Going south on my way back to the hotel, I passed by the Flamingo, one of the last remaining OG hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. The boxy building is architecturally dull, but the flamboyant neon sign in the corner is visually attractive. You know I like a good neon display.

However, the sign was hard to frame well. In a landscape orientation, you get the neon without the context. The first two letters of Flamingo are also not visible. I needed to find a better perspective.

The most obvious change is a portrait orientation — better context. However, the letters are still cut off. I used a 24mm equivalent prime lens, so I had to zoom with my feet. I moved back to get more in the frame.

I got the street-level Flamingo sign from the driveway, but the neon positioning was only marginally better. I also didn’t like the positioning of the neon sign with the background hotel tower. Moving to my left would have improved my framing but wasn’t possible since I would be in the middle of busy Las Vegas Blvd.

Finally, I hit upon the idea of shooting from a pedestrian overpass. I was effectively positioned from the street, only higher up. I captured the Flamingo neon satisfactorily and framed it within the hotel tower. Post-production perspective control isn’t possible without exaggerated distortion, so I’m satisfied with this version.

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