Sci-fi cityscapes: neon-lit images of Tokyo at night

Back in 2014, Scotland-born photographer Liam Wong spent time travelling as an art director for a video game company. To document his trips and show his family what he was up to, he began taking photos on his smartphone. Now an internationally celebrated photographer, Liam's vivid, contrast-filled cityscapes of Tokyo at night have amassed millions of views online and his crowdfunded book TO:KY:OO has sold out three times. Here, he discusses the inspiration behind the project and how he used the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV to capture Japan's capital after dark.

Initially photography was only a hobby for Liam, but in 2015 he bought his first DSLR, a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, the predecessor to the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. After watching Miguel Santana's Memories of Tokyo, a cinematic journey through the city in spring, Liam was inspired both technically and creatively. "It motivated me," he recalls. "I thought, 'Wow, I want to achieve that someday.'"

While in Tokyo for business, Liam began shooting and sharing whatever he came across. He upgraded to a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, and as his experience and online following grew, he noticed which subjects resonated most with viewers and refined his work into a series of vibrant night-time cityscapes – neon-filled, high-contrast images that capture the city's atmosphere through its architecture, style and people.

Liam's audience may have helped to guide his subject matter but his style was always uniquely his own – an amalgamation of his passion for video games, film, architecture, colour and graphic design. Cyberpunk motifs such as neon signage, a night-time setting and rainfall provide a backdrop for Tokyo's buildings, while the dramatic use of light, colour and contrast adds impact.

"When someone sees my images, I want them to know it's my work," says Liam. "I'm inspired by directors such as Wong Kar-Wai, Ridley Scott and Gaspar Noé and by films that play with colour in a way that's very surreal. There are a lot of references to cyberpunk because I come from a video game background," he continues. "I also like to capture the contrast between old and new architecture, to give a sense of how something can evolve over time."

Liam's kit also helped him to overcome the project's technical challenges. The primary obstacle he faced was low light, and to ensure his images were in focus, he frequently had to stop down. To manage this, Liam used the bracketing feature of his Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, capturing each image at a range of different exposure points for greater flexibility in post-production, and would sometimes trigger remote flash.

He also encountered environments with a wide dynamic range – for example, bright signage adjoining dark alleys – threatening detail loss in highlights and shadows. When this issue arose, Liam would deliberately underexpose his shots, setting his Canon EOS 5D Mark IV to Auto ISO but limiting it to ISO2000. This ensured his highlights weren't overexposed, while the camera's low light performance and superior automatic metering meant he never sacrificed any detail in shadows. "I didn't have to think about how the darks should be and how the lights should be and I could actually bring out more detail," he says. By slightly lifting his exposure in post-production, Liam had perfectly illuminated shots, no matter how extreme the lighting conditions.

Liam used slower shutter speeds to create his cyberpunk-style blurred rain effects but wanted to avoid introducing blur from passers-by moving through his frame. "To capture rain and moving people I used a shutter speed of between 1/50 and 1/100 sec," he explains. During the early hours, when the streets were quieter, he could blur the rain further by going even slower. "Then, I mostly shot handheld, at about 1/30 sec."

Using slow shutter speeds raises stability concerns, so Liam sometimes used a tripod, but that wasn't always an option when he was walking long distances. The image stabilisation technology in two of his favourite lenses, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM and Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, helped when he was shooting handheld, and he also trained himself to remain as still as possible. "I tried to be the tripod and put effort into stabilising myself," he says. "I can now shoot at high or low shutter speeds without having to think about it."

Liam edited his RAW files in Adobe® Photoshop®, and to begin with he used his knowledge of design and colour theory to heighten their impact, changing entire colours and applying video game industry effects to enhance the cyberpunk aesthetic. "Photographers always try to remove chromatic aberration from images, for example, but sometimes I'd put it back in," he says.

Over time, Liam's approach has softened. "Nowadays, I go for a cinematic style," he says. "I might shift colours slightly, making an image feel cooler or warmer, or strip out colours."

In 2018, Liam crowdfunded the publication of his book, TO:KY:OO (2019), which showcases the early years of the project. The publishing process was neither quick nor easy, but overall Liam found it to be an overwhelmingly positive experience. "Physical publishing opened up my work to people who don't use the internet," he says. "I hope my book has helped people who couldn't travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic look forwards."