Question: how to photograph crowded places?

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

Long are the days when you could go to a nice city, national park or beach and have the place for you to take the “perfect” picture.

Then what would be the best option to deal with crowded places? Mind you waking up at 5 am doesn’t work for me.

a) make them part of the landscape.

b) “paint it black”

c) “evaporate” them via long exposure?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

Cheers

--
God Bless
Babieca

Captain Hook · Oct 23, 2025

You mean something like this:

took me 10 seconds with Adobe PS AI Generative Fill.

"remove people from image"

:-D

Details, like shadows, will take some extra editing...

--
My images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chasa-imago/albums

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

Captain Hook said:
You mean something like this:

took me 10 seconds with Adobe PS AI Generative Fill.

"remove people from image"

:-D

Details, like shadows, will take some extra editing...

Excellent! Never crossed my mind…. Obviously I am not a computer person…

--
God Bless
Babieca

Reggie Stration · Oct 23, 2025

Get up early or go off season.

You could just be very patient and wait for a break in the crowds.

Another solution would be to use a tripod and take several frames as the locations of the people change. Then you will have a bunch of perfectly aligned frames some of which have people in some locations and some which show an open area in that same location. In Photoshop later you can grab clear bits from the various frames and come up with a final image devoid of people and their shadows. I’ve done this technique often in shooting architectural work.

https://www.msphoto.ca/index.htm

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

Reggie Stration said:
Get up early or go off season.

You could just be very patient and wait for a break in the crowds.

Another solution would be to use a tripod and take several frames as the locations of the people change. Then you will have a bunch of perfectly aligned frames some of which have people in some locations and some which show an open area in that same location. In Photoshop later you can grab clear bits from the various frames and come up with a final image devoid of people and their shadows. I’ve done this technique often in shooting architectural work.

https://www.msphoto.ca/index.htm

Thanks! The problem is in some places there is no off season anymore… i was in the off season for Prague… and crowds were shoulder to shoulder in some spots…

saltydough · Oct 23, 2025

I embrace the crowd and include them in the picture, and sometimes they are the subject itself. But I do wake up at 4-5am for some places.

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

saltydough said:
I embrace the crowd and include them in the picture, and sometimes they are the subject itself. But I do wake up at 4-5am for some places.

Cool! Except the early wake up… can you show us an example?

Tks

mreynolds767 · Oct 23, 2025

The get out earlier answer will always be the best one.

With certain popular cities this is the only way. Venice comes to mind, hardly anyone out at sunrise except deliveries to restaurants which photos aside is cool to experience the unique city start to come to life. Those same areas by 11 AM are wall to wall people so useless for photos but also a miserable experience as a tourist in comparison.

I get out super early, come back for breakfast and maybe even a nap.

Reggie Stration · Oct 23, 2025

mreynolds767 said:
The get out earlier answer will always be the best one.

With certain popular cities this is the only way. Venice comes to mind, hardly anyone out at sunrise except deliveries to restaurants which photos aside is cool to experience the unique city start to come to life. Those same areas by 11 AM are wall to wall people so useless for photos but also a miserable experience as a tourist in comparison.

I get out super early, come back for breakfast and maybe even a nap.

Yep, exactly. The question is, are you a tourist first or photographer first?

Your dedication to getting up early clearly shows in your beautiful work Matt.

Val Bueno · Oct 23, 2025

The Clock Tower with a crowd. I looked up and shot this

Zoom in and shoot details

Wait for a moment when they are not there

Go places when the crowds are non existent, like Iceland after the summer crowds have left

Aloha,

Val

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

mreynolds767 said:
The get out earlier answer will always be the best one.

With certain popular cities this is the only way. Venice comes to mind, hardly anyone out at sunrise except deliveries to restaurants which photos aside is cool to experience the unique city start to come to life. Those same areas by 11 AM are wall to wall people so useless for photos but also a miserable experience as a tourist in comparison.

I get out super early, come back for breakfast and maybe even a nap.

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

Val Bueno said:
The Clock Tower with a crowd. I looked up and shot this

Zoom in and shoot details

Wait for a moment when they are not there

Go places when the crowds are non existent, like Iceland after the summer crowds have left

Aloha,

Val

Nice! Would love to go to Iceland but heard about being a crowded place…

I wonder if there are still places in Europe that one could visit, not crowd-free I don’t think, but at least moderately crowded…

Belarus maybe?

--
God Bless
Babieca

mfinley · Oct 23, 2025

Crowds? What are those?

Going to a 1st tier tourist location and not expecting crowds today is like going to a stadium concert and not expecting to see other concert goers.

When people get their noses out of joint and stand on their soap boxes decrying the manipulation of photos digitally as altering reality, isn't it a manipulation today of trying to create a fantasy of a location showing it as it isn't by trying to photograph it without people?

Is the sunset on Santorini at Oia without crowds of people in the picture a good picture or just a picture of a sunset that could be anywhere?

Is the perfect picture the Charles bridge at noon swarming with people or the Charles Bridge at noon empty? Swarming with people is reality, empty is a manipulation of reality.

mfinley · Oct 23, 2025

Babieca said:
I wonder if there are still places in Europe that one could visit, not crowd-free I don’t think, but at least moderately crowded…

We've had this discussion recently and one solution is to get out of Western Europe and explore Central and Eastern Europe, much of it can still feel like experiencing Western Europe in the 1950s.

However for Western Europe, timing and location is everything. Rome at 2pm is quite different than Rome at 7am, and going to the Sistine Chapel is quite a more crowded experience compared to going to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, not to mention the difference of visiting in July versus November.

saltydough · Oct 23, 2025

Babieca said:
saltydough said:

I embrace the crowd and include them in the picture, and sometimes they are the subject itself. But I do wake up at 4-5am for some places.

Click to expand...

Cool! Except the early wake up… can you show us an example?

Tks

Places I like to go for sunrise are often not near where I stay, so for me to get there by 6-7am, I often need to wake up earlier than that and get to the place roughly 20-40mins before sunrise.

Beppu, Japan, 530am local time.

Okayama, Japan, 600am local time

Marsaxlokk, Malta, 645am local time

Groningen, Netherlands, 600am local time

I went Groningen and stay over one night just for the Reitdiephaven above which I went twice on both days. My spouse was unwell so we left early before sunset, and the next morning the light was bad. That is something that you must embrace and accept that despite the efforts of you going way out, sometimes things just do not turn out well.

The other thing is that I will only go out very early in places that I deem and feel safe enough. So yes, I do not always do that as some places I will only feel safe when there are more people around.

--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

saltydough · Oct 23, 2025

Usually I prefer the warmer sunset lighting over sunrise, but I do not like to waste my holiday. It does get tiring especially in the long summer daytime. If you arrive before sunrise, you get to shoot a place in different lighting, which can be cool or warm, but it also depends on whether the place is in shadows or facing the sun depending on its direction.

Fira, Santorini, 0700 local time, in shadows.

Oia, Santorini, 0730 local time, bathed under the sun.

--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

saltydough · Oct 23, 2025

As for embracing the crowd, I do agree that it can be difficult to shoot, especially if they keep walking in front of you and blocking the other subjects that you want to shoot. I do take photographs of people, not necessarily the Bruce Gilden way, and they are truly what I love most, but I am also concerned about posting them online due to various reasons hence I will likely keep most of them with me like what Vivian Maier does.

But it is possible to look for some vantage point to shoot the crowd from a distance, and they can also be the key subject of an image while not being “recognisable”

Shibuya Crossing, Japan.

--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

plantdoc · Oct 23, 2025

I won’t debate altering pics to eliminate people, but I don’t rely on pics to imagine what visiting will be like or if I want to go and explore. Other sources can provide knowledge on what to actually expect in reality

greg

Babieca · Oct 23, 2025

mfinley said:
Crowds? What are those?

Going to a 1st tier tourist location and not expecting crowds today is like going to a stadium concert and not expecting to see other concert goers.

When people get their noses out of joint and stand on their soap boxes decrying the manipulation of photos digitally as altering reality, isn't it a manipulation today of trying to create a fantasy of a location showing it as it isn't by trying to photograph it without people?

Is the sunset on Santorini at Oia without crowds of people in the picture a good picture or just a picture of a sunset that could be anywhere?

Is the perfect picture the Charles bridge at noon swarming with people or the Charles Bridge at noon empty? Swarming with people is reality, empty is a manipulation of reality.

Great point! I agree with you in this…

I am against manipulation in areas like bird photography (the perfect background!)…

my question was actually how to deal with crowds in photography but being a low computer skills person, manipulation just didn’t even cross my mind.

--
God Bless
Babieca

Val Bueno · Oct 23, 2025

As much as possible, I travel during the shoulder season. Cheaper flights and rooms and less people.

Iceland is rather empty in early to mid-September when I went in 2019.

Small villages away from the "popular" spots are a dream to visit. Kutna Hora in Czechia was empty compared to Prague.

Empty rail station

Empty Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady

Mostly empty St. Barbara's Church

Aloha,

Val

Question: how to photograph crowded places?

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