St. Paul's Cathedral & Two Red Telephone Boxes

This image was taken in front of two red telephone boxes with St. Paul's Cathedral behind it. You'll see the telephone boxes where Ludgate Hill turns into St. Paul's Churchyard. I stood just in front of them for this shot! By London Underground: - Closest station: St. Paul's (via Central line) - Walk north-west on Cheapside towards Panyer Alley - Sharp left onto Panyer Alley - Turn right onto Paternoster Row - Turn right to stay on Paternoster Row - Turn left onto St. Paul's Churchyard - Cross the road

All months of the year are suitable to photograph in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. Summer is best if you don't like the cold, although in the winter the sun sets earlier and won't have to stay up as late for a night shot.

Visit the cathedral at night to capture light trails. Buses stop running around 1AM, so visit before then.

When shooting with a wide-angle lens (I shot with a 14mm), moving the camera slightly backwards and forwards can have a dramatic effect on how big the phone boxes look in your image. Experiment!

To capture light trails you'll need a tripod. A remote shutter is also useful to avoid shaking the camera. You could also use the 2-second delay setting on your camera.

I used a shutter speed of 4 seconds. The longer the shutter speed, the more transparent the bus will look and you'll have longer light trails. A quicker shutter speed will make the bus appear more crisp and have shorter light trails.

You can plan for your light trail shot by checking Google Maps for live bus times.

St. Paul's Churchyard and the nearby Paternoster Square have a great selection of restaurants, pubs and cafes.

For more photography locations, One New Change shopping complex, just to the East of the cathedral, has an excellent roof garden for some of the closest views of St. Paul's.

Another one of London's iconic landmarks, Millennium Bridge, is only a few minutes walk south of St. Paul's.