Pienza is in the heart of Tuscany. The Gladiator Walk is just below the hill town. The famous Cappella di Vitaleta is ten minutes away by car. But unless you stopped and walked around, you’d miss the heart of the charming old town and the church square where this photo is taken.

Tony Hewitt and I are now back from our second photo tour through Italy (with a slightly different itinerary) and while I had visited Pienza over 20 years ago, I had forgotten the quaint old town and the magnificent walls that overlook some of Tuscany’s finest landscapes. We spent two mornings watching the sunrise light up the rolling hills and tree-lined driveways, punctuated by delightful farmhouses. Some of these photos will follow, but in the meantime I’ve become quite attached to this architectural study in the pre-dawn light.

Ensuring the camera back was vertical and cropping the frame, I managed to keep the buildings looking reasonably true to their perspective. While we expect buildings to have right-angles, old buildings rarely do and so looking for perfect angles is an exercise doomed to frustration. At least no one will accuse me of using AI to generate the scene.

However, I did try AI to remove the bright spot lights on top of the council building in the middle. I tried several options in Photoshop, each more hopeless than the last. I tried a range of different prompts, but nothing I could do solved the problem as easily as I thought it should. In the end, I found a non-generative AI tool that did a half-reasonable job and then, using the good, old-fashioned healing brush, finished the edit. It is still far from perfect and a little more time in post-production will sort it out, but first, I want to make sure the photo will make the final edit.

I’m not sure about you, but I find I’m not doing enough with the photos I take on the amazing trips and photo tours I do. Time is the main issue. Still, I am trying to make a selection of 30 to 50 photos and edit them to a satisfactory standard for social media and my website. Then I might take a smaller selection a step further, making prints or creating a photo book. If this photo gets to that stage, then I’ll invest a little more time in post-production.

Until then, put Pienza on your travel list – it’s a great place to stay.