A fresh perspective on familiar scenes

London-based photographer Laku Davies shoots adventures in her home city and beyond. Consequently, it's cityscapes and street photography that light up Laku's lens. Two of her favourite images combine iconic London views with a creative twist.

"I'd gone to the Thames Barrier for sunset and saw Canary Wharf lit up in the background," says Laku, who used her Canon EOS M50 fitted with a Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS M and a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (now succeeded by the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM) telephoto lens to capture the impressive view.

"I used this particular lens because of the compression that happens with a telephoto," she explains. "It tends to pull in the background, so I knew I was going to get a great view of Canary Wharf in between the barriers." Effectively, telephoto lenses compress perspective to make the background and foreground appear closer together than they are.

A long exposure and an ND filter accentuated the scene, creating a vibrant yet surreal effect. "A 30-second exposure can blow the highlights, so I used an ND filter in front of the lens which helps to get the highlights right so it's not too overexposed when I go into editing," says Laku.

Venturing into the Pilat Regional Natural Park in the Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France has brought another dimension to the pictures of Pierre Dubuis. The young photographer, who shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III (now succeeded by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV), has been taking pictures since the age of 15, but it was during his photography studies that his love of adventuring in nature began. He credits his friends with firing up his passion for the outdoors, and says that rediscovering local areas boosts creativity, evident from his favourite images, which were all taken in the same park.

"To discover beautiful places, it's best to go scouting as often as possible and you will come across more places than you think," he advises. "I look at Instagram for inspiration. Visit places at different times and try different angles to get the atmosphere you want."

To create ambience in photographs, Pierre recommends heading out either first thing in the morning or in the evening. "The times when you will see beautiful light are early in the morning and at sunrise and sunset," he says. "The environmental silhouette (above) was taken at sunset. To create this kind of photo, it's best to find out about weather conditions beforehand and arrive 30 minutes early to give yourself time to locate the place and imagine the different framing that you could choose. For this image, I decided to underexpose by increasing the shutter speed and shooting at a high aperture of f/22. I did this in order to have a well-defined, dark silhouette – to create a darker vibe."