Photography Guide To The Dolomites

We spent 2 weeks travelling around the Dolomites during Autumn, and were blown away by the variety of landscapes and sheer natural beauty of the area. Flying into Bergamo Airport we picked up our rental car and headed to Val Gardena where we spent the first portion of our trip, using Ortisei as a base. For the second part of our trip we based ourselves around Cortina, visiting the eastern part of the Dolomites.

The surrounding areas of Val Gardena are so spectacular it’s almost painful to not stop the car, and take pictures at every turn! I would always recommend starting your trip here, then heading into the eastern area, around Cortina d’Ampezzo afterwards. As a photographer you will be spoilt by the small towns and picturesque villages, before being blown away by the hiking trails heading into the mountains.

Make sure to pack your drone and you’ll take plenty of panoramas like the one of Seceda Mountain pictured below. Seceda is easily accessible by taking the cable car from Ortisei Town.

Alpe di Siusi is the largest alpine meadow in Europe and was one of our favourite places to explore on the trip. The area isn’t easily accessible by car unless you have a hotel reservation however you can take the cable car, or drive to one of the top cable-car stations and hike from there.

I recommend visiting Alpe du Siusi for sunrise and if you’re lucky the lower valleys and meadows will fill with mist, making for some atmospheric shots.

Santa Magdalena is a stunning, quaint town with a couple of beautiful churches that have staggering backdrops. St. Johann Church is so popular, it has its own photography platform. It’s only small though so can get busy. If you can’t find a spot to stand then you can walk up the hill behind one of the car parks and get a different view above the treeline.

On our last morning in Ortisei, Seceda was completely covered with cloud, however we decided to take the cable car up one last time in the hope of a clearing! We weren’t disappointed and were treated to a spectacular cloud inversion at the top (pictured below). As I was capturing the photograph a bird flew into the top right of the frame, I decided to leave the bird in as it adds to the drama and gives sense of scale.

Below is an image of Cadini di Misurina and is another epic place to explore and photograph. The trails are relatively easy to hike and you’ll be rewarded with the spectacular scenery pictured below. I took this image on a telephoto lens at around 80mm to show the scale of the mountains which wrap around the subject, almost like an amphitheatre.

Make sure you pack a telephoto lens, something like a 70-200mm is great for picking out the detail in the mountains, and isolating points of interest.

One of the biggest tips I can give when it comes to photography is not to visit an area with only one image in mind as this can kill creativity. Visiting this area I didn’t get the conditions I had hoped for, however, after scouting around I found some nice side-light illuminating the valley below us. I used a telephoto lens to compress the scene and this ended up being one of my favourite images from this trip.

Here’s some more images from a misty morning at Alpe di Siusi. If you’re here for photography I recommend visiting the area during the day to scout around to find some different compositions. We loved hiking around the whole area whilst stopping off at rifugios along the way, sampling the local food and wines.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo is one of the most recognizable mountain ranges you’ll see in the Dolomites, in fact you’ve probably already seen images if you’ve planned on visiting here. I used a drone to capture a panorama, stitching together 9 images in Lightroom. It was the only way I could capture the sheer scale of Tre Cime di Lavaredo!

If you look closely, on the left, you can see the start of the trail, which tracks around the base of the mountain. I highly recommend spending a solid day hiking around the area. The views are nothing short of breathtaking!

The autumn colours in the Dolomites are eye-catching to say the least! The valleys, forests and mountains are filled with colour during autumn, and as we drove around we stopped off everywhere we could, putting around 3,000 miles on our hire car! ha ha!

The image below was taken at Lago Federa. We hiked there for sunrise and although we weren’t lucky with the conditions for photography, we were blown away by the colour of the larches surrounding the lake. There was also a great place for strudel and coffee overlooking the lake!

Another perspective of Tre Cime di Lavaredo, this time pictured from the other side of the mountain. Here you can also see Cadini di Misurina pictured to the left, behind Tre Cime di Laveredo.

There are plenty of stunning lakes in the Dolomites, with some of them being just off the main road – not that it feels like it when you’re walking around them. The crystal clear water, grand larch trees and mountain backdrops create some beautiful photo opportunities.

Here’s a few of our drone images from around Lago di Braies, I love capturing details and abstract images to remind me of our trips. There are many lakes which can be explored around the Dolomites, but Lago di Braies is probably the most popular, with around 80 photographers there when we arrived for sunrise. However it’s a fantastic place to hike around early morning, coffee in hand!

A perfect morning in Alpe di Siusi with golden morning light, magical mist lifting from the rolling meadows and wooden mountain huts nestled amongst the hills.

Passo Giau is a beautiful spot for sunrise or sunset. It was one of the easiest places to get to for such an epic landscape. Just drive to the top of the pass, hike for 5-10 minutes and be rewarded with this view. Okay not this exact view, as the below image was taken on a drone. The view in the second image below is from the nearby hills though, which is just as impressive.

Not far from the main viewpoint of Passo Giau is Snake Road. This winding section of road surround by larch trees is just perfect for a drone shot. It’s also fun to drive on as you take on the twisting hairpin turns.

Cadini di Misurina photographed during the blue hour at sunset. I love the detail in the mountains here and how they draw the eye in naturally.

Another image from Seceda near the town of Ortisei. I was lucky enough to capture this photo of a paraglider positioned nicely above the mountain. It was great to sit and watch these guys gliding around using the gentle updraft from the mountain, I can only imaging how much fun they had!

If you fly into Milan, Bergamo or Verona then Lake Garda is the perfect place to stop off on the way to or from the Dolomites. Sirmione is a small town just an hour from Bergamo Airport and it’s a great place to use the drone. You can capture the ancient Scaligero Castle and the vibrant orange roofs of the surrounding medieval buildings. We only had a fleeting visit, but when we went on a Sunday it was extremely busy so try to plan your trip on a weekday if you can.