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.
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.
