Black and White Photography in Venice: A Report by Sascha Hüttenhain

For professional photographer Sascha Hüttenhain, Venice is a photographic destination he had long had on his list. Some time ago he visited the lagoon city - and took breathtaking black and white photos.

Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice

Filters: ND2000 Neutral Density Filter + GND8 Soft Graduated Neutral Density Filter

Exposure time: 1m 30s at aperture 11

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mark II

Lens: Canon 16-35/2.8L

Venice, the lagoon city in northern Italy, had long been on my wish list of cities in Europe that I wanted to travel to and explore photographically. The appeal of this city lies in its very special appearance, which offers us photographers a dreamlike backdrop for creating extraordinary photo motifs. It is easy to reach and offers a large number of sights, locations and hotspots, all of which have their own charm.

Time seems to have stood still in this city. It contains photo motifs in abundance, and in a particularly small space with short distances overall. The water-lapped palaces along the grand canals look so unrealistically shiny and at the same time dilapidated that they could have come from a surreal film.

Black and white photos of the historic center with tripod and ND filter

Appropriately, I took my pictures in black and white.
What I particularly like about black and white photography are the contrasts and fine shades of gray. Also, for me, monochrome images with few elements are usually more exciting.

As important as the shot and the image section are, an interesting image composition and the design of the image are also important. In my equipment, I always have strong ND filters (e.g. ND2000) with me to enable long shutter speeds (long exposures). With this type of photography, you also have the opportunity to make motifs and places look a little different than they actually are.

Long exposures create another world, which makes projects like the one in Venice even more interesting.
I feel that the shots are even more timeless as a result.
They are reduced to the essentials and new perspectives emerge. Depending on the image, color photos distract me a bit too much, which changes the effect.

Waterway Campo Santo in Venice

Filters: ND2000 Neutral Density Filter

Exposure time: 35s at aperture 8

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mark II

Lens: Canon 16-35/2.8L

Towards the end of the year it is quieter in the city

During the quiet time towards the end of the year, when I visited the city, it allowed me to work well. Mass tourism to sights such as the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Square or the Rialto Bridge then tends to stay away and it is quieter there, so you can move faster from point to point.

An ideal basis for extraordinary shots.
Every now and then the weather showed its rather dreary side, so fog and light drizzle were my companions. But that didn't stop me from going through the city with my camera early in the morning and taking the first pictures.

The positive side of drizzle

A big advantage of the drizzle was that there weren't many people in the well-known squares, and in this way I was able to capture some motifs in places that are otherwise very crowded or at least well-filled.
When the bad weather cleared up, I evaluated my first results in one of the numerous cafes. I was very satisfied with my first haul, which I was able to take within a few hours.

My Rollei Lion Rock tripod and also the different neutral density filters that I had with me did a great job. I found the handling of the filter holder very positive. It was assembled very quickly and just as quickly stowed away in the camera bag, so you don't have to spend a long time with it.

Scirocco requires good preparation

In addition to the drizzle, Venice had another challenge in store for me – Aqua Alta.

A flood that occurs towards the end of the year due to the desert wind Scirocco, floods part of the city and makes it difficult to pass. Fortunately, I had already prepared for this and packed boots for my trip to Venice. I had thought for a long time whether I should take them with me and finally decided to do so - which turned out to be absolutely right in retrospect.

Rialto Bridge in Venice

Filters: ND64 Neutral Density Filter + ND2000 Neutral Density Filter

Exposure time: 8m 44s at aperture 13

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mark II

Lens: Canon 16-35/2.8L

Why carbon tripods are a huge advantage

During the flood, there was hardly anything going on for a few hours until the water had receded. When the hustle and bustle slowly started again, I had my shots in the bag and could move on.
I covered many points on foot - which is why the light, but enormously stable Lion Rock carbon tripod is really worth its weight in gold. Because with it, you learn to appreciate your equipment in a completely different way and are happy about the weight saving.

Towards the end of my stay in Venice, the weather was dry, but the sky was overcast. Apparently, reason enough for many tourists to go on a hike that day. On that morning, I absolutely wanted to photograph the Rialto Bridge.
Unfortunately, I stayed at the Basilica San Giorgio Maggiore for a bit too long beforehand, so I was quite late at the bridge. For whatever reason, a lot of people were drawn there that morning too.

View of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice from the city center

Filter: ND2000 Neutral Density Filter

Exposure time: 1m 25s at aperture 11

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mark II

Lens: Canon 24-70/2.8L

Long exposure times with ND filters

Fortunately, I had the ND2000 filter with me, which I combined with another filter, so that I could achieve an exposure time of almost 10 minutes for my long exposures.
This was necessary to make my subject appear deserted. The looks of passers-by are extremely questioning when you stand in one place for such a long time, but I didn't care, because I had captured the picture with this exposure time exactly as I had imagined it.

With a lot of different and interesting motifs, varied but still suitable weather, I finished the project in this city for now, but I know that I want to travel there again in the future to continue it.
My equipment of strong neutral density filters from Rollei and the Lion Rock 30 will definitely be with me again.

Which filters do you use for black and white photos?

Black and white photography thrives on contrasts, which can be varied and designed to your taste with the use of different filters. There are many possibilities, so I would not limit the use to a single filter.
Red filters, for example, are particularly interesting for pictures with clouds, as the blue sky appears darker and more dramatic.
Yellow filters are also very suitable for increasing the contrast in the mentioned area.

Overall, the use of color filters should depend on their respective area of application, because, for example, not everything that looks good in landscape photography works well in the portrait area.
Personally, I rarely work with color filters directly in front of the lens.
In analog times, that was common practice, but in the digital age, these effects can be recreated quite quickly and easily with good image editing software.

Bridge near S. Basio in Venice

Filters: ND2000 Neutral Density Filter

Exposure time: 60s at aperture 11

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mark II

Lens: Canon 16-35/2.8L

Use monochrome function? Or rather the RAW file?

Personally, I occasionally use the monochrome function as a preview option. This gives you a first impression of how the photo will look afterwards.

Overall, however, I would rather recommend every photographer to shoot in RAW mode, as this gives you the most leeway in subsequent post-processing and image components are not filtered out beforehand that would then be missing later.

Packing list for my stay in Venice:

• Camera bodies: Canon 1Dx Mark II, Canon 5DsR
• Lenses: Canon EF 16-35, 2.8L USM III, Canon EF 24-70, 2.8L USM II
• Tripod: Rollei Lion Rock 30 with Lion Rock tripod head 25
• Filters/Other: Neutral Density Filter ND64 + ND2000, Soft Graduated Neutral Density Filter GND8, Remote release

By the way: In November 2020, Sascha Hüttenhain is offering a photo workshop in Venice. More information here.

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