Photography Blog: Amalfi Coast

Hello, everybody! In this article, I will write about my travels and how I take my pictures. I will reveal my experiences, stories and camera settings that I use to capture the emotions I want to convey with my work.

Leonie and I flew in September 2019 to the Amalfi Coast and Sicily. First we landed in Naples and stayed one night in the center to enjoy the oldest pizzas in the world. We rented a car at the airport and drove through Pompeii to Ravello, one of the most frequented areas on the Amalfi coast, where we rented a room with a wonderful view of the coast.

The weather conditions were almost every day ideal (for me). It was always sunny, warm and every single sunrise and sunset was golden and dreamlike. In other words, exactly what I wanted to photograph.

Tips: If you want your photos to look dreamy, you must photograph at the golden hour, i.e. sunrise, sunset or as much as possible when the light is soft. Then use the sun as a background light using a large aperture between F1.4 or F2.8, this will make the photo much softer but be careful that the sun is not directly behind, otherwise you can lose too much contrast. Try different angles to prove your camera’s dynamic range.

Leonie in PositanoCanon EOS 5D Mark IV / Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM @30mm / ISO 100 - F3.2 - 1/200 — Leonie in Positano
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV / Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM @30mm / ISO 100 - F3.2 - 1/200

Then we decided to go immediately to the beach because it was already getting dark. We were pleasantly surprised that all the tourists were in restaurants and the beach was left empty. Taking advantage of the warm weather we decided to jump onto the beach and take pictures during the blue hour.

Tips: For the blue hour, you have to be very still because you'll be using relatively low shutter speeds. I try not to use slower speeds than 1/50 when I photograph people. You will also have to sacrifice image quality by raising the camera's ISO and use the largest aperture your lens allows. Note, if you take pictures with a telephoto lens I do not recommend using slower speeds than 1/50.

Regarding the photos’ composition in golden hour, I recommend photographing in the direction where the sun hid and use artificial light sources like city lights. This way you will have a little more light to work with.

Some people may think I should use a tripod but I almost never use one because I don't like long exposure photos, I always try to replicate what the human eye sees.

Back to the blog. We enjoyed about a week the beaches of the Amalfi Coast and found our next location for pictures; Positano. A beautiful city with incredible gastronomy and landscapes that I wasn’t expecting. I think I underestimated this trip because I was positively surprised.

Underwater tips: Raise the ISO a bit because it gets dark down there. Use something to float because it's not very nice to swim with the camera gear.

Photography Blog: Amalfi Coast

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