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Prowling the streets and canals of Venice in the middle of the night opens up a whole new experience that those who only explore during daylight miss out on.
Instead of tourist bustle, everything becomes quiet and mysterious, much more in keeping with how Venice ought to feel in my opinion.
For the photographer, lighting is much more subdued, the contrast is lower and the lighting direction is much more random. Rather than having a single source of light, the sun, we now have multiple streetlights and building floodlights casting highlights and shadows in ways you never get to see during daylight hours.
This particular example is the mouth of a canal right next to the Doge's palace and St Mark's Square, and I found this scene to be much more photogenic at night, rather than when I returned in the harsh light of day.
A monochrome conversion enhanced the ambiance of 'oldness' and mystery that was the overwhelming feeling I took from the scene while I was photographing there.
Filename - venice canal 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 29mm
Exposure - 30secs @ f8, ISO200
Location - Venice, Italy
This image - 640x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Tripod, mirror lock up and cable release used to prevent camera movement.
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