Lucignano

The ring-shaped town plan of Lucignano

In Lucignano, the roofs wind in strikingly closed rings around the town center. The steep aerial view reveals this shape. From the side, the Tuscan hills gain weight and explain why the outline of the town stands out so clearly from its surroundings.

Alleys in concentric arcs

In Lucignano, the streets can be followed through several changes of direction. Together with the rows of roofs, they draw the rounded floor plan, which can only be seen in sections from street level.

The gaps between the houses reveal how tightly built the place is. An inner courtyard opens up the roof structure, a treetop covers part of it, and a wide street separates two blocks. Anyone who looks at the photo can follow these gaps and get a clearer picture than if they tried to identify each building individually. A particularly suitable view for a city portrait is one in which the view from a clearly visible roof can move on to the neighboring streets.

Follow the course of the border

You can usually only see the next side of a wall on the ground. From the air, several changes of direction are visible at the same time. The transition from a straight stretch to a corner or goal area is particularly revealing. It gives the image a tangible reference point. If you want to show the outer contour, leave some space in front of and behind the border in addition to the wall. This makes it clear which areas belong together and where the view extends into the adjacent terrain.

Order along a line

To find your way around an unfamiliar townscape, you can follow a continuous line until there is a noticeable change in direction. It is often only on this path that small junctions or free spaces become apparent. The image section determines how much of this order remains visible. If the beginning of the line remains in the foreground and its destination remains in the back part of the image, a photograph has a clear reading direction even without drawn arrows. It's particularly worth looking at in a portrait format.

Warm tones within the series

If you browse through the 9 aerial photos, you can stay at shot 3 and shot 6 for a comparison. In the second view, warm reds and browns have more weight than in the first. Red-brown and yellowish areas are particularly noticeable next to cooler surfaces. What is interesting when comparing is whether they are concentrated on a single object or appear spread out across the entire view.

For Shot 1 and Shot 9, the same day is noted in the image files, July 13, 2021. The recording times recorded are about 5 minutes apart. The exposure time was 1/800 second for the first of the images mentioned and 1/640 second for the second.

The Aerial Videos section supplements the photos with 3 clips. The aerial photographer's photographs linked there include “Lucignano in Tuscany from the air”. The relevant video page on Adobe Stock can be opened using the respective preview.

Prepare a cityscape for readers

For a city history, it can be informative to place the aerial photograph next to a street view. In one picture the roof is the reliable reference point, in the other it is often the entrance or the facade. The transition is best achieved via a corner, a square or a visible junction. An aerial photographer can take this connection into account when taking photos. In the printed photo series, a brief note about which side of the street the next photo was taken from is often enough.

Related motifs in the aerial photo archive

If you are looking for related motifs, you can start with Italy – Pisa. The aerial photos of Pisa provide a view of a largely flat urban landscape. It's worth taking a second look at Ostuni. The bright buildings of Ostuni form a compact form from above.