Tag: Skaros Rock

Stunning view of Fira and Nea Kameni Island from Skaros Rock
The spectacular view from Skaros Rock looking towards Fira, the capital of Santorini. Colour is provided by the lovely yellow spring flowers which contrast with the deep blue sea. To the right you can see the volcano called Nea Kameni

I have said this on more than one occasion, but I will say it again – there are some fantastic views from the Greek Island of Santorini.

But this stunning view of Fira and Nea Kameni Island from Skaros Rock is one of my favourites. And in this post I will tell you exactly why.

Nea Kameni Island is the actual volcano bit by the way! I have just found tha tout researching this photo!

Why do I like this photo so much?

There is so much about this image that I like.

The bright blue of the sky. The lovely deep blue sea.

And the yellow of the flowers that dominate the foreground.

And finally over ot the left the famous white buildings of Santroini sat on top of the caldera.

And then there is the view – quite simply a stunning view from the top of Skaros Rock giving a great perspective on the caldera.

How did I decide on this composition?

I spent a good hour on the top of Skaros Rock. The first five minutes were spent breathing and drinking after the climb to the top of Skaros Rock.

And sweating. Nice I know!

Or as I like to call it consdering potential compositions.

I’ll let you into a secret here – sometimes when I stop to take a photo on a strenuous walk I am not taking a photo – I am just having a sneaky rest!

I wanted to get the sense of the scale of the view from the top of Skaros Rock, and contrast the blue of the sea with the yellow of the flowers, getting some white buildings into the picture too.

I moved all around the edge of the rock until I got the curved shape that you can see in this image – this was the natural frame for he composition I was looking for.

Where was the photo taken?

This is the view from the built-up bit of Imerovigli looking down onto Skaros Rock – which is where I took the photo from.

This was taken on my iPhone by the way.

And this is Skaros Rock and the path up to the base of the upstanding rock at the top. If that makes any sense?

And for completeness, here is an extract from Lightroom showing where I took the photo – as ever it is the yellow tab.

Not that you needed this last bit of info to find Skaros Rock! It is that rock bit with it’s own name!

What time of day was the photo taken?

13:09:47 to be precise. And why not?

Here is a picture of the actual set up of my Canon 6D on my Manfrotto 190 Go tripod – yes this is exactly how I took the photo.

And you can see the last of the cloud lingering around that earlier on that morning had completely covered the sea forming a surreal carpet – check out my other posts for a great photo of this – even if I do say so myself!

What photography gear did I use to get the shot?
- Canon 6D
- Canon 17-40mm F4 L Lens
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack
- Loupe Viewer
- No red hat – I was nice and warm by this time after a good, energetic climb up Skaros Rock. Ok I was hot, sweaty and knackered!!
- Oakley sunglasses (lenses marked with drips of sweat that I could not get rid of)
- Red shoes (in need of a clean after the climb)
- No snacks required – just water! And I took two bottles with me this time which makes a change!
Yes I climbed all the way up Skaros Rock, and down again, and to the bit at the front with the other church wearing those silly red pumps. Here it is in this iPhone panoramic photo taken from the other side of Skaros Rock.

What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F16
- Shutter speeds 1/80th second, 1/320th second and 1/20th second.
- ISO 100
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 17mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
What a surprise that I used 17mm on my 17-40mm lens! I have noticed this a lot – that and that I take a lot of photos with my old faithful Canon 24-105mm lens at 24mm. Interesting.

I think I need to get a 14mm fixed lens – that will sort me out and give me more width which I love for my travel photogrpahy work.

One interesting fact about the image.

I was the only person on Skaros Rock when I took this photo. In the hour I was up there I saw four other people.

Nice and quiet, even at that time – just how I like it!

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

Yes – well sort of. I have a short video looking down on Skaros Rock before I left the built-up part of Imerovigli – you can see the footpath and the last of the fast moving clouds in the video here.

I am not sure why I did not take lots of videos of this location – Skaros Rock offers excellent 360 views of the caldera which you don’t get from anywhere else.

How did I process the image?

This is the processing carried out in Lightroom.

Basic adjustments and corrections are done on import of all images into Lightroom. Further processing was carried out using the Basic Panel and the HSL Panel, along with localised dodging and burning.

Blemishes and edge of frame irritations were removed using Photoshop.

Not too much needed to be done to this image,

What could I have done to improve the image?

More cruise ships would have been ether but there was only one there when I took this photo.

You can’t have everything now can you??

And looking at the image a higher viewpoint would have been good, giving the foreground more of a frame for the background.

Problem with this is that I took this photo from the top of a large rock, a very large rock at that. A rock big enough to have it’s own name.

And it is difficult to get step-ladders into my hand luggage, and I dont have a bag long enough to carry my painters’ pole. Not that I would carry my step ladders to the top of Skaros Rock!!

But the painters’ pole – maybe I can get a bag big enough to carry my small painters’ pole??

And what are my thoughts on this image?

I like this image as it gives a great view from the top of Skaros Rock looking south which I have not seen before.

No this image is good – happy with it.

I do have a lingering regret about not taking photos from this location at other times, and also of not taking lots of videos.

This was truly a very dramatic location with lots of great photographic possibilities – I do not feel that I have done this location justice.

So that being the case I think I need to go back there!!

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

Do you like this photo of the view of Fira and Nea Kameni Island from Skaros Rock?

Let me now what you think – it is always great to hear from visitors to my website new and old – all your comments are very welcome .

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
24/10/2018
Photo of the white buildings of Imerovigli from Skaros Rock
This is what Santorini is all about – white buildings stuck on top of the volcanic caldera providing a spectacular and unique landscape. This is Imerovigli photographed from Skaros Rock

We have all seen lots of photos of the white buildings of Imerovigli and other locations on the wonderful Greek Island of Santorini.

But out of all the images of Santorini that we have all seen how many times have we seen this view – a photo of the white buildings of Imerovigli from Skaros Rock?

Not often is the answer.

Why do I like this photo so much?

I like this photo as I have never seen this view of Imerovigli before. This is the view from Skaros Rock looking back up the caldera to the town of Imerovigli where we were stopping.

I love this photo as it really does show how the buildings have been constructed slap bang on the top of the caldera.

And how precarious does this development look? That is the story of this picture of Imerovigli from Skaros Rock.

Those famous white buildings of Santorini perched on top of the caldera.

How did I decide on this composition?

Well I walked to Skaros Rock from Imerovigli after lunch on one of my epic photo taking days.

I had been up since 4am, got back to the hotel and had lunch with Mrs M and then went off to climb Skaros Rock.

But first I had to navigate the meandering footpaths therough all the white buildings to get to the very bottom level of Imerovigli. I took a few wrong turns along the way through the white buildings, passing people on sunloungers and eating lunch.

Seriously I will post my top 10 Santorini tips in another post, but this will be one them.

Check exactly where you will be staying before you book or you might have people like me walking right past your sunloungers all day.

Anyway I eventually got down out of the hit painted buildings and on to the path in the rocks and did a good quick walk all the way round the rock and straight up to the top of Skaros Rock. Apart from the last bit but that is for later.

This is how I travel. I get to the furthest/ highest point as quickly as possible and then work back from there – I like to get the worst out of the way. There is a bit of a scramble to get to the top of Skaros Rock which I managed easily as all my gear was in my Peak Design Everyday Backpack all nice and safely sorted.

And wow what a fantastic location. Absolutely spectacular views all around. There is another photo on this website which was taken from the top of Skaros Rock which is equally sepactacular.

This must be one of the best places to see the sunset in Santorini.

I just sat there on top of the rock sipping my water and taking n the views – another reward for my hard work and intrepid adventuring!

Where was the photo taken?

This photo of the white buildings of Imerovigli percehd on top of the caldera was taken from the top of Skaros Rock. There is one other photo on my website taken from Skaros Rock, sowing the view looking towards Fira.

This is the Lightroom extract of the location that the photo was taken at. It is the yellow tab.

And this is what Skaros Rock looks like from Imerovigli

And finally this is the view of the photo being taken. I know this is with the 70-200mm lens – I swapped lenses after this shot to get the wide view.

What time of day was the photo taken?

1.30pm. I walked there straight after lunch, this time going out taking photos with a full belly of food and actual water to drink.

I know – actual drinks!!

What photography gear did I use to get the shot

Here is a photo of some of my gear with Imerovigli in the background.
- Canon 6D
- Canon 17-40mm F4 L Lens
- Manfrotto 190 Go tripod with geared head
- Peak Design Everyday Backpack
- Loupe Viewer – as you can see
- No red hat – far too hot
- Oakley sunglasses
- Red shoes (in need of a clean today)
- No snacks required – just water!
What camera settings did I use?
- Aperture F22
- Shutter speeds 1/60th second, 1/250th second and 1/15th second.
- ISO 100
- Back-button focus
- Focal length 17mm
- AV Mode
- 10 second self-timer
- RAW format
I notice that I take a lot of photos with my old faithful Canon 24-105mm lens at 24mm. Interesting. And I tend to use my Canon 17-40mm lens at 17mm most of the time.

Maybe I need to rethink my camera lens selection – sounds like I could do with a 14mm lens! Or wider.

One interesting fact about the image.

See that bit of rock in the very foreground. I didn’t venture onto that. I thought it would be irresponsible to do that when I was on my own so had to stick where I was.

Anyway the interesting fact is that if you keep going on the path down, rather than taking the path up the rock keep going around Skaros Rock the path takes you to this seldom visited church called Ekklisia Theoskepasti. And a rather spectacular view of part of the Santorini caldera.

Is there a behind the scenes video of this shoot?

No. And to be honest I have no idea why not. I was there for enough time to have taken lots of videos.

What was i thinking???

But there is this short video taken before I left the buildings of Imerovigli – check out the footpath and the fast moving clouds in the video here.

You can see the end of the path amongst the buildings at the start of this video.

How did I process the image?

As with the other images, three images merged into one in Lightroom. Here is the processing that I did with the newly created HDR merged file.

I have to fill in the blanks in Photoshop – these were caused by the adjustment to make everything straight and vertical – I didn’t want to lose part of the image by cropping in.

What could I have done to improve the image?

Jumped onto the rock in the foreground. Common sense stopped me from doing this.

I will have to go back there and get over to that little bit of rock – I have a great idea for an image and a video from that precarious position.

There will definitely not be anyone on that little bit of rock so I might even be able to get a drone flying from there!

So getting to the very front of the rock is the only thing that could improve this shot.

Sunrise will not help me. Having said that yes it would.

A photo of Imerovigli from Skaros Rock at sunrise – that I have to do!

And what are my thoughts on this image?

Well here I am on location! Yes some people appeared so I had to ask….

Enough about me.

I really like this image as I have not seen this view elsewhere, which is surprising considering how prominent Skaros Rock is. Having said that I didn’t see many people on the top of the rock – just three others.

And I passeed no more than a dozen people on the walk to and from Skaros Rock from the very bottom of Imerovigli.

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

Well you have read what I think of this image – but what do you think? Get in touch please with your thoughts which I would love to hear, goor dr bad.

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
19/10/2018