Penang travel! Captivated by the sunset street vibe here, so healing

Capturing the colors of Studio Ghibli animations on the streets of Penang can be approached through light and shadow, scenes, composition, and other aspects. Here are the specific techniques: 1. Seize the golden shooting period • Soft light in early morning/evening: Studio Ghibli animations often use soft light and shadow to create a dreamy feel. It is recommended to shoot within 1 hour after sunrise (7:00-8:00) or 2 hours before sunset (17:00-18:00). At this time, the sunlight slants, and the streets are dyed warm yellow or pink-purple tones. For example, the shophouses in George Town show a soft orange-red under the sunset, similar to the street scenes in "Spirited Away." • Atmosphere on cloudy/rainy days: The diffuse light on cloudy days can make colors more saturated (such as the bright murals on Mural Street). Wet streets after rain reflect building colors, combined with puddle reflections, making it easy to capture the fresh and moist texture seen in "My Neighbor Totoro." 2. Make good use of color contrast and matching • High saturation contrasting color scenes: Look for brightly colored elements on Penang streets, such as the blue-purple walls on Mural Street, the yellow vintage car mural, or the mint green shophouses with rose-red doors and windows on Lebuh Keng Kwee. Use the "vivid mode" on your phone/camera to enhance colors, mimicking the exaggerated yet harmonious color schemes in animations. • Natural colors echoing architectural colors: For example, at Penang Hill, use the lush green of the tropical rainforest as a background, paired with the orange funicular train or red rooftops, creating a contrast between natural and artificial colors, similar to the fantasy scenes in "Howl's Moving Castle." At Clan Jetties, use the blue seawater and brown wooden houses to form a warm-cool contrast, highlighting the depth of the image. 3. Composition techniques: creating an animated story feel • Low-angle upward shots: Use the sky as a background to shoot the pointed tops and colorful windows of shophouses, or have people stand at the end of the street. Shooting upward elongates building lines, creating the spacious feeling of "Castle in the Sky." For example, on Lorong Love, shoot the white shophouse arcades from a low angle, with sunlight streaming through the columns to form light beams, adding depth to the image. • Framing composition: Shoot street scenes through windows, arches, or tree shadows. For instance, shoot the courtyard through the carved window frames of the Khoo Kongsi Museum, or frame pedestrians within the colorful door frames of Love Lane, making the image feel like an animation storyboard full of stories. • Negative space and foreground blur: Leave large areas of sky or wall when shooting, such as using the colorful walls of George Town as a background, placing the subject on one side of the frame and leaving the other side blank. Pair this with blurred foreground flowers and plants (like the petals of the trumpet trees on Penang’s Sakura Street) to mimic the tranquil "empty shots" in animations. 4. Interaction between people and scenes: restoring the animation atmosphere • Dynamic capture: Let models run, wave, or walk under the shophouse arcades with umbrellas, capturing natural movements. For example, shoot people chasing waves on Batu Ferringhi Beach with low-angle shots to create the sense of freedom from "Ponyo." • Props enhancement: Bring transparent umbrellas, rattan bags, vintage cameras, and other props to interact with the "Cycling Child" mural on Mural Street, or use a cup of coffee as the foreground in a café at Penang Hill to add a sense of life to the image. 5. Post-processing color grading: enhancing the animation texture • Filter recommendations: Use mobile apps (such as VSCO, Xingtu) to add "Japanese fresh" or "film" filters (like VSCO’s C8 or Xingtu’s "Xiao Kenting"), reduce contrast, increase saturation and color temperature, making colors closer to the bright style of animations. • Detail adjustments: Slightly increase the blue-purple tones in highlights (to simulate the sky in animations), add cyan-green to shadows (to enhance naturalness), and fine-tune sharpness to make building lines clearer and avoid blurriness. 6. Tips for avoiding crowded spots in niche scenes • Avoid crowds: Popular spots like George Town’s Mural Street and Penang Hill are best visited early in the morning to avoid tourists appearing in the frame and ruining the purity of the image. • Utilize corners: For example, the gaps between wooden houses at Clan Jetties or the weathered walls of old streets. These inconspicuous details have the nostalgic texture of "old times" often seen in animations. With these techniques, you can capture the true colors of Penang’s streets while giving your photos the dreamy feel of Studio Ghibli animations, filling them with a healing fairy tale atmosphere~