Cinque Terre

The villages of the Cinque Terre on the cliffs

In the Cinque Terre, small settlements punctuate the sequence of steep coastal slopes. A view from the sea shows the houses as colorful groups on the rock. From above you can see the paths and narrow open spaces with which the towns make use of their limited building land.

Coastal towns with little building space

In the case of the Cinque Terre, a comparison arises from the location of the villages. Corniglia on the promontory tells a different story than Monterosso with its wider beach.

From land the first thing you notice is the open water. In an aerial view, the process can be reversed and the coast can be seen from the sea. Wherever it changes direction, small protected spaces are created. Other sections extend almost straight to the edge of the picture. When selecting a motif, it is worth comparing these transitions with each other. A single, striking rocky outcrop can identify a location more clearly than a much larger expanse of water with only light and waves visible.

The slope of a landscape

It is difficult to estimate how steep a slope is from a top view alone. A street that rises in curves or the staggering of neighboring buildings gives the eye additional clues. The relief becomes even more vivid if part of the valley floor or the bank remains in the picture. Anyone who selects a recording for a location description can pay attention to this connection. It helps to understand the position of individual subjects without having to estimate height differences from the apparent distance in the image.

What the roofs reveal about the floor plan

A city center can often be read by its roofs. Where narrow gables are close together, the street space is also divided into short sections. A large, connected building interrupts this sequence. In the aerial photo you can follow the direction of an alley from such an interruption. For an illustration in a smaller format, a section with just a few easily distinguishable roof groups is worthwhile. In a large print, however, the spaces and small changes in direction are allowed to keep their place.

The distribution of blue tones

For a direct image comparison, use shot 11 and shot 10 from the gallery with 11 aerial photos. In the first excerpt, shades of blue play a smaller role. In the second shot, blue areas take up more space. Blue can extend over a large contiguous area or only appear in individual parts. What also counts for the effect is whether these areas extend to the edge of the picture or surround the main subject.

According to camera data, Shot 1 and Shot 11 were taken on September 29, 2020. There is a gap of around 11 minutes between the two images. The exposure time was 1/500 second for the first of the images mentioned and 1/800 second for the second.

In the Aerial Videos section there are 7 clips for this article. An example is “Cinque Terre”. Its preview leads directly to the video in the aerial photographer's Adobe Stock portfolio.

Select the coastal view for a photo series

When telling a story about a coast, the order of the images counts. A further look first explains the course of the bank. A closer view can then show the transition from land to water. If an image series begins with a narrow section, readers usually need an additional location reference. The planned size is also important for the aerial photographer. A small indentation can be a clear reference point on a double page spread and almost disappear completely in a narrow column. The caption should match the actual section used.

Related motifs in the aerial photo archive

The article Italy – Monterosso offers another perspective. At Monterosso the bay directly adjoins the steep slopes of the Cinque Terre. In the gallery Italy – Corniglia there is a different focus. Corniglia sits high above the sea on a protruding stretch of the Ligurian coast.