Venice - take one - empty

[Kaye Leggett]

At the end of August (yes August) we were in Venice, which is kind of bonkers as it is so hot and reputably smelly. But we were within driving distance so seized the opportunity as neither I nor my husband had been before.

You'll be pleased to know, we were good photographers and three days in a row were up at 5am and on the water taxi from the Lido at 6am, so sunrise in Venice. We also went back to base after lunch when the whole city was just silly hot and silly busy - although I can report not smelly.

So a couple of sets of my images of Venice to share with you and for your comments

1 . My first view



2 An empty St Mark's Square



3 An empty Quay



4 Fellow early risers



5 No-one shopping



6 That's because they are still having breakfast



7 The workers can get on



8 Until it's time to rest in a café and just enjoy the view

[Shadowman]

Nice series, funny descriptions (pre-photo).

[FootLoose]

#3 and #5 are my favourites here, Kaye. #3 for the 'watery' sun reflecting off the concrete, and #5 for the low perspective. (You must have good knees.)

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks John and Greg. I seem to like these low angles....thankfully the knees still permit !

[Mike Buckley]

A very nice series of my favorite city. I can't imagine being near Venice without going there.

A few comments:

In general, make your black point black and increase the mid-tone contrast. Most of the images look a bit or considerably flat because you haven't done that.

In the two low-angle shots, I prefer to see everything or almost everything in focus because that adds to the drama. That probably wasn't possible if you didn't use a tripod. In the last low-angle shot, cropping at the bottom will help solve that issue and will make for a stronger composition even if all of the image had been in focus in my mind.

In image #1 and #4, increasing the mid-tone contrast will probably solve the haze issue. If not, consider using one of the new dehaze tools if you have one in your software. Otherwise, dehaze the images manually.

[Wavelength]

Very nice series.....

[Brownbear]

Lovely set... The 4th is my favourite for the framing ( and perhaps memories) and I also especially like #6 and I wonder if it might be worth exploring a closer crop. (just a little off the left and top)

Beautiful light!

[Manfred M]

Thanks for posting these, Kaye. The shots bring back some memories from when we were there for a couple of days some three years ago. We were there in early March and the smell was definitely not an issue at that time of year. What did surprise me was the large number of visitors, even at low season.

[Mike Buckley]

A few posts have mentioned the reputation for the smell of Venice. Long ago I initially heard that the water smelled the most during the summer, supposedly caused by increased volumes of materials being introduced to the water due to the increased volumes of visitors and because of the increased heat and humidity.

Sadly, I have visited Venice only twice and neither time was during the summer. The first time I visited there was no smell. The second time I visited was years later and there was an obvious smell. However, the smell was clearly coming from the smog in the area that had blown in from a nearby industrial city whose name I don't remember; you could see the cloud of smog around that area and the smell was the same that I used to experience when a large amount of smog occurred (rarely evident lately) where I live in the Washington, D.C. area. Moreover, when I left Venice and drove toward that city, the same smell grew stronger and stronger, indicating that the smell was from that city rather than from Venice.

[dragon76]

Very nice set of images. Wow, it must've been early indeed. San Marco is so empty and no vendors' stalls yet.

[IzzieK]

Good memory shots, Kaye...I am with Greg about #3 and #5. A good pair of jeans is a must for photographers to be able to bend and contort your body if necessary, to get a shot...not to mention a tarp.

[John 2]

Nice series Kaye and full marks for the 5 a.m. start. 3. and 2. in that order are my pick in that order with perhaps a little more saturation (but not much) in 3. I've been there three times now and by far the most magical was cruising into the lagoon at 5 a.m. as the sun rose over that fabulous skyline with Andrea Bocelli playing over the ship's PA system. The worst was in July when by mid day the crowds were shoulder to shoulder, particularly over the bridges. The third was for the Venice festival but that's another story except to say it was a photographers paradise.

[Donald]

A pleasure to look at. All the good constructive comments have been made above, so I'll confine myself to commenting on the presentation of a well crafted and assembled gallery of images that seem to give an excellent 'picture' of a place to which I have never been.

[deetheturk]

Lovely series Kaye, thanks for sharing