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Oia – Photos of Santorini

Photos of Santorini

Tag: Oia

What is the best view from Oia? Check out my favourite here
This is the view looking back towards Imerovigli and Fira from the end of the caldera at Oia just before the sun sets on another day in Santorini

There are many great views on the walk from Imerovigli along the top of the caldera to Oia at the end of the island.

But what is the best view from Oia? This is my favourite view from Oia looking back towards Imerovigli and over to the right Fira, with a bit of Oia bathed in the early evening sunlight.

Why do I like this photo so much?

I know I have said this quite a few times but I am loving the fact that the images I am publishing on this website are not your typical photos of Santorini. Sorry – that was a completely conincidental (and indeed unnecessary) use of the keyword which is in the URL for this website.

Sorry where was I? Oh yes, why do I like this photo of the view from Oia looking towards Omervigli and Fira perched on the top of the mass of the Santorini Caldera so much?

Well it is a different viewpoint. And I find that this is quite a common thong with me – quite a lot of the photos that I have published are not images that are displayed that often.

This is not a conscious thing. Well that is not strictly true, not going to the photo locations on Santorini which are the most popoluar ones is a conscious decision.

As is the decision not to study the photos others have taken of Santorini – I like to get to a new location with a clear mind and not other peoples images cluttering my vision.

Publishing Santorini photos which are from different viewpoints is just the way things have happened – all I have done is picked the 20 photos that I took in Santorini which I like the most and which represent me and my photography right now.

No there is no science attached to this – these are just photos that I like.

Back to this image.

I love the white buildings sat on top of the caldera – the relative scales of the two tell a story. And I also love that raking golden pre-sunset light warming the face of the caldera.

And finally getting a little bit of Oia in the foreground gives the image a sense of depth and places the three towns relative to each other.

How did I decide on this composition?

This is the panoramic view from Oia taken on my iPhone.

I wanted to get a little bit of Oia in the foreground, which would give depth and scale to the image. I wanted Oia, Imerovigli and Fira in the same shot.

And I wanted the view looking back from Oia to the main body of the caldera and the main part of the Greek Island of Santorini.

The sky was the sky on the day and time that I took that image – you can’t have perfect white fluffy clouds exactly as you want them every time you take a photo.

This was a relatively straightforward composition, I just had to get as far from the main footpath as possible to eliminate all that stuff that you can see in the panoramic image.

Where was the photo taken?

The photo was taken from Oia looking back towards Imerovigli. We had walked that afternoon all the way from Imerovigli, which was a spectacular and very enjoyable experience.

What time of day was the photo taken?

5:02pm. This photo was taken at the end of the walk from Imerovigli to Oia. This was very much pre-drinks time.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot?
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24 – 105mm F4 L Lens
- Hanheld – my Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head was in my bag. Yes I carried it all the way from Imerovigli to Oia.
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack
- Loupe Viewer
- No red hat – by now I needed a cap (but did not have one)
- Oakley sunglasses (which by this time felt like they had been welded to my face)
- Red shoes (feet destroyed)
- Pre-beer photo – might have been a bit rushed!
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F22
- Shutter speeds 1/160th second, 1/640th second and 1/40th second.
- ISO 400
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 40mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
40mm focal length! Now that is unusual for me and tells me that the composition was a very deliberate act to go with such a specific focal length.

Now I know that F22 gives the maximum depth of field but F16 should have been fine with that composition at a focal length of 40mm.

One interesting fact about the image.

It was taken at the end of a walk from Imerovigli. We were going to walk back but there is an excellent bus service that took us both back to Imerovigli for less then 10 euros. And this bus trip gave us a great view of the eastern coast of the island.

Sorry not really that interesting a fact was it?

Erm – I took this photo from near the path from Imerovigli to Oia. I had to get off the main path to get this view.

And there was a really good bar on the opposite side of the footpath.

I had a beer and some nuts.

I think I’d better stop here…

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No. All I have is this iPhone photo of a simlar view. Not quite the same is it.

How did I process the image?

This is the processing that I did in Lightroom to the file created by merging the three bracketed images.

Most of the processing for this image was done in the basic and HSL panels in Lightroom as you can see above.

Getting the white balance correct was crucial to the success of this image. To do this I found a piece of cloud that was a neutral grey, containing similar values of red, green and blue.

I used the targtetted adjustment tool to make a custom white balance selection which gave the image the correct amount ot warmth.

All I then needed to do in Photoshop was remove dust sensor spots and an ugly building bottom left which was spoiling the corner (in the shadows I hasted to add!).

But that kind of removal is fair enough to me.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like this image as it shows the relative locations of Oia, Imerovigli and Santorini.

And it also gives a great view of those famous white buildings of Santorini perched on the top of the caldera of.

The late rafternoon sunlight makes this image, giving a warm glow and a lovely contrast to the lights and shadows.

Finally, what could I have done to improve the image?

Those shadows bottom right bother me. OK I meant bottom left.

I wish they weren’t there. I couldn’t crop in, but I could remove them in Photoshop.

And that is where there is a question – the shadows were there when I was pointing my camera at that particular scene – should I remove them or not?

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

Yes you have heard enough from me – please give me your thoughts on this photo of the view from Oia looking towards Imerovigli and Fira on the Greek Island of Santorini.

And do you think it is ok to remove the shadows bottom left to make the image nicer?

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
23/10/2018
The stunning Santorini view walking from Imerovigli to Oia
This is one of the numerous spectacular views from the bit of land to the north of Imerovigl not long after sunrise. You can walk from Imerovigli to Oia in a couple of hours and enjoy endless stunning views of the Greek Island of Santorini

There are many great views when you are on the island of Santorini. I love just walking about on this wonderful Greek Island seeing what I find – this is the best way to find photo locations for me.

I love this stunning Santorini view. This was taken after photographing the sunrise from the caldera. The sun had just reached these two rocks which I was sat near and I just had to take this shot which I absolutely love.

Why do I like this photo so much?

I love the depth in the image, which has been created by the light and how it interacts with the landscape. The sunlight has illuminated the rocks in the foreground, but not the areas around. The rocks were sticking up just enough to for the sunlight to illuminate them for that brief moment just before the sun lit the part in shade in the photo.

This was a fleeting moment that I was thankfully aware of and able to capture as it happened – 30 seconds later and the moment was gone.

I love the depth in this image, with the foreground interest and that lovely morning sunlight and the caldera running away down to Oia in the background.

This is what landscape photography is all about for me – capturing stunning views and fleeting moments lost forever.

How did I decide on this composition?

Quickly! No time to think with this one.

I was sat on these rocks after photographing the sunrise, which was coming in from the right. The rocks were actually my temporary base for this shoot. What I do is put my camera bag on something nice and solid and not too close to the edge of the caldera – accidents happen, especially to someone as clumsy as me!

And this mornnig it was those very rocks that I put my gear on.

I was sat on the rock debating what to do next, and having a rest, when the sun hit these rocks and I knew straight away that there was a photo to be made here.

Composition was quick to capture the fleeting moment which I am so glad I caught.

Where was the photo taken?

Right where the orange tab is.

Right there. How ridiculously precise is this GPS stuff! Zoom in when you are using the Map Module in Lightroom and see just how precise the data is – I could go back to that exact spot if I wanted to – absolutely amazing. And a great example of technology working across devices, the data being recorded on my Canon 6D and turned into meaningful data using Lightroom.

What time of day was the photo taken?

6:31am. Just after sunrise. And just as the sun hit the rocks in the foreground. Obviously.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot?
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24 – 105mm F4 L Lens (focal length used 17mm)
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack
- Loupe Viewer
- Red hat – still cold
- Oakley sunglasses
- Red shoes (not aching yet)
- Coke Zero and melted chocolate
Happily for this image I have some shots of some of my gear on location on the Santorini caldera. Here you can see what I am pointing my camera at.

And here is my Peak Design Everyday Backpack next to my Manfrotto 190 Go tripod.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack on the Santorini caldera

What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F22
- Shutter speeds 1/160th second, 1/640th second and 1/40th second.
- ISO 400
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 28mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
I used F22 as I needed the maximum depth of field, as I was pointing my camera down on the rocks which I needed in focus, as well as the end of the caldera.

One interesting fact about the image.

Look how precarious my tripod is. Seriously is that how I actually took the photo? I honestly can’t remember, but it looks rather odd and hardly an example of text book use of a Manfrotto tripod!

Maybe it is just the angle that I took this photo on my iPhone with?

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

Yes. And here it is on my YouTube channel. You can see how much of an afterthought this image is – the rocks appear right at the end of shooting! they just creep in on the right at the end.

That was the point at which I realised there was a potential shot to be made!

How did I process the image?

This is the global processing of the complete image in Lightroom. But for this image I want to talk about something else.

view of Santorini in Lightroom” width=”790″ height=”430″> How I processed this view of Santorini in Lightroom

And the something else is local adjustments. And more specifically one of my favourite tools in Lightroom, the radial tool.

This is the area selected using the radial tool, and you can see what I am doing here to the area in red only.

I am lightening the rocks and adding some clarity to the rocks to bring out the textures just in the rocks.

How I processeed this view of Santorini

This is done to make the rocks more prominent, giving the foreground a focal point before the eye goes into the scene beyond.

The eye is drawn to the lightest part of a picture, and I wanted that to be the rocks n the foreground and not the white buildings on the top of the caldera.

What could I have done to improve this image?

Well that is a question. How could I have improved this image?

Being critical of my composition I could have given more space to the left of the headland and the town of Oia – a bit more sea would have given the image more space. I used a 28mm focal length on my Canon 24-105mm lens so there was some lattitude there but this was clearly a conscious decision to frame this composition.

I try to get the composition just right in camera, and do not like shooting wider than I want to knowing I can crop in later – my mind does not work like that.

In terms of processing I could have removed some of the (natural!) white marks from the rocks, and maybe the pink flower to the right. And the whie buildings in the middle.

I have not removed these things as they are there and for me part of the scene. Not that I am a die hard purist – I have removed bigger distractions than these from my photographs before.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I really like this image. There a lovely sense of depth to the scene, with the sun illuminating the rocks in the foreground, whilst the adjacent land is still in shade. The southern facing cliffs of the Santorini caldera are the first to catch the morning sun as well as the town of Oia at the end of the caldera.

You can see a few white buildings behind the shaded part of the land which you walk past on the path from Imerovigli to Oia.

All in all an image I am very happy with.

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

OK – you have read what I have to think about this image, what do you think? Please let me know, as I love to hear feedback on not only my images of Santorini but also what I have written about my photographic work.

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
13/10/2018
Santorini picture locations – what is the best view of Oia?
A lovely view of Oia from the top of the Santorini Caldera. This photo was taken late morning and shows the lovely flat sea and the reflection of the the colours of Oia on that lovely flat sea. The small Greek Island of Sikinos can be seen in the background

Santorini has many great locations to take photos, and many great locations to take photos of. Oia is one of those locations that is a great subject to photograph.

So what is the best view of Oia? In my opinion this view from the top of the caldera is the best view of Oia, showing the small town perched on the end of the caldera. This is one of my favourite pictures of Santorini.

This is one of the reasons I love taking pictures of the Greek Islands – some of them are small enough that you can photograph a winderful scene and then walk to it!

Why do I like this photo so much?

It is the flat blue water that makes the image for me. The reflections of the white buildings of Oia shimmering off the flat blue sea. And with such a clear blue sky the sea has that lovely deep blue colour symbolic of Greece.

The different textures in the water make this image so appealing to me – I find the scene so wonderfully relaxing. I can imagine being sat on a balcony on top of the Santorini caldera with a cold beer looking out on this scene. And that for me is what travel photography is all about – creating images that make you want to be there.

How did I decide on this composition?

I was trying to get somewhere else to take a photo, but I kept looking over towards Oia, constantly watching the sea as it changed over the course of the morning. I had to stop as the sea had reached this wonderful flat state.

I knew I wanted some different photos in my set of images of Santorini. It is not just about the sunrise and sunset on Santorini – there is much more in-between.

So this was not an intentional photo, I just had to stop to take it.

It was an easy capture – pretty much what you see is what I was looking at and exactly what I wanted to capture. Sometimes I can spend a long time on a composition, and sometimes it is a pretty instant thing, like with this image.

Sometimes we all need to remember that photography is about taking photos, not a technical exercise.

Where was the photo taken?

The GPS co-ordinates were not recorded on my Canon 6D but I know where the photo was taken by back tracking the day’s activities. Here is the location cunningly marked on the screenshot from the Map Module of Lightroom.

Santorini photo location

In the background you can see the island of Sikinos. When I return to Santorini one thing I want to do is charter a boat and have a look at some of these tiny uninhabited islands from which there shold be some great views looking back to Santorini.

What time of day was the photo taken?

9:45am. About 5 ½ hours after I got up. And I was on the move up the caldera to find a location for the next morning. Before I go back for a quick breakfast that is. I was fuelled on snacks and not enough fluid – a point for another time!

What photography gear did I use to get the shot
- Canon 6D
- Canon 24 – 105mm F4 L Lens (focal length used 17mm)
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Loupe Viewer
- No hat – it was long after sunrise
- Oakley sunglasses
- Red shoes (feet dreading the day ahead)
- Not enough snacks or water
I used the Canon 24 – 105mm lens as I was walking from one location to another. This lens as such a great focal length which is great when walking about – on some trips I have just taken this lens and been absolutely fine so if I need to travel light this is my go to lens.

Im ny Peak Design Everyday Backpack I also had the Canon 17 – 40 and 70 – 200mm lenses.

What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F16
- Shutter speeds 1/500th second, 1/2100th second and 1/125th second.
- ISO 400
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 84mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
One interesting fact about the image.

I took this one photo and that was it. Just one image capture and then I kept on walking.

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No – I stopped moving from one place to another to get this shot. And at that time the last thing on my mind would have been taking a video!

How did I process the image?

This is the main processing in Lightroom, using the Basic and HSL panels

How I processed one of my images of Santorini

What am I trying to achieve with my processing? I am trying to recreate the scene that I was looking at before I raised my camera to my eye. The scene that made me want to take a photo.

I am not doing anything fancy in Lightroom and Photoshop – I am just trying to make the content of the image look the best I can.

I am trying to enhance the features within the image.

And finally I am correcting all the errors introduced at the time of image capture, and anything that is creeping in at the edges.

And having done all this I want viewers to look at my photo and not think – that was a great job in Photoshop! My image editing should be so subtle and natural that you don’t think of it when looking at one of my photos.

What could I have done to improve the image?

To be honest this is the scene I remember looking at, so I am happy with the photo. But lets be critical here.

Well having the actual GPS co-ordinates would have made it better for me, but that is just me. No-one else cares.

Got it. Over to the right on the top of the caldera is a building which is cut off by the composition. I could have composed it better so there was land at no half building there. And of course I could just remove it in Photoshop.

Would anyone else care? Probably not. I have looked at this image numerous times and only when ansering this question did I come up with this point.

And that is why i have this question in each and every post – it forces me to look at the final image critically as part of my writing – it is important that I do this so I learn for future shoots.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like it. It is not one of your run of the mill photos of Santorini. I have looked at lots of pictures of the Greek Islands, and feel that this image represents this part of the island really well.

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

Let me know your thoughts not only on this image but also my thoughts – do you agree with what I have written about this image, and do you have any questions about the image capture or image processing?

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
12/10/2018
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
What are my best photos of Santorini?
Photo of the view from one of the white buildings of Santorini looking towards the end of the Caldera and Oia

I have been on a photography trip to the wonderful Greek Island of Santorini. I got some great images, but how do I choose my best photos of Santorini? Well this website is all about my photos, that and a little bit about the wonderful island itself. And I’m not going to lie to you, I am very excited to share my best work on this website.

So I ask the question – what are my best photos of Santorini? Well this one of them. I love this view from one of the famous white buildings in Imerovigli looking down from the top of the Caldera towards Oia in the distance.

I will write about this photo in this blog post. I will describe what I was thinking before I took the shot, how I captured the image and a bit about post-processing. Not too much but hopefully you will enjoy reading this post.

Why do I like this photo so much?

Well this photo has a lovely feel to it. And that is important to me.

The white painted walls of the building in the foreground are warmed with some lovely evening sunshine, giving them a lovely warm glow contrast with the lovely evening light and the flat sea in the background.

The white building is is placed on high, giving a view looking down on the sea and the lower lying caldera taking you to the white buildings of Oia on the headland.

And the white buildings of Oia are barely visible in the darkening light just before the sun sets.

This is what Santorini is all about.

How did I decide on this composition?

I wanted to use the hard building structure to contrast and frame the natural environment in the rest of the image.

I couldn’t get the right angle for the concrete to lead you into the background landcsape – there just wasn’t enough room to get the composition I really wanted.

The famous white buildings of Santorini provide such a contrast to the stunning natural landscape. As an architectural photographer I try to capture not only the built environment but also the the surrounding environment and how the two interact.

And of course the impact of man on the natural environment.

I wanted to convey the topography of the island, with all those buildings perched on the top of the caldera with the cliffs dropping down into the sea.

And I wanted to create a slightly different image, which i hope I have done?

Santorini really is a dramatic island, and the way the buildings have been constructed on the top of the caldera is really quite remarkable. A small Greek Island, but a stunning one to photograph.

Where was the photo taken?

This photo was taken from the top of some steps between two white buildings on the outskirts of Imerovigli looking towards Oia. The island in the background is Sikinos.

What time of day was this photo taken?

The photo was taken just after 4.30 one April afternoon. I was heading off to capture sunset on the caldera from the top of the caldera on the edge of Imerovigli.

What photography gear did I use to get the shot
- Canon 6D Mk 1
- Canon 24-105mm lens – focal length 24mm
The image was taken handheld. No filterrs used.

Check out my full gear list on my photography gear page.

What camera settings did I use?
- Shutter speeds – 1/500 second, 1/2000 second, 1/125 second
- Aperture – F16
- ISO 400
This is an HDR image. I took three images, the first the correct exposure (1/500 second), the second two stops under exposed (1/2000 second) and the third image two stops over exposed (1/125 second).

I take three images so I can capture a greater range of basically what I can see – single image capture has its limitations and HDR (High Dynamic Range) allows me to capture more range in an image.

One interesting fact about the image.

I waited for the boat which you can see just below the headland and Oia. I wanted one boat in the sea to break it up.

I had quite a wait and boat was smaller than I had hoped for!!

I took this photo at the top of some steps, and for some reason I got rather a lot of strange looks, possibly due to the time I was stood there waiting for the boat to appear.

And it was boiling hot at 4.30 even in April. so I was probably looking a bit of a sweaty mess!

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No. It is bad enough shooting in the built-up parts of Santorini and as the shot was hendheld I couldn’t make a video of me taking the photo.

How did I process the image?

Firstly I merged together the two stop under exposed and two stop over exposed images in Lightroom using the HDR Merge tool.

This is the correctly exposed RAW file completey unprocessed.

Travel photography, Santroini, Greece by Rick McEvoy Photography

I know. Its rather dull and lacking in colour! But that is what a RAW file lookes like.

I merge the two files together in Lightroom, giving me a single file with the extended dynamic range of the two image captures merged nicely and naturally to give this look.

After that processing in Lightroom is mainly concentrated in the Basic panel and HSL panel. I do a lot of basic correction on import.

I finshed off the image in Photoshop removing sensor dust removal and minor blemishes.

What could I have done to improve the image?

I would have preferred the concrete wall bottom right to have been further to the right and lead the eye into the picture more.

And I would have liked a big shiny white cruise liner in the image. I could have added a big white ship from another photo but I don’t do stuff like that.

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like it. The image conveys one of the features of Santorini – the white buildings planted on the top of the caldera overlooking the sea with amazing views all around.

I think I have captured the feel of Santorini, which is very important to me. The white building in the foreground has a warm glow from the later afternoon sun which I excluded deliberately from this shot.

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

Whilst I love this photo of Santorini that I have taken what do you think? I would love to hear your feedback on my photography work – at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what I think as I took the photo!

No your opinion is very important to me – if only I like it then I have failed!

Please get in touch via the comments box – I love to hear what people think of my photography work and reply to every comment.

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
28/09/2018