Prague Rooftop Panorama.
I shot the images for this on my Canon DSLR, but combined them with the autostitch app to make a panorama. So it’s a hybrid of sorts- shot on my Canon, but edited on my iPhone.
During my recent trip to Prague, I found myself enchanted by the city’s fairy tale architecture. Romanesque, Baroque, Romantic, Art Nouveau and communist all exist in the the city. I loved how the tiled roofs looked with Romanesque and Gothic details (especially the spires) on the buildings mixed amongst them, and wanted to take good (but not generic) pictures of them.
So I needed to figure out how to get up high so I look over them. This led me to check out rooftop bars and restaurants.
Photo Tip: Get away from shooting at eye level. That is what is most expected. Get up high or down low for more dynamic, interesting perspectives.
Tiled Rooftops of Prague and the Charles Bridge. Mobile photography. Shot from the Charles Bridge Tower.
I shot this on my iPhone using hipstamatic‘s Foodie SnapPak, which is one of the in-app purchase options (and my current favorite of the hipstamatic options). The combo is great for taking pictures of food, but I like the dreamy, slightly tilt-shift effect it has on the people.
TIP: experiment with mobile photography apps beyond their suggested use and you might find some unusual results you like.
Rooftop restaurants and bars make great locations to get interesting perspective for photos. The InterContinental Prague has a lovely rooftop restaurant with a patio that was my first stop for taking pictures.
I shot this picture with hipstamatic on the rooftop patio of The InterContinental Prague. Mobile photography
I was also lucky because I had a day to shoot in Prague with my good friend, photographer Ralph Velasco, who leads culture photo tours. Having a shooting buddy is a great way to improve your photography skills. Just watching another photographer shoot and learning from them helps you bring up your own photo game. Ralph encouraged me to shoot some time lapse and GIF stuff and that is how I got my favorite VirtualVacay of the Charles Bridge. With a shooting buddy, you get a fun competitive spirit and both of your pictures are better because it’s only natural to get a little competitive. I’m sure my pictures are better because Ralph and I went shooting together.
Photo Tip: Find a shooting buddy. It doesn’t have to be a professional photographer. Take on challenges by both of you shooting the same thing, and take some time watching how they shoot differently from you. You’ll both wind up with better photos!
View from the East Tower of Charles Bridge
Ralph also insisted we go up the towers on the Charles Bridge, which I was not aware you could do. We bought tickets with access to both towers at the Lesser Town Bridge Tower and climbed up. We got quite a bit of exercise but this allowed up to get above all the tourists and get shots that had a great view of the city, and a fresh perspective. There is also an exhibition in the tower so you can check that out as an added bonus. I preferred this tower to the Old Town Bridge Tower simply because Ralph and I were the only people up there when we were shooting so we didn’t have work around other photographers.
Looking up at the Old Town Tower of The Charles Bridge (also called the Karlův most). This is one of the towers we climbed up to get a better shooting angle of the rooftops
The weather was a bit moody that day and the angle and clouds added and we had a great day of shooting.
Curvy Panorama, Mobile photography
I also shot a lot of panoramas, using both the panorama feature in my Fuji X100 and the apps Autostitch and Photosynth when I was shooting with my iPhone. I even shot several sequential rooftop photos with my DSLR, and then stitched them together afterwards and using autostitch. Not all of them came out great or even realistic, but I got some interesting results that I’m happy with.
Photosynth Pano. Mobile photography, shot with Photosynth
Prague Rooftop photo panorama, as seen from the rooftop patio of the InterContinental Prague.
Architecture in Prague. Look up when you’re on the street and down when you’re up on the hill or near the Prague Castle.