Recommend Photography Locations & Inspiration In Portsmouth - Part 2

Clearly, Portsmouth has so much to offer when it comes to photography locations and that’s why we are back for a round two, ladies and gentlemen. I’ll be sharing with you five more locations that I’ve come across around the city to allow you to be inspired to not only go out and create but get that killer shot that you’ve been wanting.

As I said, this is a part two to Portsmouth so if you missed it, be sure to check out part one, which offers you six other locations to uncover. Like my other location blogs, I’ll be breaking down the pictures and how I set up for them, giving you insight into my thinking plus picking up any mistakes I made.

Before you get into things fully, I’ll give you a heads up that most of these photographs were captured during my early days with the camera so you’ll see some of the same mistake appearing several times and the pictures may not stand up as well to my recent pieces of work.

Camera settings:

Left hand picture: Exposure 1/6s, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 6400
Right hand picture: Exposure 1/8s, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 6400

Location: Portsmouth Cathedral (Google Maps)

As with any cathedral, it makes for a good photo, whether internal or external. There are elements of Portsmouth cathedral that make it interesting from the outside and has an array of angles to be captured, with these two being my favourite. Though keep in mind, these were early on in my journey and if I were to return, I’m sure I’d get a lot better ones.

Camera settings for these. Mostly good with compromise on exposure with it being handheld, aperture nice and wide too to ensure plenty of light is coming in. The only downfall and it’s those three letters: I, S and O. WAY too high here and with that comes the noise.

Camera settings:

Left hand picture: Exposure 1/470s, f/1.8, 4.25mm, ISO 25
Right hand picture: Exposure 1/15s, f/5.6, 23mm, ISO 6400

Location: Gunwharf Quays (Google Maps)

As a relatively new development, well in comparison to most of Portsmouth, Gunwharf Quays can give you a bit of everything with your pictures. You’ve got it facing west for sunset, boats and ships coming in and out of the harbour, modern buildings such as Spinnaker Tower or One Gunwharf Quays, or the shopping and people moving around to give you a decent set of street photography pictures. Something truly for everyone when creating.

The picture on the left was another iPhone captuted picture so let’s talk about settings if I were to take this picture with a camera. Exposure time would be in the range of 1/100-1/250s as the sun had already set, aperture nice and wide with the ISO around the 400 mark.

Moving over the picture on the right, which was taken with my trusty camera, all the settings are pretty good apart from my nemesis: ISO. Too high again. Drop that down to 400 or less and up the exposure time a little bit to around 1/6s maximum unless you’re with a tripod.

Camera settings: Exposure 1/15s, f/4.5, 24mm, ISO 6400

Location: Old Portsmouth (Google Maps)

I was out walking with the camera in hand when I came across this location and something about it just screamed out to me. In my eyes, it’s a place that has a lot of potential. With better knowledge and composition, this picture could be a lot better and I’m sure if I were to return, I’d be able to achieve so much more now.

I’m seeing a common theme here… ISO? Able to guess what I’m going to say? That’s right, too high! You can really tell that this was very early in the photography career. When you look at my other blogs featuring pictures taken after, you can really tell how my knowledge has developed. The other settings don’t seem too bad. Exposure is about right due to people moving and the changing light colours but apart from that, just needs less noise.

Camera settings: Exposure 1/240s, f/2.8, 3mm, ISO 136

Location: Milton Common (Google Maps)

Not only a lovely place that’s green for you to explore on foot and go for a run, Milton Common does give you a decent sunrise view on a good day. The low tide on the day meant the photo wasn’t as picturesque as I wanted it to be so came inside Swan Lake to frame it nicely with the small grass verge.

I can’t argue with the settings the GoPro gave itself for this one. This isn’t far off what I would would have used with my camera with a slightly wider aperture due to the lens I have not going that low thus would lower the exposure time too. Admittedly, this was using the SuperPhoto functionality though which gives the picture a bit of a boost.

Camera settings:

Left hand picture: Exposure 1/850s, f/1.8, 4.25mm, ISO 100 (Automatic on iPhone XS)
Right hand picture: Exposure 1/13s, f/3.8, 22mm, ISO 6400

Location: The Point, Bath Square (Google Maps)

To finish off this blog, The Point provides a great location in Portsmouth for you to get pictures whether it be day, night or the transition between the two, as it faces to the east. I do wonder if there’s a possibility of a sunrise picture. Tight but maybe possible with it coming up over Gunwharf Quays.

The left hand picture was, as you can see, taken on an iPhone so the set up isn’t under my control. However, this doesn’t mean I can’t help you out if you’re shooting manual. To be honest, the what the iPhone used, I can’t see much wrong with it. The only difference would be the smaller aperture based on the limitations of my lens but that’s about it. The other thing to highlight here is that it was taken as a panoramic shot on the phone so unless you have a wide lens, you’d have to set up the camera for that.

On to the right hand picture. Yep, ISO was way too high for this one leaving plenty of noise across the picture, particularly in the sky. The first thing I would do is drop that back down to 100-400, depending how it looked, as well as increasing the exposure time. A guide of around 1/6-1/10s if you’re handheld or longer if you have a tripod but it would need a compromise due to the changing colours of the tower. Too long and you wouldn’t get a decent separation of them. The aperture wouldn’t be much different.

There you have it, five more locations for you to check out if and when you’re in the city of Portsmouth. As I said before, if you didn’t get chance to see the first instalment of locations here the be sure to check out part 1 here. Be sure to tag me in any of the photographs you post from these recommendations and if you find anywhere else, make sure you add it in the comments section for me and others to find.

If there are any pictures in this blog that you liked the look of and would like to purchase it for your own personal use, be it a wall print or otherwise, then be sure to head over to my Alamy portfolio where you will be able to view them, along with . If what you’re looking for isn’t on there, then send me an email quiltycoversblog@gmail.com and I’ll be able to sort this out for you.

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.

Finally, if you want to be at the forefront of receiving notifications that I’ve released a new blog, be it about photography or the other topics that I cover, or want to see insights into my life and my real time thoughts, be sure to follow me at the following: