.
They Are Lightweight and Small
Since they are small and mostly made from plastic, they are very light compared to more expensive lenses, which will likely be larger and made with metal. Many of the newest kit lenses are also designed to basically retract into themselves, becoming more compact for storage or for stowing in a camera bag.
They Are Sharp & Can Focus Closely
Yes, it’s true. The newer kit lenses are surprisingly sharp with pretty good image quality. I have also found that many can focus very close to the subject, which is useful for photographing objects like toys or food.
Late night with the kit lens.
Downsides
Sounds great, right? So why would you need any other lens? Well, as good as the kit lens may be, more expensive lenses will still be better optically. There really is a difference there. If you’re a beginner you may not be able to tell, or it may not matter to you right now. Later on in your photographic journey, it might become important.
Another downside with kit lenses is that they aren’t the best choice for indoor photography or night photography. However, I have done both of those types of photography with a kit lens — all of the photos in this article were taken with a kit lens, including the night shots.
Finally, every new photographer wants to experiment with that creamy “blurred background” look. While you can achieve it somewhat with a kit lens under the right conditions, it’s not the ideal lens for it.
Don’t worry about any of that right now, though. Go out and shoot with your kit lens. It’s probably a lot better than you think and you will get some great images out of it.
All photos in this story were taken with an Olympus EM-10 and the Olympus 14-42 RII kit lens.
The World Trade Center Station is a transportation hub that connects New Jersey trains to New York trains. The centerpiece, called the Oculus, can be thought of as the main station house.
The Oculus — surrounded by other, less-dramatic buildings.
Inside the Oculus is what’s technically the Westfield Mall. There are said to be over 100 retail stores and restaurants in the Mall, including an Apple Store, Banana Republic and an Eataly.
High-tech and futuristic all the way.
Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the whole structure is supposed to resemble “a bird being released from a child’s hand.” I found it to feel more like being inside of some kind of futuristic dinosaur, since the curved beams reminded me of bones or ribs. It did have a very organic feel to it, and I did like the overall look of the place. It’s a bright, open space and if you enjoy shopping and dining out you can surely spend a lot of time inside of it.
It’s a… hub… of activity.
From a commuting standpoint, the Station lets you access the PATH system to get to New Jersey, as well as many (the 2, 3, A, C, E, N, R, W) New York City Subway trains.
I hope you didn’t lose your Metrocard.
If you’re vacationing in New York City, you might as well check the Oculus out while you’re here. You’ll probably stumble into it after you’ve visited the One World Trade Center Observatory anyway. If you’re a New Yorker you can skip this place until you, for some reason, have to take a PATH train to New Jersey and can’t do it from Penn Station.
The photos in this story were all taken with an Olympus OMD EM-10 and the Olympus 14-42 RII kit lens.
This image is also featured in my article Why You Should Shoot RAW. You can see the original version in that blog entry and get some information about the benefits of RAW. Taken with a Nikon D5100 and 35mm f1.8DX lens from the backseat of a taxi.
Standard Admission for adults to the Empire State Building’s 86th Floor Observation Deck is $34. Remember, don’t buy the tickets from the street vendors outside the building — it’s likely a scam. Buy them inside the Empire State Building on the second floor.
Much like at One World Trade Center, there will be very long lines and you’ll be subject to a security screening. Once that’s done, you’ll walk through winding Art Deco corridors until you reach the elevators.
Hanging out on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building.
The first elevator will take you to the 80th floor. During the ride, you’ll see that the ceiling of the elevator is a screen depicting the construction of the Empire State Building, with steel beams flying overhead and the sounds of hammers and drills. Wisecracking construction workers with overdone “New Yawk” accents make jokes and comments as the beams come together.
Downtown views.
Once on the 80th floor, you’ll be able to see downtown Manhattan through the windows. You can see such landmarks as the Statue of Liberty, the Flatiron Building, and most notably One World Trade Center. You can spend as much time as you like looking out of the windows on the 80th floor and taking pictures. Just be sure to take care while photographing since you’re shooting through thick glass.
Gaze into your future… the gift shop!
Next you’ll line up to get on to a second elevator. The line stretches past the gift shop, which you’ll later exit through on the way out of the building.
Photographers on deck!
The second elevator will take you to the 86th floor and the Observation Deck. Here you’ll be outside and have the full experience, with quite a few amazing views. Even better, your photographs will look great since you’re outside and there are no windows, just the iron bars which you can shoot through.
Shoot through the iron bars, or use them for effect.
You can spend as much time as you want on the Observation Deck as well, but it’s usually rather crowded. Expect to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with others, and brace yourself for the inevitable bumps and jostles. Be careful if you’re toting a big camera and long lens.
The Conde Naste Building and Bank of America Tower.
Once you’re done taking in the sights, you’ll exit through the gift shop I mentioned before, which has all sorts of Empire State Building-related souvenirs.
My kind of souvenir. Is there Empire State Building brand whiskey?
I didn’t like the experience at the Empire State Building as much as I did at One World Trade Center Observatory. However, at least from a photography standpoint, the views are much better from the Empire State Building because you’re not behind glass.
Everybody’s on Twitter.
Because of the spectacular views, I recommend giving the Empire State Building a visit. Try to time your visit so that you’re on the 80th floor around sunset for the most spectacular sights, and hang around to get some good night shots.
Photos in this story taken with an Olympus EM-10, Panasonic 25mm f1.7 and the Olympus 14-42RII kit lens.
I always recommend that all photographers, even beginners, shoot RAW instead of JPG. Here are my reasons:
Exposure
It happens: you were in a hurry and underexposed your image. It’s too dark. But RAW files contain so much information when compared to JPG files that you can lift the exposure without degrading the image quality. Depending on the file and camera used, you may be able to increase the exposure by two or three stops without ruining it.
Color Correction
Fixing white balance issues is very simple in RAW, as well as controlling the hue and saturation levels of individual colors. For example, after white balancing the image, if something in your image is still too red or too yellow you can specifically reduce the saturation levels of those colors, without touching the other colors.
Noise Reduction
RAW files have no noise reduction applied, so you can apply your own. We all hate noise, but sometimes when shooting in JPG, the camera will apply too much noise reduction and make fine details like hair or architectural lines look “mushy”. RAW lets you add just the right amount.
Sharpening
As with being able to control the amount of noise reduction applied to the image, you can also control the amount of sharpening. Some JPG settings cause certain images to look oversharpened. In certain situations, such as portrait photography, you may not want any sharpening at all.
Luminance Channels
My favorite aspect of working with RAW files, since I shoot a lot of scenes with city lights. You can boost or lower the brightness of certain colors of light. For example, if you want to make the red traffic lights in a street scene stronger while reducing the strength of the headlights of cars, you can do that specifically, without brightening or darkening the other light sources in the image.
Future Software
One last interesting thing about RAW is that the software used to edit RAW photos is often being improved upon by software developers. This means that you can go back to your old RAW files months or even years later and extract even more detail. Try loading that old, underexposed file that doesn’t look so good through a new RAW converter and play around with it. You may be able to pull out something amazing from it. I certainly have been able to. A JPG on the other hand is basically frozen in time.
The original file as rendered by the camera (that is to say, the unedited JPG).
This is the original file of the image at the beginning of this article — the JPG image that is automatically made alongside the RAW file. It’s not bad out of the camera, but editing the RAW version of this image really helped me bring it to a whole new level. RAW is particularly useful when using a camera with a smaller sensor such as APS-C or Four Thirds or when using an older camera — you can really get the most of out of your images with a little editing.
If you have any questions about RAW or editing, feel free to comment below or e-mail me.
