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caldera – Photos of Santorini

Photos of Santorini

Tag: caldera

Where to watch the sunrise on Santorini – let me tell you
The view looking to the east down the island from the caldera at sunrise showing the other side of the Greek Island of Santorini

To watch the sunrise on Santorini you have to be in the right place. And at the right time of course.

Where to watch the sunrise on Santorini? Simple. On the eastern edge of the caldera. Stay on the west and you will be waiting a while for the sun to rise over the land!

And no I did not drive to this location, I got there after photographing the sunrise on my own two feet wearing my ridiculously packed red pumps.

Have I shown you my red pumps yet?

Here they are. Well one of them anyway. You get the idea. Stupid footwear choice for a photography trip I know. Red Moshulu pumps.

Why do I like this photo so much?

This is another less popular view of the sunrise on Santorini. This photo was taken from the side of the road from Imerovigli to Oia.

You can see the road in this picture.

More of that later. Sorry – I do digress from time to time. Back to why I like this picture of the sunrise on Santorini.

It is the view down the island, on the flatter eastern side, with those three stunning natural colours, green, blue and orange.

This was not in my original pick of 20 photos of Santorini, but after a rethink I edited this image and here it is.

And I am delighted to have added this landscape photo of Santorini to this website. Funny I have not used the term landscape photo on this website up until now!

How did I decide on this composition?

You can see the panoramic view in the next section of the whole scene. The composition was framed by the road to the right, and the cloud top left which I now wish was not there.

I excluded the sun from this composition as I wanted to the lovely sunrise colours to be the star of the show, without the (normally welcome) distraction of a big burst of bright sunshine.

This composition is all about the layers of colours, starting with the lovely blue sky, the the band of orange from the sun that has just risen and the lush green of the fields of the eastern coast of Santorini.

That was the story of this image. And as I have said not a view that I have seen before.

Where was the photo taken?

Well this is the view taken from the road with my iPhone. I love the ease with which the iPhone takes panoramic images, I just wish my main camera did the same as easily.

And this is the location recorded by the GPS on my Canon 6D. It is the yellow tab on the map.

What time of day was the photo taken?

5.23am. Just after the sun had risen. I had captured the stunning sunrise that I had walked all the way to this location for, and sat on the wall thinking about where to go next. And as I sat there and looked at the view that was when I realised I didn’t need to move – I was already at the next photo location. Well I had to move off the road and down a bit.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot?
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24-105mm F4 L Lens (focal length used 24mm)
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack – here it is sat on that volcanic ground.
- Loupe Viewer
- My thick red hat
- Oakley sunglasses
- Pepsi Max – although coffee would have been much better
- Red shoes with thin socks (feet warming up by now)
I know that I was moving from one place to another as I used my 24-105mm lens. When I am settled in a location I tend to put my 17-40mm lens on my Canon 6D, as this will give me a wider view with some latitude going to 40mm.

I tend to shoot images using my 17-40mm lens at 17mm, and photos taken using my 24-105mm lens at 24mm, which I find quite interesting.

And I dont crop images, normally with my photographs what you see is what I saw and captured.

What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F16
- Shutter speeds 1/40th second, 1/10th second and 1/160th second.
- ISO 100
- Back-button focus
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
As usual I used the aperture I use other than F8 to get this shot – F16 – to get as much depth of field as possible. Did that make sense?

What I meant was that I use F8 unless I need more depth of field and then I use F16.

That was better second time around. Actual English.

One interesting fact about the image.

I have never seen this view before. Never. I guess people are only in this location of they are going somewhere else. It is just me who finds these obscure places and stops at them waiting for the sun to rise.

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No – all I have is this still image taken on my iPhone showing my Canon 6D on my Manfrotto tripod.

Look at the contrast between a straight photo taken on my iPhone 7 Plus (which has a pretty good camera I have to say) and the final image taken on my Canon 6D and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

How did I process the image?

Here are the Lightroom settings showing most of what I did to the file created by merging together the three bracketed shots.

Nothing significant to report on the processing other than the fact that I used the HSL panels luminance and saturation tools to naturally enhance those lovely sunrise colours.

What could I have done to improve the image?

Well looking at this image the cloud top left bothers me to be honest. Now that I have said that you are looking at it aren’t you?

And before I said anything you hadn’t noticed had you?

The problem is the cloud was there, which is why I included it in the image. Tell you what – I will remove the cloud and see which looks better.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

This was not an original choice, but I am delighted to have changed my mind and included this image on my website.

I like this photo – it is all about those layers of colours, the lovely blue, orange and green complimented by the composition with the road on one side and the coastline on the other forming natural (ish) frames to the scene in the middle.

Talking of thoughts of this image, a comment I made earlier made me think (this happens from time to time). The complete contrast in colours, exposure and tonal range from the Canon 6D shot to the iPhone shot is quite startling.

And that thought is?

I should take the exact same scene on my iPhone as well as on my Canon 6D and do a comparison.

RAW image to RAW image and edited image to edited image.

It will be fascinating to see how the two compare. But that is one for another time.

Enough of me – what do you think of this image?

And have you ever seen a photo of this view before? I haven’t.

And a second specific question – do you prefer the photo of the sunrise on Santorini with or without the cloud?

Please let me know, and also what you think of this photo and if you have any comments or questions on this post.

One last thing

If you want to buy this image, or want to speak to me about future collaboration email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger
20/10/2018
Santorini photo locations – walking from Imerovigli to Oia
This is the view looking towards Oia from the top of the Santorini Caldera. Thirasia can be seen in the background. This photograph was taken from the footpath from Imerovigli to Oia, a very enjoyable and manageable walk

Santorini is a small island but there is lots to see walking around the island. I love exploring islands like this on foot – it is the only way for me.

If you walk from Imerovigli to Oia this is the view you get from mext to the Church of Panagia – now this is one of my favourite Santorini photo locations without a doubt. The church is behind me by the way, but more of that later.

Why do I like this photo so much?

Well this photo tells a story of Santorini. It shows Oia in the disatnce, with the white buildings standing out against against the natural background. As you can see Oia is located at the very end of the main caldera. You can see Thirasia in the background, once part of the island before the massive voclano.

You can see the rocky terrain of the caldera, and there are late afternoon colours bursting out from beyond the overhead clouds.

How did I decide on this composition?

You can’t see it on this photo but there is a church right behind where I took this photo, the Church of Panagia. I didnt want the church in this photo – this photo was going to be all about the terrain of the caldera.

I decided to include the rocky terrain in the foreground to show what the terrain is actually like. And the footpath running down from the bottom right hand corner taking you into the image in a subtle way.

And then you get to the white buildings of Oia, sat on the end of the caldera.

The sotry of the caldera is completed by the next piece of land, Thirasia, disconnected from the island years ago.

And this is nicely complimented by a different sky, with clouds over Santorini but clearing to the west where the warmth of the sun is visible.

Where was the photo taken?

Church of Pagania is shown on the blue tag. I don’t have the GPS co-ordinates in Lightroom – my Canon 6D did not record them.

It can’t be the lack of signal from the satellites – there was nothing in the way! Either I didn’t turn on the GPS or it just didn’t work. Thankfully I take photos on my iPhone so I have a backup of most locations where I have taken photos.

The walk from Imerovigli to Oia is a pretty fantastic walk I have to say, going through lots of fascinating and varied terrain. I could have spent a very long day taking photos on this walk. This post is about Santorini photo locations – the walk in itself is just that!

What time of day was the photo taken?

3:12pm on the walk from Imerovigli to Oia. The walk took us a couple of hours, longer than it should of done as I kep stopping to take photos of course!

What photography gear did I use to get the shot
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24 – 105mm F4 L lens
- Handheld
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture – F16
- Shutter speeds – 1/50th second, 1/200th second and 1/15th second
- ISO – 400
- Focal length – 24mm
- AV Mode
- Back button focus
- Auto bracketing
- Handhed
Whilst I took three bracketed images I have only used one of the images. The problem was the car with the headlights showing bottom right on that stretch of road visible.

The car was moving too fast for my chosen shutter speeds – I was photographing the landscape after all and not fast moving cars!

When I merged the images in Lightroom the car was blurry. Sure I could have just removed the car in Photoshop but I wanted to keep it in the photo. It is a point of interest to me and relevant to this scene.

I used F16 to get sharpness from the foreground rocks all the wya through to Thirasia and even the island inthe background, which I believe to be a uninnhabited island called Christiana.

One interesting fact about the image.

There is a church right behind where I took this photo. And this is the church on the top of the caldera which you can see in another photo on this website.

Here it is.

This is the church on the top of the caldera on the island of Santorini that you walk past on the walk from Imerovigli to Oia

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

Well there is a video of the location showing the Church of Panagia and the views all around. The video is terrible quality I have to say, but you get the idea of the location. You can view the video here.

If there is one learning point that comes from my photography trip to Santorini it is to vastly improve the quality of the videos I take.

How did I process the image?

As I said earlier the HDR Merge did not work so the image you are looking at is a single image processed in Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.

This is what the main editing looks like in Lightroom.

I also did some localised dodging and burning to give the image a touch more depth.

You can see the sensor spots in the sky which I removed in Photoshop.

On the subject of editing photos, I always finish off an image in Photoshop removing any sensor dust spots, and stuff that creeps into the edges of an image. That is normally as far as my editing goes in Photoshop.

What could I have done to improve the image?

I tried getting the view from the end of the path which you can see in this photo but the compostion was much worse so I had to walk back to get this capture. It tells the story that I wanted to tell so all is fine with me.

And the sky was changing, the band of sunshine warmth coming and going so I was on borrowed time – always a problem in landscape photography.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I remember being there. The walk was just fantastic – it was as though the walk in itself was a tour of some of the best Santorini photo locations – just walking from Imerovigli to Oia.

And that for me is when a photo works – when it take me back there and brings back such vivid memories. It was cloudy that day and windy on the top but warm when you sat down for a rest. And by the time we got to Oia the sun had reappeared and the clouds had gone.

Enough of me – what do you think of this image?

Please let me know what you think of this photo of Santorini, even if you don’t like it. And if you have any questions about Santorini then please get in touch with me and I will be happy to help if I can.

One last thing

If you want to buy this image, or want to speak to me about future collaboration email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger
10/10/2018
Probably one of the best Santorini photo locations?
Picture of sunrise on the Greek Island of Santorini, with the view looking towards Imerovigli from the top of the Santoini Caldera. Never before have I seen both cold blue and sunrise warmth in the same image

A fundamental question when going on a photography trip is where to take photos from. Now I don’t do extensive research before I go on a trip, but I do have a quick look so I get a general idea of what I will be wandering around.

So the fundamental question is this – is the caldera one of the best Santorini photo locations? In my opinion clearly this is a yes – I took all the photos on this website on the caldera, and only left the caldera (reluctantly) to go home!

Why do I like this photo so much?

Simple. It is the first image that I have captured which shows so clearly the different colour temperatures before sunrise and during sunrise in one image. To the right the light is cold and blue, and to the left you can clearly see the warmth provided by the rising sun. And you can also see the transition from cold to warm in the clouds in the sky.

I have never captured this before in one image in quite such a dramatic way – that was the beauty of the location I was taking the photo from. And the beauty of taking photographs on the wonderful Greek Island of Santorini. Every day on Santorini the sunrise was different – it was quite amazing to witness.

The image also gives a great representation of the topography of the island, with the buildings visible on the top of the caldera to the west, with the island gradually falling down to the sea to the east.

And it also shows the value of getting up early in the morning and getting out there! Even on holiday I love doing this.

Sorry that reminded me – my favourite images tend to be ones taken at sunrise, which is my favourite part of every day. There is something special about being the only one out there watching a new day unfold.

How did I decide on this composition?

I had already walked past this location and made a mental note of the unrestricted view of Imerovigli and so much of the island. I was up and about early that morning and quickly found this spot again.

I realised that from this viewpoint I could show the topography of the island from a different angle, as well as the coastline on both sides of the island. To be honest I have not seen this particular view before. Not that I do extensive research before I visit a location.

I wanted to show the contrast in the coastlines, the east coast having gentle sloping land down to the sea, with the west coast consisting of steep plummeting cliffs.

I wanted to show the shape and size of the caldera on the main island.

I also wanted foreground content which showed the terrain away from the built-up areas.

I wanted to represent Santorini in one photograph.

Where was the photo taken?

The photo was taken from the top of the caldera, right where the number five is on the Lightroom Map extract.

This is a great location to take photos from – just to the left is the church that features in some of my other images you can see on this website.

This is one of the reasons why GPS in a camera is so important in my travel photography – I can see exactly where I took every photo which is invaluable in the work that I do.

And also the reason I scout my own locations so I get the compositions that I want, and not the headline shots that everyone else seems to go for.

What time of day was the photo taken?

Just after 6am in the morning. I was up long before 4am on this morning as I knew where I was walking to for the sunrise.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot
- Canon 6D
- Canon 17 – 40mm F4 L Lens (focal length used 17mm)
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Loupe Viewer
- My red hat
- Oakley sunglasses
- Pepsi Max
- Red shoes (feet already acheing by now)
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F16
- Shutter speeds 1/50th second, 1/200th second and 1/13th second.
- ISO 400. I was surprised that I used an ISO of 400. But thinking about it the clouds were moving, and I didn’t want the shutter speed too slow or I would have got blur in the clouds. ISO 400 on the Canon 6D really isn’t a problem – the sensor can give a super clean image at this sensitivity.
- Back-button focus
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
One interesting fact about the image.

Well the range of colour temperatures for one thing – I have never captured them quite like this before. Other than that no dramas on this shoot.

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

Yes – there is the 360 view I captured using my iPhone not long before the image was taken. You can check it out on YouTube.

How did I process the image?

Firstly I merged the three images together in Lightroom to create a single image.

The challenge with this image was to get the white balance correct, as I had two colour temperatures in the same image – talk about mixed lighting!

To get the white balance correct I used the eye dropper tool and selected a neutral part of the clouds, which I found in the end! I went to the middle of the image, where the two light sources met. All you need to do is move the eye dropper tool over what looks like a neutral part of the picture, and get the three numbers as close as possible, and then click and tht is that done!

After that processing was done in the Basic Panel in Lightroom, which I did using the Vibrance slider before moving on to the HSL Panel. Here I played around with the colours and luminances – what I was trying to recreate was the scene that I remember seeing with my own eyes. I can still picture that wonderful scene with the warm light to the left and the cold light to the right – such a stunning natural occurrence.

I finsihed off the image with a bit of cleaning up in Photoshop, removing sensor dust spots and irritations around the edges – no major editing to be fair.

What could I have done to improve the image?

Hmmm. Well I could have moved somewhere else and got a lovely white church in the foreground but I wanted to convey the topography of the Santorini caldera without a building in the composition.

I am after all looking to capture a range of images, not throw everything into every image.

Less is more.

And to be honest I am very happy with this image.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like this image a lot. Once I had selected the first 20 images for this website this was the first one that I uploaded. This is one of my favourite photos of Santorini.

I love the two colour temperatues in the image – I have never captured these before.

And I also like the fact that in one image I am showing the contrasting landscape, with the gentle slope to the east and the cliffs of the caldera to the west. You can just see the white buildings of Imerovigli on the top of the caldera in their spectacular, iconic Santorini location.

I wanted an image that told the story of Santorini in one image, and also an image that was different from most of the photos of Santorini that you see on the internet.

Enough of me – what do you think of this image?

Yep what do you think? Please let me know as at the end of the day I have an emotional attachment to this photo.

And I really do appreciate feedback on my photographs.

One last thing

If you want to buy this image, or want to speak to me about future collaboration email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, writer, blogger
04/10/2018