luvtotravel

Is the light "right" in the morning or the evening from the top of St. Peter's in Rome for a photo?

hetismij2

Have a look at the Photographers Ephemeris. That will tell you. You can download the app or use the desktop version.
http://photoephemeris.com/

NYCFoodSnob

Map-centric sun and moon calculators would give me a migraine. I don't find them helpful at all.

The only way to know whether or not you will like the position of the light source: you need to see the scene in early day and late afternoon, hopefully capture them both, and then make a solid determination. If you don't have time to visit the dome twice, you settle on one time of day. Hopefully your decision will be based on good research and reliable instinct.

Experienced photographers look at existing photos to determine important details. There is far more visual information in an existing photograph than you'll ever find in a map-centric calculator. Knowing how to study a photograph will determine your success.

Sometimes, you can get lucky and find a generous person who will share key information like; GPS coordinates, time of day, and day of the year. There are numerous photo-share websites to guide you to such people. Most professionals will guard this information as secret intellectual property. Certain photographers who offer photography workshops will share this information for the cost of admission.

bvlenci

To keep it really simple, St. Peter's is on the western edge of Rome. So most of the city is to the east, and southeast. You can get nice shots at sunset on a clear day of the city lit by the setting sun. In the summer, the sun sets too late for sunset shots, so I would just avoid times of the day when you'd be shooting into the sun, depending on what you're aiming at. For that, I think a simple look at any map would help you decide.

What's more important is finding a very clear day. There is often "haze", which is a euphemism for air pollution. Unfortunately, it's usually worse in the afternoon. A bright, breezy day after a heavy rain is ideal.

isabel

I took this shot (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/161273832) mid day. In November. As you can see it was partly cloudy. But as you can see in this one (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/161273833) the sun was strong enough to cast a definite shadow. I find mid day gives you more options if you are going to have views off in different directions which is true in this case. Depending on the time of year you just want to make sure you are not shooting directly into the sun and you should be able to figure that out from the ground before you go up in the dome. Of course shooting into the sun at sunset can be great.

luvtotravel

Thank you all for your assistance.

Isabel, your shot is exactly the one I want from St. Peter's. We will be in Rome for 24 hours in May. I know it's not a lot of time, but I've been there twice before, so it will be okay. But, time there will be precious. I've spent a lot of time looking through your photos--we've been to many of the same places. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories.

Diane

flygirl

I took some great photos at sunset a few years ago. The sun was more or less behind me as I looked in the direction of the Pantheon.

flygirl

For example:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/skywal...7638364387924/

luvtotravel

flygirl, you had that beautiful golden hue on the buildings at sunset. Lovely. Thanks for the link.
Diane