Rom at night, -Blue Hour, -Available Light Photography

A week in Rome in late October, early November. Perfect conditions, almost always sun and perfect 21 degrees. The cameras were a Nikon D5300 with the Sigma 17-70mm 2.8 – 4.0 DC. ISO 100 and the small Sony RX 100 IV for shooting at the Coliseum and in the catacombs.

In our bike tour on the Via Appia Antica , we were too late to get the big Nikon, so the Colosseum was unceremoniously shot with the small Sony. The tripod was the DSLR Gorillapod, the ISO set to 125.

A panorama of the Colosseo and the Arch Constantine after sunset in the blue hour

The Castel Sant’Angelo can not be left out, of course, if you go there in the late afternoon it is not so crowded any more , and the light is getting better the later the evening.

Photographing is also not easy here, because you can not get to the edge of the roof for security reasons, so the panorama was taken out of the hand.

A panorama from the roof of the Castel Sant’Angelo down to the river tiber

The roof of St. Peter’s can also be visited. The tickets for it are inside. Once you have the cards, you have to climb up immediately. Buying the cards and visiting later is not possible.

A dome on the roof of the st peters basilica ofter sunset in the blue hour

The path to the top is remarkable; you climb up very narrow steps between the inner and the outer wall of the dome. Above it is tight, and very full. A large tripod can not be used, I have used the DSLR Gorillapod and wrapped it around the lattice bars of the railing. There the Nikon was mounted. The whole thing is a bit wobbly, so the remote trigger was used.

The Spanish Steps are so crowded during the day that you can not see them anymore. Early in the morning there is still a blue hour, the following recording was made in the morning at 6 o’clock.

The spanish steps in Rome before sunrise totally empty

Above the Spanish steps is the park Villa Borghese, from where you have a beautiful view over Rome. Here the St. Peter’s Basilica is just struck by the first rays of the sun.

Rome early morning sunrise panorama in the first sunlight

In a bicycle tour on the Via Appia Antica , you should visit the St. Dominica catacombs. The recordings were made without a tripod with the Sony RX 100 IV. The ISO went up to 6400, the quality is still quite useful:

In the catacombs of domitilla near rome

A little later on the roof of St. Peter’s with a view of the Castel Sant’Angelo and the Tiber. The clouds make the recording even more dramatic. Before it is dark, the dome is cleared. The recording below was the last of the day.

Panorama from the roof of the st peters basilica in the sunset

The St. Peter’s Basilica in the last sunlight, photographed from the park of Villa Borghese.