Tokyo is big, bright, and bustling. These features make it a great choice for night photography. The hardest part may be choosing what to photograph. I like shooting during the evening magic hours. For practical reasons, I only wanted to spend two nights dedicated to this type of photography and so I needed to narrow potential shooting locations down to two. I primarily considered four spots and ultimately settled on shooting from Tokyo World Trade Center and Odaiba.
Sensō-ji Temple
Sensō-ji is an ancient and popular temple in Tokyo. I really like night shots of Sensō-ji. However, when I visited during the day, I realized that an ultra-wide lens is required to get the entire temple complex in view. I was also discouraged by the huge crowds at this location. It’s probably better at night but I wasn’t sure how practical it would be to set up and shoot on a tripod here. I decided to look elsewhere.
Tokyo Station
Tokyo Station is a stunning piece of architecture at any time of day and particularly at night. I really like shots of the station that are taken from an elevated perspective in other buildings. However, I wasn’t really sure how to get into these spots and didn’t think I would have time to figure it out. With other great night shots available, I decided to cut this location.
Tokyo Tower from Tokyo World Trade Center
The Tokyo World Trade Center is one of Tokyo’s earliest skyscrapers. It’s top floor is a public observation deck. The tower has a central location and is friendly towards tripods (they specifically mention tripods as allowable equipment on the ticket). The observation deck offers great views of Tokyo Tower. For these reasons it is a popular spot for photographers. I knew all of this going in. What I didn’t know was that recently a new building was constructed that almost completely blocks the western view from the observation deck. Nowadays, the Tokyo Tower can only be photographed from a small portion of the northwest corner of the Tokyo World Trade Center.
I arrived about 45 minutes before sunset and staked out a spot in this corner. Within 30 minutes many other tripod-wielding photographers had arrived and there was no room left in the corner. As the light fell, glare on the windows became a big problem. One photographer had the Ultimate Lens Hood which blocks glare. I resorted to using my jacket to block lights inside the deck from reflecting on the window. I wasn’t sure when the best light was going to fall so I took shots every minute until the sun went down. I shot in 3-image bracketed bursts which I later merged to HDR.
The observation deck offered other great views of the city. Tokyo landmarks such as the Tokyo Sky Tree and Rainbow Bridge are visible. However, I found it even more difficult to avoid window glare when shooting in other directions.
Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba
I hadn’t seriously considered shooting Rainbow Bridge before the trip. However, we sailed underneath it during a dinner cruise and I decided it was worth another look. I was also impressed with images I had seen online. After some internet research I decided to try and find a spot on Odaiba beach near the curious Statue of Liberty replica.
The bridge gets it’s name from the colorful lights that illuminate the tower. However, as of 2019, these lights are only on “seasonally” in December and January. Since I was there in September I missed this display.
I arrived about an hour before sunset. It was cloudy but thankfully this type of shot works pretty well with or without clear skies. After searching around I found a set of barrier rocks as a nice foreground element. Other tourists seem to like these rocks as well and people kept walking right into my shot. Eventually one of the guys traveling with me stood just outside the frame on the rocks while I shot and kept people from wandering into the photographs. I definitely appreciated this help.
The bridge lights were significantly brighter than everything else. I underexposed about half a stop to keep the towers from clipping. Each exposure ranged from 10-20 seconds in length. I shot at f/13 to try and maximize depth of field and also to get some star bursts.
Tokyo Tower makes a small appearance in this shot as well. You can spot it about halfway along the bridge peaking out from some smaller buildings.
Overall I was pleased with my shots of these Tokyo landmarks. Although I limited my efforts to these two locations, there are certainly many more amazing places to take night images from.
Finally, I really appreciated my traveling companions Bradford and Brennan for being patient during these shots and even helping out!