Find out where to take the best pictures in Rio de Janeiro
Planning to travel to Brazil? You can take photos like the ones below, and even better. In fact, Rio de Janeiro is by nature a photogenic city. Even if you are not a good photographer your pictures are likely to be great.
If you are a good photographer, then charge your camera, and plan three to seven days in Rio de Janeiro because this city is a paradise for photographers — amateurs or professionals. There are, literally, hundreds of photo-op locations.
Wanna learn where to take the best pictures in Rio? Then, you need a copy of My Rio Travel Guide – The Essential How-To Visitor’s Guide to Rio de Janeiro. This guidebook presents a detailed itinerary you can follow to visit the top attractions in Rio as well as the off-the-beaten path sites, where you can take stunning pictures of locals, sights, landscapes, and more.
Click on the first photo below and start browsing the whole Rio de Janeiro gallery:
Tips on taking pictures in Rio de Janeiro
► What camera to bring
If you have a big, expensive DSLR camera, you should definitely bring it to Rio de Janeiro, otherwise you will frequently think “I wish I had brought my best camera to take better photos”.
Some tourists travelling to Rio leave their expensive camera home because they are afraid of being robbed while visiting the city. So, let’s make one thing clear: Rio de Janeiro is much safer nowadays (2013) than it was 10 years ago.
Your expensive camera will most likely be safe in the following occasions:
- ● In the safe in your hotel’s room (most hotels in Rio have a safe in each room)
- ● On a guided tour
- ● On a taxi
- ● On the subway
- ● On classic tourist attractions such Sugar Loaf Hill and Christ the Redeemer statue atop Corcovado Mountain
- ● On pedestrian streets rather busy with pedestrians such as the ones on Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches
- ● In many other areas and occasions
However, you should also consider bringing a small camera (especially if you are planning to stay several days). A small camera will be useful to take pictures in several moments during your stain in Rio:
- ● When taking public city buses
- ● When going to street parties (for example, during Carnival)
- ● When exploring by yourself and taking pictures in deserted and/or off-the-beaten path areas
► Make sure your batteries are charged
If you like to take pictures, you risk of taking easily a hundred photos or more on a day out in Rio. It is not unsual that camera’s batteries die before the end of the day, especially if you follow the comprehensive self-guided taxi and walking tours suggested in My Rio Travel Guide, which permits you to cover a lot of ground on a single day, and as a result, take lots of pictures.
Since in Rio de Janeiro there are many photo-op locations with panoramic vistas, you are likely to use more frequently the camera zoom, which is one of the factors that uses up the battery. Besides, many visitors leave their hotel for a tour with a partially charged battery, which is not enough in many cases. In fact, even a fully-charged battery is some times not enough.
► Split your pictures in more than one SD card
As mentioned above Rio de Janeiro is much safer in the last years, and it will become even safer as the city prepares itself to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and to the 2016 Olympic Games. However, you may want to take extra precautions not to lose all your pictures, especially if you will engage yourself in not-so-safe activities. Here is my advice: keep the partially full SD card in your hotel, or in your money belt, to save the photos you already have from the very unlikely event of being mugged, and losing your camera with all those stunning pictures.
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Coming to Rio de Janeiro soon? Get the most out of your trip by following the insider’s advice in My Rio Travel Guide — the most updated travel guide to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.