Last night I went to visit the
John Hancock Observatory with my sister. The last time I was there was in 2006 I think, somewhat a long time ago. I recall the views from JH being far superior to those from the Sears tower-- now called
Willis tower. Plus I've seen some pictures on
500px taken from JH and wanted to try my hand at those views.
Signature Room or Observatory?
I did some research before going and read that
Signature Lounge is the better place to visit than the observatory deck. As many pointed out, the lounge/bar area is
free to enter,
but there is a one drink minimum per person, which can be expensive since all their drinks are expensive. It's like $5+ for a soda! Since I was with my sister, we ended up paying $21 for drinks.
But after visiting Signature Lounge, I was somewhat disappointed. It does have great views of the south, west, and north side of JH, but it's a lounge with people sitting/talking everywhere! There's very little room to set up your gear for long exposures. I don't believe they allow tripods, so I brought my gorillapod with me for small, quick setups that isn't a fire hazard. I use a
Joby GP3 GorillaPod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod + BH1 Ball Head. Not to mention that their windows are pretty dirty because it is an eating/drinking area.
I recommend paying the $18 for the observation deck. I went on a Wednesday night during a cold winter when it was very quiet. There was plenty of room for me to set up my stuff and maneuver around. Also, as a big big plus, the railing and heater were great for placing the GorillaPod right next to the window!
Verdict: If you want to do more serious photography, go with the
Observatory. Signature Lounge is nice if you just want to hang out with a view.
Problem solving the Observatory deck
Although the observatory is better than Signature Lounge for photography, it's not a cake walk. What many don't realize is that
there's so much lighting inside at night that reflects off the windows-- effectively ruining a clean shot of the city of Chicago.
I took probably close to 100 shots before I realized what I needed to do to work around this.
- Use a DSLR + GorillaPod setup as close to the window as possible.
- I used my coat and asked my sister to use her coat to block the light from bouncing off the window by surrounding the DSLR with the coats. Maybe a black or dark blanket would be nice next time.
- I removed my UV lens filter from my camera to further reduce any unwanted light bouncing around.
- Get a second hand-- a friend/family member to help out. Trying to block out the reflected light on your own may be difficult.
And of course, have fun. I wasn't ashamed at all about squatting down on my hands and knees to reposition my rig and try for the best shot. I'm sure that on future visits I could get some better shots with different weather and lighting conditions that's far beyond my control.
Below are my pictures. They were all on taken on a GorillaPod on my
Canon 5D Mark III with a
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II lens. They're all HDR photos, edited in Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop.
Chicago Winter at John Hancock
Buy prints:
http://500pxart.com/photo/57253822
West of John Hancock
Buy prints:
http://500pxart.com/photo/57254424
Lake Shore Drive from John Hancock
Buy prints:
http://500pxart.com/photo/57254650
Navy Pier from John Hancock
*Small update*
This is what my initial setup was like at the observatory. My DSLR was on a gorillapod with my coat on the railing trying to block out the light reflecting.
