Good evening,
I am sure that most of those who are reading this have been in a situation where you wanted to photograph something striking, amazing, beautiful, or awe inspiring but have been thwarted by a plethora of people milling about so were resigned to taking a ho hum picture with people blocking parts of the subject. There is a way around this that can work for some of these situations.
The fountain in Downtown Disney near the tram to the parking garage. 1/30th second exposure.
Notice the dozens of people walking around, if I would have stepped back to get the whole fountain in the image I would have added quite a few people in the front of the image too.
A 15 second exposure taken within a minute of the other image.
The couple of people who can still be seen were more or less standing around. With this technique busy locations can be made to appear empty. For these images it was getting late in the day and it was overcast if I recall correctly. This won’t work it all situations, it is another reason to carry ND filters around though. All one needs is a steady surface and some patience. So go out and make those busy places look deserted.
Scott W Gonzalez