Rome by Night

Michele is blogged out after the Southern trip posts, so I will step in for a few posts. The semester is winding down and we have been in a bit of a panic to make sure that we do all of the things we wanted to do in Rome (luckily my parents are coming soon so it will be a good excuse to see anything we have missed). There are so many things I want to make sure and photograph.

One of the biggest changes from living in Rome eleven years ago is technology (although still a bit behind the curve here in Rome). Having a digital camera now, we take tons of pictures and delete the bad ones when we get back and download. Before we left I got a new camera. I was debating whether to get a high-end compact camera or an entry level DSLR. I really wish I would have gotten the DSLR, but I know that it would have been tough to lug around in addition to Oliver and his gear and everything of ours. With the size, lenses and bag it must be like having a child as well.

So I settled on the Panasonic DMC-TZ3 mainly because it has a great lens made by Leica. It has a nice zoom as well as a nice wide angle (28mm). For those of you about to make a purchase I would suggest looking for a model with the wide angle (most are only 35mm), because it has been extremely useful, especially to capture interiors and large building from tight quarters. Even though I have been relatively happy with the compact, I still feel that all compact cameras produce amateur photography due to distortion, and lack of low light sensitivity (the high ISO settings just make your images grainy – use a tripod).

All of this being said, here are some night shots of Rome. Luckily, Michele has already posted great entries about most of these so I thought you might like to see what they look like at night. Although it doesn’t equal Paris at night, Rome is significantly lit after the sun goes down. All you need is a small tripod (bench, railing, trash can make up for lack of height) and a slow aperture. Plus it is nice that there aren’t as many people, so you pretty much have the sites to yourself.

Sorry, no Oliver - he was asleep.

Andrew