As pressed for time as I tend to be on a day to day basis, I can’t not do a photography blog about our recent trip to Italy. By all means, check out the full photo albums, but here I just wanted to share the “wow” photos that I thought were the most interesting or beautiful. I’m not going to comment on settings and gear used for each photo, because honestly these are all vacation mode “f/8 and be there” type photos for the most part, that aren’t going to be beyond the realm of even the latest iPhones. Any DSLR within the past 10 years and any dual camera smartphone (iPhone 7 and up) are going to be more than good enough to get you tons of great photos, so long as you understand the basics and know how to use them, which I’ll cover at the bottom.
Firenze
We took a redeye from Washington-Dulles to Florence via Brussels, Belgium and Brussels airlines, and luckily were able to rest up enough that we were able to walk around and enjoy the city after we landed. Of course you have to swing by the Duomo in Florence, which is spectacular.
Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and refers to a string of five ancient Meditteranean coastal cities along Italy’s western coast. We drove from Florence to our next hotel in La Spezia, and then took a local train that runs through Cinque Terre, since it’s not practical to access by car. Sadly, we drove right by Pisa and the famous leaning tower, but didn’t have time to stop, so we’ll have to do that on another trip someday. Cinque Terre was gorgeous and is definitely worth at least a full day stop.
Milano
I’ll be honest that we weren’t big on Milan. It’s too “modern”, when we strongly prefer the ancient towns and countrysides of Italy, but the shopping was great (for Debbie), and the Duomo was absolutely incredible. Be sure to check the bigger photo albums (Part 1) for many more interior photos, but like most things of this nature, you really just have to be there to experience it and take it all in, as even photos from a professional grade camera and lenses don’t do it justice. We went on a guided tour of the Milan Duomo, and can’t believe that it took 450 years to build. It’s incredible what they were able to build so long ago, but how do you put 450 years in perspective?
Lake Como
Lake Como is a place we’ll clearly have to visit again. It’s stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately we had bad weather the single full day we were there. That didn’t stop me from getting some great photos of the area the day we arrived, and then the morning we were leaving. Lake Como is a place that’s beautiful no matter the weather, and also incredibly quiet and peaceful, being far away from big cities. It was a great place to just unwind and relax, and enjoy the silence. We could easily spend a week here, enjoying all of the small towns and gardens, and might just do that on our next trip!
Verona
We made a quick pit stop in Verona while driving from Lake Como to Venice, and saw the Castelvecchio castle and bridge. I think the countrysides of Verona, ancient castles like this one, and possibly doing a winery tour is where it’s really at in this region.
Venezia
Venice was truly stunning, and the city itself is another UNESCO World Heritage site. The art and architecture, its history, and the fact that this was all built on marshland a thousand years ago was all incredible to see and experience. As one of our tour guides pointed out, forget about seeing Venice as a “romantic” city. Venice was all about power, prestige, wealth, and greed in its day, and anything they wanted that they couldn’t get, they’d pillage from others. Venice was the first true international financial center in the world, emerging in the 9th century and peaking around the 14th. By the time new sea routes opened up around the Cape of Good Hope with the Americas, and then heading east to Asia, Venice was so wealthy that it took another three centuries for it to decline and to finally be conquered during the Napoleonic wars.
The city today is mainly just a living and breathing museum, and a big tourist trap that’s also massively in debt, but imagining all of this a thousand years ago was another mind-bender. Venice is definitely a must-see place in Italy.
Gear
Dude, it’s Italy. It’s gorgeous. You just show up and you’re going to get amazing photos just from being in such a beautiful place. I could have taken the vast majority of these photos with the cheapest DSLR camera and kit lens, and nobody would have been able to tell any difference. Any APS-C class or larger sensor DSLR or mirrorless camera from the past 10 years, and I’d say any dual-camera smartphone such as the iPhone 7 or newer, are all more than good enough. So long as you understand the basics of timing, lighting, and composition, you’re going to get great photos.
Related Blog: THE SECRETS TO GETTING GREAT PHOTOS
We’ve come a long ways in nearly 20 years of digital cameras and photography. Early digital sensors left a lot be desired compared to film, had limited resolution, and typically awful dynamic ranges and highlight renditions. I strongly preferred the look of film to even my Nikon D80, which came out in 2006, but anything made within the past 10 years is more than good enough. The reason I’d suggest a dual-camera smartphone such as an iPhone 7 or newer, if that’s you’re preferred photography tool, is because you’ll actually be able to take a normal or short telephoto shot at a reasonable resolution. With a single wide-angle camera, you end up having to crop heavily for a normal to short telephoto shot, which typically leaves you with very little resolution leftover, and a technically poor photo. Italy deserves better.
Gear really doesn’t matter these days, when most everything is so competent. Far more important than photography gear on such a trip is keeping what you’ve got powered up. Especially if using a phone that’s also sucking down navigation data as you walk around unfamiliar towns while also taking photos, a good 10,000 to 20,000 mAh class portable recharger is going to be essential. You might need to recharge your phone completely two or three times in a day if it’s doing it all! You also need a good bag to keep your belongings secured. All of your amazing photos are going to be for naught if a pick pocketer manages to make with your stuff! ThinkTank makes a lot of good stuff designed with this in mind. My Spectral 10 bag worked brilliantly. It’s been discontinued by ThinkTank, but is still available at retailers like B&H. (I make $0 on affiliate links, as this is purely a personal blog and website.)
That said, I brought my full-frame Canon EOS RP mirrorless camera, the Canon EF 17-40L ultra-wide, Canon EF 24-105L mid-zoom, and the new Canon native RF mount 35mm f/1.8 IS macro lens, along with a small Canon 220EX flash. This stuff is all total overkill for vacation photography like this, but it’s my format of choice and what I’ve got. I brought a mid-zoom rather than a telephoto, as 105mm was going to be more than long enough for most photos, and the point of this trip was to relax and have a nice time, rather than to be constantly jockeying lenses.
The biggest thing that I gain with a full-frame camera for vacation style photos is the natural vignetting (darkening of corners) that it gives the photos at medium to large apertures. I love this and feel that it gives photos a more natural and organic look, that I’d have to spend many hours recreating in post-processing otherwise. In comparison, more modern APS-C cameras and lenses are designed with more “optical perfection” in mind with less of this, but tend to deliver a flatter and more “clinical” rendering as a result that just puts me to sleep. I noticed this while going through a bunch of my older travel photos, that as good as my APS-C Canon 7D Mark II camera was and still is, I strongly preferred the “look” off of my older full-frame Canon 5D Mark II. This is why I’ve gone back to full-frame with the Canon EOS RP, as I just prefer its look better, among other things.
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed all of my Italy photos.
Check out my dedicated Italy page below, or click on the individual albums themselves at the bottom. The “Highlight” album covers our full October 2019 trip, but if you’re a foodie or want to see more, definitely check out the bigger albums that are split into two parts.
