Love photography? Everything you need to take the best photos of Sydney Australia. Local knowledge, free guides, workshops and more.
Throughout this Sydney Closeup site there are pointers to where to go for a great koala picture or photos of an Australian water dragon. Or maybe you want hard-to-get platypus pictures or you’re interested in old cemetery locations.
Detailed photo guides, written by photographers for photographers, are available for Sydney Australia.
Sydney Photo Guides
The guides are written by local photographers and they’re free.
They discuss favourite places to go for the best Sydney photos. And tell you how to get there, the peculiarities of the terrain and, often, the best times of day to visit.
There’s information about macros, landscapes, night digital photography, buildings and more.
Including the best places for seasonal photography.
Workshops & Classes, Digital Photography
Brent Pearson, the photographer who started the Free Photo Guides for NSW, Australia, also runs periodic workshops on different aspects of photography in Sydney. That’s one of his photos at the top of this page.
He’s a talented photographer who’s incredibly generous with his knowledge. If you’re serious about photography and post processing, have a look at Brent’s website. He includes tutorials, blow by blow accounts of how he’s achieved his effects, and lots of before and after photos.
Check out his site for seascape and HDR photography, night photography techniques and other digital photography workshops and see what he has on offer when you’re around. You’re sure to come away with new techniques along with some amazing Sydney photos.
Seascape Photography
Here’s a photo of a sea cave with rain cloud, taken by Steve Passlow in the Munmorah State Conservation Area, just north of Sydney. Get the full impact of Steve’s great HDR photography.
Up or down the coast, there’s no shortage of fantastic opportunities for seascape photography. Whether it’s morning or sunset images or photography at night there’s plenty of scope.
Amazing Street Art
If your tastes run to urban art, grunge and graffiti there are plenty of places to find it in Sydney Australia.
May Lane in St Peters is well known for its amazing street art. This photo was taken by Sydney photographer Rachael Muller.
For more photos of Sydney you can wander over the road to Sydney Park with its wonderful old chimney stacks, the remnants of what were once the largest brick kilns in Australia. Eighteen to twenty brickyards operated in this space for over a hundred years, from the 1880s until the last ones were filled in and the park created in the 1980s. Today the park includes a city farm.
Sydney Cultural Icons
Combine your passion for photography with interesting curated walks which will take you to spots you might otherwise miss. From scenic to seamy, vanished industrial to new residential and harbour to inner city there’s a free app that will guide you. Most walks take less than 2 hours. Have a look at this page for details.
Romantic Photos of Sydney
What’s your definition of romantic? A deserted beach? Twinkling city lights coming on all around you as daylight fades to evening? An intimate restaurant with a table set for two?
We all have our fantasies. Photographing them is something else again. Here are five spots that could be real contenders, one of them might just meet your particular interest:
- Looking down on Sydney at dusk:Either of the two revolving restaurants in downtown SydneySydney Tower in Centrepoint orSummit Restaurant in Australia Squarewill give you panoramic pictures of Sydney as well as a meal.Book an early table to catch the sunset as well as the night lights.
- Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge across the water:
Combine this with a ferry ride across the harbour. You will get this view coming into the city from pretty well any of the northern or eastern suburbs.Or take the shot from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in the Sydney Botanical Gardens.
- For a deserted beach you’ll need to go slightly out of town.The Royal National Park in Sydney’s south is a good bet.Take a train to Cronulla, then the small ferry to Bundeena in the national park. From there stroll to any one of a number of beautifully quiet or deserted beaches.Combine it with a cliff-top walk for more spectacular photos of Sydney, or shoot some of the old aboriginal rock art just off Jibbon beach.
- Romantic dinner for two by the water.There’s lots of choice but it’s hard to go past the Oyster Bar, 1 East Circular Quay for great pictures of Sydney.I’ve opted for this restaurant because it’s a lovely historic building – built in 1908 as part of the wharf facilities – and for its location right on the water. There’s nothing between you and the harbour but a railing. So the ferries will chuff past and the bridge is in your sights while you eat, drink and take great photos of Sydney harbour and Circular Quay.Another good option is Cafe Sydney at the top of Customs House, just back from Circular Quay. It has a lovely outdoor terrace with great harbour views. Both places are open all day for coffee (or cocktails) if you don’t want a full meal.
- Stay on your own island in the middle of Sydney Harbour. Yes, you can. Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour is reachable by ferry and has camping or serviced apartment accommodation.Photograph the city spread out in front of you, the sunrise over Sydney Harbour Bridge, the sunset over the Parramatta River, and there are great old cranes and other leftover shipyard equipment to entice you to take ever more photos of Sydney.
More Photo Ops
Not there all year, but in October and November there’s that great Sydney coastal walk with sculpture, Sculpture by the Sea. Early morning on weekdays is definitely the go for photographers. Be aware that some sculptures are taken in at night, protection against vandalism, so check what’s there before you go.
And if your interest is architectural, then Sydney Open, on the first weekend of November, is for you.
Want some of Sydney’s old terrace houses with their iron laced balconies? Combine a visit to Paddington markets with a walk around the suburb’s back streets and you’ll find every variation you can wish for there.