Heard Lugano at night is pure magic for photos, so I grabbed my trusty Canon R6 last Tuesday. Goal? Capture those dreamy lake reflections with city lights. First move? Ditch the tripod at home like a genius. Big mistake.
Phase 1: Total Chaos
Started near the lakeshore around 8PM. Figured my camera’s “Auto” mode would handle it. Spoiler: it didn’t. Every shot looked like a drunk ghost party:
- Street lamps became glowing radioactive blobs
- Church towers tilted like falling dominos
- Lake reflections? Just black void with random sparkles
Tried resting camera on a trash bin for stability. Result? Blurry ferry boats that resembled melted candles.
Phase 2: Manual Mode Rescue
Swore under breath and switched to Manual. Dropped ISO to 800 after early shots looked like grainy sandpaper. Set aperture wide open at f/2.8 to gulp light. Real trick? Brutally slow shutter speed.
Used park benches as makeshift tripods. Counted “one-Mississippi-two-Mississippi” up to 4 seconds while holding breath. First keeper shot:
- Castagnola waterfront path
- Golden lamp streaks melting into the lake
- Mountain silhouette barely visible like shadow puppets
Drank celebratory espresso. Spilled half when my phone almost fell into the lake.
Phase 3: Light Hunting
Wandered toward Piazza della Riforma. Caught waiters lighting restaurant candles – perfect warm glows against blue hour sky. Crouched behind fountain for composition:
- Manual focus on candle cluster (autofocus kept hunting)
- ISO 400, f/4, 1/10 second
- Waiter gave suspicious look mid-pour
Got candid shot of wine glasses glittering like liquid rubies. Worth the knee ache.
Final Goldmine
Stumbled upon stone staircase near Parco Ciani. Framed lanterns winding uphill with lake below. Did the unthinkable: laid flat on pavement. Tourists stepped over me clicking away.
Settings:
- Shutter: 8 whole seconds
- Aperture: f/11 for starry light effects
- Used 2-second timer so my button-press wouldn’t shake things
Final shot had:
- Pinpoint lanterns trailing like fireflies
- Silky water mirroring moonlight
- Distant Swiss Alps as faded paper cutouts
Stood up dizzy. Realized I’d been shooting with lens cap dangling for 20 minutes. Classic.
