Photography in Lissabon

 

Lisbon is a dream of a town, and a heaven for photographers. There are motives everywhere and everybody is very relaxed about being photographed. You need to be reasonably fit for walking though. A metro card helps, available for 7€ and valid for 24 hours after first activation on all metros, busses and trams, including the world famous 28 line. It is a reloadable card and every passenger needs one. 

Look for the "Miradouros", the viewpoints. To stroll around, the "Baicha" is best. There are hills on either side, one featuring the castle, the other one various interesting spots like the museum of the old cloister, destroyed in the big earth quake in 1755. Just discover the town on your feet.

There were some photographers with tripods and backpacks with photographic equipment. But I recommend a single camera and lens, as light as possible. My choice was the Nikon Z5 II and the 24-70 f/4 "kit lens". It proved to be the right workhorse and fit for the job. This time, I took most images at f/8 in mode A with a maximum ISO of 1600, occasionally f/4 for more object isolation. The very good IBIS allows to get along with this setting. Occasionally, you will want to use S mode to freeze action. After sunset, this implies high ISO numbers, however.

As you see, I post-process my photos. My editor of choice is Lightroom, and I almost never need Photoshop, nor anything else. For the picture above, I had to switch to mode S, a fast shutter speed, and a higher ISO allowance. I showed that image to the guy, and he asked me to share it with him. So, I developed it later it in Lightroom and sent it to him by mail. To brighten the skater up just a little bit, the motive selection in Lightroom was very useful. Noise reduction is simply at 50% with masking to 50% too. You can also reduce more noise on the selection.

At daytime, Lisbon is a town with very high contrasts. I tend to embrace that, even enhancing and emphasizing it sometimes, leaving parts of the image in black. To enhance the blue sky a bit, the dehaze slider in lightroom is helpful. And add a bit of warmth, but not too much. Sometimes, selecting the sky and enhancing the blue is necessary. Believe me. The sky really was like that!

Often, it is difficult to get a nice composition or an interesting scene. I am fighting between taking a picture just to remind myself that I was there, or skipping the location because the light is bad. The older I get the more the latter decision wins. I do not have to take a photo of every tourist location. You find all those on the net now. You can even walk through the town in street view.

I took some panoramas for later assembly in Lightroom. But they did not work well. I prefer a single scene with a single subject and a foreground to add a story and a connection. But the places get rather crowdy, especially in October when the town is not heated up that much and the skies are clear. Lots of tourists fall in at that time, and the cruise ships unload even more.

The usual places to visit include the monastery in Belem. But we were shocked to see the line in front of it with people obviously standing in plain sunlight for an hour or more. The tickets have time slots. So, I do not know why there were queues at all. If you can make it, they say that the visit is worth the entry and the waiting. We gave up, however.

I suggest visiting the botanic garden nearby or strolling along the Tejo river. There is the MAAT museum of modern architecture and art. If you lik that kind of stuff, visit it. It is famous. But you can just simply walk a bit along the coast line, see the Belem tower or the exploration sculpture. But protect against sun unlike the man in the picture below!

Another place to visit is the market hall. It is almost downtown in walkable distance. When we were there, it was immensely crowed and noisy. We went elsewhere for lunch. That scene reminds of the Oktoberfest in Munich, and I do not like to be there either - besides for taking photos. 

Another place to visit is the Expo area east of the town. Take the metro to get there, exiting at "Oriente". You can visit the sea aquarium. It has time slots too, but was not crowded at all when we were there. There is also the Vasco da Game bridge, the longest Bridge in Europe, to look at, and the tower. You might like the short ride with the cable car.

The following picture reminds me of a very important point in post processing, at least in my point of view. I like to have vertical lines strictly vertical. Many photographers don't bother. But pictures look so much more professional if you care for your vertical and horizontal lines. That applies for the background in portraits too, by the way. My idea is that everything is either perfectly straight, or really distorted. There is no in-between. When photographing architecture, I either take the picture perpendicular to the walls or from the side, like from a 45 degree angle.

This is my short report from our 7 day stay in Lisbon. Most of all, enjoy your visit! Go to the small bars and restaurants and order fish. I prefer a cup of white wine along with it, but they do also have good beer. Later, you can add a cocktail which is offered almost everywhere. Have fun!