The two articles I've done in this series so far have focused heavily on the photo editing process I use in order to turn a raw picture into what I want it to be.  I'm going to change direction now and talk more about what happens before I get to the editing stage.  And, actually, this part of the process is at least as important as, if not more important than, the editing.  In fact, a lot of photos don't even require much editing - including almost all the ones I used in this article.

When Cristy and I went to Italy on vacation, it was my choice to go to Tuscany to try and take pictures, and it was Cristy's choice to go to Venice.  But, I was also pleased with her choice because I thought I might be able to get a few good pictures there, too.  I did some research about possible locations to shoot in Venice, but I didn't really find very much useful information.  There are the obvious attractions such as the bridges and grand canal, but I couldn't really find any hidden gems.  As it turned out, though, I didn't need much help with locations.  Almost everywhere I looked it seemed there were great pictures to be had.

The one picture that I did plan before hand was of the San Giorgio Maggiore church across the water with gondolas in the foreground.  I'm a little embarrassed to have gone after that one because it's such a common shot.  Pretty much everybody that goes to Venice to take pictures tries to get this one, so I didn't think I could really make anything original of it.  Still, I like the shot so much that I couldn't go to Venice and not at least try (probably the same justification every photographer uses).  And, to be fair, it's an obvious picture.  Just being in the location, I'm sure I would have thought of it even if I hadn't already seen similar photos.

We had one evening and one full day in Venice.  I wanted to give preference to the things that Cristy wanted to do since it was her stop.  But, I had that picture in the back of my mind both days.  On our first evening there, Cristy wanted to go to the Piazza San Marco, which is just a few minutes away from this spot, so I got a chance then to give it a first try.  It was actually raining when I took this picture.  Cristy was holding the umbrella obove my camera to keep it dry.  Also, I was sure that the sky and water were going to be too dark compared to the church in the distance.  So, I didn't have much hope for this one.  It actually turned out pretty well, though.  It might be my favorite of the bunch.

We spent the first few hours of the next day seeing the other things that Cristy wanted to see - some famous buildings and an art museum.  In the early afternoon it started raining, so we found a restaurant with covered tables and we sat down for a pizza lunch (yes, they really eat pizza in Italy!).  When the rain stopped, we started to make our way slowly back to Piazza San Marco for some touristy pictures for Cristy, and then for me to try to get my picture.

So, I found my spot and set up again.  Although the clouds had already partially cleared and the sun was shining on San Giorgio Maggiore, the portion of the sky in my picture was completely overcast.

Not so Interesting.

While I’m waiting for the sky to clear, I walk back over to the square and fire off a couple pictures framed through some arches.

Good enough for the web gallery, at least.  Those are nice bonus shots.

I walk back over to my spot to try again.  After about another half hour, I finally get enough clearing to start shooting.

Not exactly what I was going for, and not necessarily the best time of day for it, but i think it's still a nice one.  Not incredibly creative or original, though.

It's still only late afternoon, and the pictures I really wanted are going to be around sunset and dusk.  So, we walk back up to the Rialto Bridge because I had estimated that the sun would be in a good spot at this time for a picture of the bridge and the canal.  We walk around for about 20 minutes looking for a good place to shoot from.  In order to get out over the water and away from the clutter along the shore, I look for the longest pier I can find.  It turns out to be for police boats, so I'm a bit nervous walking out on it, but not nervous enough to keep me from trying.  I stand there for about a half hour waiting for the boats and gondolas to be in the right positions, and I finally snap this picture.

Definitely worth the effort.

Cristy and I notice sometimes that when I pull out a tripod (or anybody does, really) and set up to start taking pictures, casual tourists think that there must be something really good to shoot, so I often gather a small crowd of "me too" photographers.  That happens here.  Most people just stick to the shoreline, but one guy is brave enough to join me out on the pier.

Time to head back to Piazza San Marco for "the shot."

My main idea is to use as slow a shutter speed as possible to try to blur the water and the boats.  By stacking a polarizer and an ND filter, I get it down to four seconds.  That works pretty well.

Now, it's a waiting game again.  It's still more than a half hour before the sun sets, and probably an hour and a half before the sky light levels are low enough to really emphasize the lights.  By this time, Cristy is comfortable enough with the city that she wanders off on her own now and then while I’m shooting and waiting.  During one of the times she comes back to check on me, I offer to take a “touristy picture”.

A little more waiting and the light starts to approach the levels I want.  Another thing that occurs to me is that this might look nice in black and white.  I adjust the polarizer to get better tonal contrast (in color, I can live without tonal contrast as long as I have color contrast) - trying to envision what it will look like in B&W.

That's another nice bonus shot, and perhaps the most satisfying from this spot because I think it's pretty original.  Other photos I’ve seen (including my own from this place) rely heavily on color to communicate the mood.  This one succeeds in B&W.

Finally the light is about how I want it.  The problem is that the shutter times are now so long that it's very difficult to get a window of time wherein everything is just right.  I need the water relatively calm so that the boats, although blurred, are not unrecognizable blobs at the bottom of the frame.  There are also countless boats crossing the harbor and leaving light streaks through my pictures.  I'm also just to one side of a major water-bus stop, so those ugly boats are frequently parked at the right of my frame - spilling light everywhere (you can see one in the picture above of Cristy and me).

Once the light levels are how I want, it takes about 15 minutes to finally get everything just right - calm water, no boats, no water-busses.

Altogether, I probably spent more than 3 hours in this spot waiting for just the right picture.  I got what I wanted, but I also got a few others that I didn't expect but that turned out nicely.

And it cost me dearly.  We missed the train that we wanted to take back to our hotel by about 3 minutes, and we had to wait an hour and a half for the next one.  Then we had the horrible experience of missing our stop at the hotel.  You can read about that and see the rest of my pictures from Venice in the main Venice gallery .

But, it was worth it.  I love the pictures I got in Venice.  And, as has happened quite a bit lately, I got some nice ones that are atypical for my style, which is always gratifying.

You can read more about the trip on Cristy's blog .