Photo & Video, Istanbul & Turkey

Last Updated on August 13, 2022

Turkey is good for photography year-round. Its natural beauty and abundance of historic treasures give you plenty of possibilities to make beautiful and/or dramatic images.

Here are some of my favorites.

Supplies for digital cameras (memory cards, batteries, etc) are readily available. The cameras themselves, and their accessories, are generally more expensive in Turkey than in some other countries, such as the USA.

For info on recharging your digital camera/video batteries while in Turkey, see Electricity.

Many photo shops in major cities and resort areas will download your digital photo files, make prints for you and/or burn the files to a CD-ROM or DVD for you to take home with you.

Don't take photos of anything around or behind it!

Ask permission before photoing or videoing soldiers off-duty (as it is polite to do with any persons you photo/video).

If you see the Turkish words Fotograf yapmak yasak!(Taking photographs prohibited!) observe the restriction absolutely. You don't want to be mistaken for a terrorist, do you?

Some museums and sights may require payment of a photo/video fee, which allows photography and videography without a tripod or other professional equipment, for personal (non-commercial) use only. Most of the medium-sized and smaller sites do not charge a photo/video fee.

Turkish TV sets and video components use the PAL standard as in Europe (except France, which uses SECAM), not the NTSC standard used in the USA and Canada.

Climate and the seasons affect your shooting, of course. In summer, time your shooting for the early morningand late afternoon whenever possible. The light is warm and low-temperature then. At midday, the light is high-temperature and thus colors are washed out and shadows harsh.

Consider a hot-air balloon flight in Cappadocia for a truly unforgettable photo/video experience. The air is clear, the light warm and dramatic, and the angles are out of this world!

—Tom Brosnahan

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