As the single most important element in producing great photos, lighting is the first thing to consider in travel photogrphy. Especially when we are taking photos on landmarks or architectures, we cannot shift or rotate them to suit the best sunlight direction! For instance, the most iconic facade of Notre Dame is its west facade and main entrance. Can we rotate it to our preferred angle at our preferred time? No way!

So what could we do to capture those landmarks beautifully lit? You can use my LEICA steps, with extra cautions and planning on lighting. We can’t move buildings to suit sunlight direction but we can plan our photo taking hours at the destination to gain benefits from attractive natural sunlight. For travel snapper like me who always like to take as many photos and see as many places as possible on travel, planning well and ahead is critical before the actual day. If you are self-traveling to Italy like what I’ve been doing and which I advocate, plan your visiting time carefully to each travel site.

Here are 5 travel destinations in Italy with the best photo taking hours in terms of best natural sun-lighting (unless you are shooting at night where tripod is instead the most important element, not lighting).

1) River Arno

River Arno is the most scenic river separating both the old and new city of Florence with Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) crossing over it. This is one of the most favourite site for travel photographers. The best time of day to capture this scene is in late afternoon when evening sun shining onto the row of buildings along the Arno.

2) The Duomo

Or Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Duomo is the 4th largest cathedral in Europe and it is also the highest iconic architecture in Florence. You should avoid going there in the morning if you wish to capture the magnificent white marble main facade of Duomo because it is facing west.

3) Piazza Signoria and the David (replica)

If you couldn’t beat the long queue into the Academia Gallery to witness the original David statue, come to Piazza Signoria in the afternoon after 3pm when the sun is shining it at the perfect angle. Apart from it, Ufizi museum will look great at this time.

4) St. Peter Square of Vatican city

The iconic landmark of Vatican would definitely be the St. Peter Square and St. Peter Basilica. The best time of day to visit the square is in the morning when the morning sun is behind you shining onto allthose 140 over statues on top of the pillars. Remember to bring along your long zoom lens as well!

5) Trevi Fountain

No Rome travel would complete without paying a visit to and snap some photos at the Trevi Fountain! If you want to capture the best lighting of the scene and fountain, go there in the afternoon at 3pm. Get ready your wide angle lens so you can stand in front of the crowd and still able to capture the whole fountain in your photos!

6) Colosseum

Though you can snap the Colosseum at any angle as it is a round structure but, the best location to shoot it is at the West side of the structure where there is a small field in front of it and you can see the 2 section of the Colosseum! Logically, if you need natural sunlight for easy snapping, you will need to go by in the evening. As you can see from the above photo, I shot it in the morning when the sun is in front of me so some adjustment to camera’s sensor exposure was needed to compensate the direct sunlight which would not be that straight forward for casual snappers!

So now you know what time in a day should you visit these landmarks in Italy, if you are an avid travel photographer. Enjoy shooting! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog