Venice Photography Workshops - Venetian Lagoon Tours
Photographing the Hidden Venice
Venice is doubtlessly one of the most perfect cities in the world to invest in a photographic workshop.
In my photography workshops you will, of course, visit and photograph the world-famous landmarks of the city such as Saint Mark Square and Doge's Palace. But you will also discover the hidden Venice, the one many tourists never see as they are confused about where to go if they leave the beaten path. Through my guidance you will get a real chance to capture the true, most genuine face of the living Venice from behind a lens, and at the same time you will learn new photography skills and experiment with advanced techniques that will help you in developing your vision for creating photos of greater impact and increased artistic content.
Shooting Locations
Zattere is the sidewalk on the Giudecca Canal, one of the ideal locations for beautiful twilight and sunrise shoots.
From Punta della Dogana you can enjoy an amazing view over the Basin of San Marco.
Riva degli Schiavoni, the large waterfront sidewalk besides San Marco, is perfect both at sunrise and sunset.
When the "acqua alta" comes in, San Marco square becomes the perfect setting for wonderful mirrored compositions
The decorations of the San Marco Basilica work great for close-up, semi-abstract pictures.
At the Giudecca island there are many great spots for simple compositions of strong impact, particularly when it’s foggy.
Libreria "Acqua Alta", one of the most unique bookshops in the world, with gondolas used as bookshelves!
The Grand Canal, the "main street" of Venice, with its ancient buildings and bridges.
Behind the theatre La Fenice there is one of the most tranquil and beautiful corner of the whole city.
A Gondola ride is a great way for viewing Venice from "the inside", and for taking some great picture too!
Cannaregio is the perfect location for semi-abstract compositions involving water and building facades.
Burano with its colorful houses is one of those photographer’s playground where possibilities are simply infinite.
In Burano you can also photograph wonderful reflections in the water at every corner. And when the night fall, the quays at the small harbor works great for simple yet strong compositions.
From the top of San Giorgio’s bell tower it is possible to enjoy one of the best view of the whole Venice skyline.
The Rialto bridge is among the best spots for some serious night photography.
Example of a typical
day in the field
Sunrise shoot
From the Zattere. We will photograph the sun rising behind the island of Giudecca, with the church of Redentore in the background. With a short walk we will get then to Punta della Dogana, a perfect vantage point on the Venice skyline. We will photograph the sun rising over the San Marco Basin and behind San Giorgio Maggiore, with a nice, old-style lamp post in the foreground.
Morning
Right after breakfast, we will take a walk along the Calles and Canals of downtown Venice, looking for simple subjects with few, powerful elements, which are ideal for producing images of great impact and elegance.
Rest of the day
We will visit many locations, including the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Fondamenta of Giudecca, Zattere and Riva degli Schiavoni, San Pietro e Polo Square and Cathedral, looking for any kind of sceneries suitable for effective panoramic compositions.
Sunset shoot
From Riva degli Schiavoni, we will photograph the sun setting behind Punta della Dogana and Giudecca.
Evening/night
Before dinner: image processing session at the hotel, where we will review and analyze the pictures taken in the day.
Looking for more images?
Check my photo portfolio online for hundreds of images from this and other areas of Italy
Click the image below.
Requirements, prices and other useful information about this workshop
Details and Requirements - Key Features
Number of students per workshop: minimum 1, maximum 3 students
Duration: minimum 2, maximum 5 days
4 days* is the recommended length, as it is indeed the ideal timeframe for putting together a very effective itinerary, and it still allows enough free time for a few good image processing/image critiquing sessions.
*upon request the maximum duration can be extended up to seven days. Please inquire for prices
Workshops Availability
The workshops are available year around.
Venice is nice to photograph in any time of the year, although winter should be the first choice if possible. In the coldest months the city is almost tourists-free, everyone is more relaxed, prices are cheaper and, most important thing for photographers, the mist and bad weather provide the best conditions for photos rich with mood, drama and of greater impact.
If you want to read further about the experience of visiting and photographing Venice in the cold and misty days of winter, please check my two blog articles:
• Hazy shades of Venice
Difficulty
None. All the shooting locations are directly accessible by walking or with the "vaporetto".
We will have short daily walking of a few hundred meters one way. For longer transfers we will use the public transportation.
If you choose to come in winter, though, the unpredictable and fast-changing weather conditions typical of the Venetian Lagoon can be a bit more demanding. Therefore a reasonable level of fitness, adaptability and familiarity with outdoor activities in winter time is required.
What's included
- full time in-the-field tutoring and instructions
- at least one image processing class (min. 2 hours) per workshop
- all transportation during the workshop will be provided with a rented car/van. included in the price
What's not included
- Travel costs for reaching the accommodation, hotels/B&B rates, meals and beverages are not included in the cost of admission unless specified.
- Excursion boats
- Entrance tickets to museums, etc.
- Lodging costs of the instructor
Insurance
All participants must be in possession of a valid Health and Accident Insurance with repatriation cover.
Key Skills You Will Learn
- build a strong technical background
- learn how to frame effective compositions
- recognize how the quality of the light, the time of the day and weather conditions can play
in your favour for producing strong images with higher artistic content
- learn when and how use filters
- understand how and when breaking the rules can be helpful for creating images of more impact
- learn how to pre-visualize, compose and shoot panoramas
- learn how to pre-visualize, compose and shoot very long exposures with the help of strong ND filters
- advanced techniques of image processing with the most common software tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom
Prices, Payment and Cancellation Policy
Prices*
*a discount applies for groups of 2 or 3 photographers:
2 photographers pay each one 75% of the base rates above,
3 photographers pay 65% of the base rates.
Of course partners and/or friends who are not active photographers
are always welcome to join for free.
**
VAT (Valued Added Tax) is not applicable - and it will not be charged -
for businesses and/or companies from outside the European Union
Deposit
A deposit of
35% of the total amount is due at the moment of the reservation,
this is required to secure your place at the workshop.
The final balance payment is due no later than 15 days before the beginning of the workshop.
Accepted payments
Bank Transfer, Credit Cards, Paypal
Cancellation policy
If you cancel within 60 days before the workshop start, you will be refunded the deposit minus 100,00 € as administrative fee. No refund will be issued for cancellations received with 60 days or less remaining before the workshop starting date.
Please note that there is no exception to this policy. For this reason it is strongly recommended to purchase refundable plane/train tickets only and endow yourself with a trip cancellation insurance.
All cancellation request must be in writing.
Accommodations
In Venice it is possible to find literally every kind of accomodation, from the small, family-ruled "pensione" to the top, 5 stars hotel of the big chains.
Clothes and Accessories
Winter days though, are cold, very damp and often foggy in Venice, and wind may be strong and chilly cold when blowing from the east and from the Alps. So a full set of warm winter clothes is recommended, including but not limited to:
- a pair of very comfortable and warm walking shoes
-
gumboots are optional, but they become a must-have in the case of "acqua alta", the exceptional tide peaks that regularly occur in winter in the Venetian Lagoon and that are capable of causing the flood of a large part of the city centre. If you don't want to bring a pair with you, many shops sell them in the days of high tides.
- wind/rain proof jacket
- pile pullovers, gloves, headdress
Camera Gear - Recommended Equipment
- Tripod
- Dslr camera
- Camera user's manual
- Wide angle to normal zoom lens, at least 24/70 mm on a full frame sensor, the equivalent on cropped sensors. Ideally one 16/35 mm and a 28/70 mm
- Long tele zoom lens - 70/200mm is enough, 300mm is recommended
- Enough storage cards for at least 16 GB
- Extra Camera batteries
- Photography backpacks come in handy to protect the equipment if it rains and to facilitate transfers from a shooting location to another
- polarizer filter
- a set of Graduated ND filters, at least a 2 and a 3 stops (it is ideal to have all the range from 1 to 4 stops)
- ND filters for long exposures, ideally one 10 stops and one 6 stop
- remote (or cable) switch
- for the image processing session, a laptop with Photoshop CS3 or newer and Lightroom 3.x or newer
About your Photography Instructor
Ciao! My name is Paolo.
I have been a full-time professional landscape, nature, travel and architecture photographer since 2007. Since then, I have planned and led hundreds of private one-to-one and small groups photo workshops and tours in some of the best looking regions and cities of Italy and France.
My pictures have appeared in calendars, books, travel magazines, brochures and as wall art in offices, hotels, restaurants and corporate venues. For more info please click here
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