6 tips for better travel photos in Italy
A few simple tips can greatly increase the quality of your travel photos in Italy. These techniques can be used with any camera, from an iPhone to the highest-quality mirrorless cameras.
Add foreground elements to your travel photos
For travel photography, we are often photographing buildings and wide scenes.
Including a foreground element can add depth to the photos. You should be careful that the foreground element isn’t distracting, so dark objects usually work well.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan
Spanish Steps in Rome
Shoot photos early in the day
You may not enjoy an early alarm clock but the rewards are great. Of course, the light is lower in the sky revealing texture in the photos but if you are traveling to a busy location there is an even bigger reward……no people around.
On a recent trip to Florence, we were staying only steps away from the Duomo. Getting up at dawn allowed me to photograph the famous building with nobody around, an impossibility later in the day.
Look for contrasting colors
This tip is a little more difficult to pull off but can really elevate your photos.
You can use warm lights against a scene at dusk or in this example, the blue boats in the shade contrasted against the building bathed in the warm sunlight.
Venice, Italy late in the afternoon
Try to shoot at Golden Hour
A scene that was boring and flat a few hours ago comes alive with golden light as the sun nears the horizon. In addition, since the light is much lower in the sky the shadows are longer and deeper, this adds interesting dark elements.
Venice at sunset
Shoot at dusk
If you take advantage of the above tip just stay out a little longer.
After the sun goes down the sky turns a deep blue while buildings and street lights start to come on. At this time of day, there is still enough ambient light to show details.
Florence photographed at dusk
The Roman Colosseum at dusk is a colorful site.
Use leading lines
Leading lines can add depth and scale to your travel photos.
Once you start looking for them they are everywhere, buildings, curbs, streets, stairs, etc…
The leading lines of the adjacent buildings brings your eye to the Duomo in Florence.
I hope you can use these tips to make your travel photos a little better.
Bonus tip - You can shoot a time-lapse without a tripod
I didn’t have a travel tripod with me but I wanted to shoot a timelapse of people walking inside the Milan Galleria.
The Galleria was very crowded so there was a lot of action. This enabled me to sit on the floor and hold the camera very steadily in my lap as people walked by. I shot fast so I could capture enough photos for a timelapse in a short time period before I moved the camera too much. This photography technique is best for fast-moving subjects, it would not work well for longer time-lapses such as the sun setting.
Overall I think it worked out pretty well.
If you are looking for spots to use your photography skills there is no better area in Italy than Cinque Terre, read our post about how to visit Cinque Terre .
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