Recommend Photography Locations & Inspiration In Nottingham

Nottingham is a city steeped in history and culture, making it a great location for you to explore with a camera. Robin Hood, castles, old and contemporary architecture, major sporting teams, the list goes on with what’s on offer.

To help you out with where to find some of these locations, I’m going to tell you where I’ve managed to find so far. Don’t you worry, I’ll also give you some advice on what you need your camera set up to capture those scenes.

So why wait? Let’s get into this!

Camera settings: Exposure 1/50s, f/1.8, 4.25mm, ISO 100 (Apple iPhone XS (automatic))

Location: The City Ground (Google Maps)

One thing that always put Nottingham on the map are its sporting teams with Nottingham Forest, Notts County and Nottinghamshire Cricket Club all within a stones throw of each other.

Now, as a Forest fan I’m going to have a little bias here but should be a supporter of Notts County or cricket, there are other stadiums for you to visit and get the camera out. There are also plenty of teams in the county but I’m concentrating on Nottingham itself.

One of these locations, as shown in the picture is the world famous City Ground, located on the bank of the River Trent, providing a lot for someone with a camera. Not only is the location in itself picturesque with the river, inside is always an impressive spectacle with the flags, fans and passion all on show. Then as the sun sets behind the stadium, this can really give you a treat.

Unfortunately, I had no control over the camera settings on this one as it was with my phone but they seem reasonable for the conditions with the lower lighting and moving players. I would have likely have a shorter exposure time to capture the action in its sharpest form, kept the aperture larger so it’s not dark and have the ISO around the 100-400 mark.

Camera settings: Exposure 2.5s, f/5, 18mm, ISO 100

Location: Pitcher & Piano (Google Maps)

I’m sure there’s something to be said about turning a church into a bar but I’ll concentrate on the photography element for this one.

Cathedrals and churches have always been a great thing to photo, often with intriguing architecture. However, when you add a modern bar to it with some extra decoration, it gives it something a little extra. The way that it’s lit by the spotlights with the original stained glass, the decoration of the gate and the symmetry of the trees. This is just the exterior. I would love to spend some time inside and capture it sometime.

For this one, the low ISO was to ensure there wasn’t too much noise, the long exposure to capture all the details in the frame and a larger aperture to get the texture at the top and bottom of the frame.

Camera settings: Exposure 3s, f/5.6, 18mm, ISO 100

Location: Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (Google Maps)

There’s a lot of history in this one picture! The main subject of the picture is the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, claiming to be one of the older public houses in England and dating back to 1189AD. A quaint pub tucked under the hill top and built out from the rock face.

In the background, you can see Nottingham Castle perched up on the hill, overlooking the city, which in its own right is a great photography location to explore and one that’s on my current Nottingham to do list.

Then outside of the scope of this picture, you have some of the Nottingham caves within the rock which you could explore or, most importantly, at the entrance of the castle, you have the statue of Robin Hood.

I’m really happy with how this picture turned out! As usual, ISO right down for those longer exposures and then aperture was opened up to ensure that I was able to get the right level of focus for all parts of the photo: from the crest in foreground, to the pub, to the castle. With it being nighttime, the usual higher exposure time required.

The only thing I dislike about it is the lens flares… Got to have something to improve, right?

Camera settings: Exposure 1/5s, f/3.8, 20mm, ISO 3200

Location: St Mary’s Church (Google Maps)

Carrying on from what I said earlier about churches and them being great for photos, here’s a perfect example. Look at those stained glass windows! Of course, it definitely helps them being back lit in this one.

The settings used here were a compromise of capturing as much detail as I could, hence the longer exposure without bringing in too much shake due to shooting without my tripod. The larger aperture was to try and bring as much into focus collectively and maximise the light needed. The ISO should definitely have been a lot lower though. Not sure why it was so high and so to lose some of the noise, I had to sacrifice some of the detail.

Camera settings:

Left picture: Exposure 1/3s, f/8, 18mm, ISO 200
Right picture: Exposure 1/3, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 400

Location: Old Market Square (Google Maps)

One of the landmarks of Nottingham both for those that live in the city and those visiting, the Old Market Square. For the city dwellers, it is the prime spot to meet anyone and for the tourists, it’s a historic location with plenty to offer in and around it.

For a photographer, it’s the ideal location!

As you can see from the photos above though, it also plays host to a variety of special events throughout the year. In the lefthand picture, you can see its appearance when the Christmas Market is in town, giving you the chance to capture a wide variety of shots. On the righthand side, this was during the Nottingham Light Night however, the Council House is always lit up, giving the chance for a picture of two.

This area is brilliant for all types of photographers. If it’s street photography that you’re after, there’s always an eclectic mix of people passing through with the natural hustle and bustle along with buses and trams skirting around the edge. If you are looking from pictures of architecture, you firstly have the Council House alongside the older buildings that frame the square. Then as you can see on the righthand picture, if it’s wet, you can get some great reflections from the smooth pavement and water in the fountains.

Let’s get into the camera settings of these pictures then!

Starting with the picture on the left, this one of compromise. I wanted to have all the lights looking their best against the darkness of the sky, whilst not having too much blur from the people in the shot and the ferris wheel as it turned.

What would I do better next time? Potentially try lowering the ISO and upping the exposure time to improve the fidelity of the pictures and seeing what the end results are with the people moving in the frame. With that longer exposure at the right time could give some cool light trails as the ferris wheel went round or for the carousel that’s just out of shot on the right.

Something to try next time!

As for the picture on the right, this was another compromise of wanting to emphasise the lights in the picture, especially the reflections, whilst not having too much blur from those moving around or the presentation projected onto the canvas.

For next time, I would potentially up the aperture size, decrease exposure time and look at playing with the ISO to get the picture desired. Don’t worry, I do intend to return to the location and see what pure street photography I can capture as I have a few creative ideas brewing. Watch this space and my socials!

That wraps up this edition of photography locations, giving you six great locations that you can delve into when you’re next in Nottingham.

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Like the content of this photography? Then be sure to check out my other photography blogs, letting you know how I go about finding my photography locations and giving tips and tricks for other locations that I visit, providing inside thoughts on how to capture the shot you’ll want.

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