harbour center

Downtown Vancouver Fall Panorama

A Panorama of downtown Vancouver including the Trade and Convention Center, Canada Place, and HMCS Discovery on Deadman’s Island – as seen from Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

view of downtown vancouver and deadmans island after sunset from stanley park

Panorama of Downtown Vancouver and Deadman’s Island (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   Back in 2011 I was experimenting with various locations to find a good place to make panoramas of downtown Vancouver. This particular panorama was made from Stanley Park near the totem poles. My favourite panorama of Vancouver remains the blue hour photograph from a nearby location, however. I should try a blue hour photograph from this location but I normally try to avoid the floating gas station which bobs up and down and is troublesome during long exposures. The sky on this particular day had a bit too much grey in it for blue hour, however. I like the the nice maple fall colour foliage on Deadman’s Island and think it adds some interest beyond the city buildings.

If you enjoy panoramic images I have an entire gallery of panoramic images on my site. You can also click on the panorama or panoramic keywords at the bottom of this post to see the panorama blog posts.

 

Downtown Vancouver During Blue Hour

Downtown Vancouver at dusk from Stanley Park – including Canada Place (left) and the new Trade and Convention Center.

downtown vancouver at dusk panorama from stanley park

Downtown Vancouver Panorama photographed during Blue Hour (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   I have photographed downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park a few times in the past – with fair but not spectacular results. When my first DSLR was new I would try to photograph the skyline well after sunset. At that time of day there isn’t much contrast between the dark buildings and the sky, so these photographs did not turn out very well. I learned that if you photograph during “Blue Hour” there will be much better contrast between the dark buildings and the sky – with much better results! Blue Hour is the period of time between total darkness in the sky and sunrise or sunset. Just like the “Golden Hour” this may not actually last an hour. In Vancouver at this time of year I think the blue hour lasted about 20 minutes facing southeast though there was still good blue light facing west for about another 10 minutes after that.

   This Panorama, taken during the blue hour after sunset, shows a dark sky but you can still see the profile of all the buildings. Much better than a photo taken when the sky is really dark!

   FYI – if you ever photograph downtown from Stanley Park near the Nine O’Clock Gun is the location I made this photograph. I was still there at 9 o’clock… with a few others who had gathered to hear its blast. Well, this isn’t a cap gun, the shockwave was dramatic even though I was standing 50 feet away. There were some tourists and teenagers who were standing right next to the wire cage that houses the gun, and one passerby tried to get them to plug their ears or step away from the thing as it was almost 9. This sage advice was ignored and when the gun went off there was a lot of screaming and even some tears due to the noise. If you are out there photographing near 9 o’clock and the red flashing lights go off – plug your ears!