8.2. Stage 2

8.2.1. On location

Venice is a special city in more ways than one. I'm not talking about its beauty, canals, monuments, or other marvels, but its light. The luminous atmosphere is quite extraordinary, and it lets you play with colors and textures in surprising ways.

I prefer to take pictures in the morning, especially in Venice, before the streets are invaded by tourists. I took this photograph at about 9 a.m. on the Orseolo Basin, a well-known "gondola garage" near the Piazza San Marco.

My shooting position allowed me to play with various contrasts: between light and shadow, straight lines and curves, volumes and perspectives, building façade materials (stucco, brick, and stone), and, of course, sky and water.

On average, I need about 10 minutes to take this kind of picture, bearing in mind that the changing shadows and light make it a race against the clock. Under those circumstances, the automatic click stops on the Agno's head are very helpful.

Stitcher requires a minimum number of photographs, but there's nothing to stop you from taking more! I took 45 pictures from this shooting position so I'd have plenty of choices. They were all the same size—2048 × 3072 pixels—in the highest quality JPEG format.

After choosing the photos I wanted to use, I was ready to start the montage in Stitcher.