7 Photo Spots for your next trip to Tirana, Albania

iPhone Photography

Mar 9

It's been a while since I visited Albania; I've written a blog post about Night Photography in Tirana in 2016. As a supplement to this blog post, here are a few more photo spots worth visiting in Tirana, Albania, all shot with an iPhone 6s Plus.

A few of them are within walking distance of each other. Let's start with this first.

The most obvious place that you encounter when walking around Skandaberg Square is the Pyramid of Tirana.

Pyramid of Tirana; shot on iPhone 6s Plus

The pyramid initially was a museum for the legacy of Enver Hoxha. He was a long time leader of the communist party in Albania. Allegedly, it was also used as a filming location in 2019 for a remake of the horror movie Castle Freak.

There's a skyscraper right behind the pyramid. So to avoid seeing the building, either get close enough or use my favorite tool for removing unwanted objects: Touch Retouch App. For this photo, I did both. I went a little bit closer and used Touch Retouch App to remove the remaining parts of the skyscraper that was visible behind the pyramid.

Quite close to the pyramid, you'll find the famous Et'hem Bey Mosque that I photographed using ProCamera App in Low Light HDR mode using an iPhone 6s Plus.

As you can see, I took the photo during the blue hour. To plan ahead, I used a blue hour calculator to determine when the blue hour will start and end.

Right across the street is the National Museum of History. A beautifully illuminated building with a huge and colorful mosaic.

National Museum of History; shot on iPhone 6s Plus

To be able to capture the colors, I also used ProCamera Low Light HDR. Like all the other photos in this post, I shot it using an iPhone 6s Plus. Today, I'd probably use either only [ProCamera Low Light Mode][0] or even just the night mode of the iPhone 11, because Low Light HDR tends to be a bit noisy.

No matter which method you use, for taking such photos , using a tripod for iPhone is helpful and ensures you get a sharp photo.

Within a maybe 5-10 minute walk, you'll find another excellent photo spot: Tanner's Bridge. It's an 18th-century bridge that was once part of an ancient road. Sometime in the 1900s, the way was diverted, and the bridge is now used only by pedestrians.

As with some of the other photos, I took this one using ProCamera Low Light HDR mode. I later re-edited it in Adobe Lightroom Premium, where I applied quite a bit noise reduction.

Next is the resurrection cathedral in Tirana, an Albanian Orthodox Church.

Church of Resurrection in Tirana, Albania

The next photo spot probably doesn't exist anymore in the sense that it's hopefully finished now.

For this photo, I used the well known photo framing technique to hide all the construction stuff behind the trees. For the remaining crane, I used Touch Retouch App to remove it.

And finally, there's an old and abandoned amphitheater-like structure in the biggest park in Tirana, which is called the Grand Park of Tirana. It's a beautiful place with an artificial lake that's just perfect for relaxing and strolling after (or during) a long day.

Abandoned Theatre in the Grand Park of Tirana

I converted this photo to black and white as outlined in my tutorial about how to convert a photo to black and white in Lightroom Mobile.

Hotel Recommendation for Tirana, Albania.

Hopefully you've been reading my blog for a while. Then you know, that I select my hotels mainly because of a convenient location close to the main attractions.

During my trip to Tirana, I stayed at the Rogner Hotel Tirana. Probably not the cheapest option, but very conveniently located with many of the above photo spots within walking distance.

You can check the offerings for the Rogner Hotel Tirana on booking.com