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I know! I know!
It's trite, it's twee, it's been done to death, it's in every guide book, it's on every travel photographer's website.
This, of course, is one of the default images of Venice that everyone takes. The blurry gondolas at dawn or sunset, tied up at the front of St Mark's Square with the Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore (Saint George's church on the island of Maggiore) in the background.
Liz and I had the day and evening in Venice as part of a cruise holiday we were taking, so naturally I was making the most of every photo opportunity, even those that were very similar to the work of countless other photographers before me. After all, I may never return, so commonplace or not, I'm going to take the photo!
However, what made me stop and take this particular photo at this particular time wasn't the subject matter, it was the quality of the light.
The sun was about half an hour away from setting, and was bathing the church buildings in beautiful warm light, while the gondolas in the foreground were already in the cool blue shade. This was a lovely lighting condition that only lasted a few minutes and allowed me just two or three frames before the church fell into shadow as the sun dropped behind the Venetian skyline to the west.
A shutter speed of 0.6 seconds gave the bobbing gondolas the required blur, and there you have it. My own take on a classic view.
Filename - venice gondolas 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @32mm
Exposure - 0.6sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Venice, Italy
This image - 800x491px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure.
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