The Ten under the radar locations to capture on camera in Amsterdam revealed

Think you’ve seen everything Amsterdam has to offer? Between Dam Square, Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank’s House lie some of Amsterdam’s most photographed destinations, but many of the city’s lesser known beauty spots are still going undetected. From Ijmuiden, a beautiful white sandy beach located within 30 minutes of the city centre or REM Island, a modern restaurant that sits on stilts to Python Bridge, a modern curvy red bridge – contrasting the traditional style in Amsterdam.

To help travellers discover the Dutch capital’s best kept secrets, Sony has partnered with Eurostar and local photographer, Christina Kookier (@een_waasber) to create an ‘Alternative Guide to Amsterdam’. The collaboration celebrates the launch of Sony’s pocket-sized travel camera; the RX100M6 and the latest Eurostar route from London direct to Amsterdam in just 3hrs 41mins.

This follows research by Sony which found that 40% of travellers struggle to take high quality pictures because of overcrowding in tourist hotspots. The helpful guide provides useful tips on how to capture the beauty of ten unknown spots in the city at alternative locations, beating the crowds.

The guide also provides simple tips on how to adjust simple digital camera features as 60% of holiday-goers admit that they don’t how to adjust aperture or exposure, or haven’t even heard of it.

Surprisingly, 36% of travellers would rather share pictures with their friends and family than on social networks, with 34% choosing to keep their holiday snaps private.

The top 10 ‘alternative sights’ are;

1. Ijmuiden – a beautiful white sandy beach 30mins from the city centre
2. REM ‘island’ – a modern restaurant sitting on stilts
3. De Pijp – an upcoming fashionable district in the city
4. Beurspassage – a beautiful mural lined passage way
5. Python Bridge – not your typical Dutch bridge
6. OBA Library – a spectacular viewing point across the city’s skyline
7. NDSM Werf – a former shipping yard now quirky art and cultural hub
8. Prinseneiland – tranquillity in the centre of the city
9. Krom boomssloot – an uncharacteristic curved street that bends with the canal
10. Westerpark – used to be an old coal gas factory, but it’s now a hub of activity

Photographer Christina Kookier comments: “Amsterdam is such a unique and exciting city to explore. I love playing with reflections in my work and the canals that run through the city offer a beautiful canvas for my photos. With a few simple tricks, you’ll be able to take beautiful imagery that will help you stand out from the crowd. The Sony RX100M6 is the perfect travel companion; easy to use with professional quality pictures and the flexibility of a high zoom that still easily fits in my pocket.”

Christina recommends four small changes that can be made to camera settings that can have a huge impact on the photos being captured:

1. Experiment with the different ‘modes’ – if unsure, you can always switch to ‘manual’ mode, especially with a camera such as the RX100M6, you can’t go wrong with the setting as you’re starting out. It will help to better understand the camera and photography in general as you’re learning
2. Shoot in RAW for greater image control – RAW is a file format that captures all the image data when you take a photo, rather than compressing it like a JPEG. This means the pictures captured are higher quality and editable, as you develop as a photographer
3. Use the zoom – this is a great tool. I would recommend using the wide aperture and zoom together, as it will create photos with depth of field. This is great for capturing portraits and still life images
4. Play with exposure – don’t be afraid to use this tool as it will help to take the best picture depending on the time of the day. Try using a slightly higher ISO number to get the best image at night time (500-1600). A lower ISO is good when taking pictures on a sunny day (80-400). Remember, ISO measures sensitivity of light.

Yann Salmon Legagneur, at Sony, said: “We want everyone to feel like they can capture brilliant photography when exploring a new city, which is why we created the Alternative Guide to Amsterdam. The guide showcases exciting locations that travellers can explore and snap using the RX100M6, as well as providing useful tips on how to adjust simple features like exposure and aperture.

The pocket-size camera is compact and easy to navigate, giving holiday-goers the best of best worlds.”

About the RX100M6

The pocket-size camera comes with high-zoom performance and super-fast AF; ideal for the creative traveller who wants the best in a compact. Offering stunning, high-resolution image quality, from wide-angle to telephoto, the RX100 M6 has been skilfully engineered packing incredible power in a small footprint, whilst the optical image stabilisation maintains a steady image even with handheld shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range.

Key features:

• Premium Compact Camera with the world’s fastest 0.03 seconds AF speed
• Optical image stabilisation equivalent to 4.0-stop faster shutter speed
• 315 focal-plane phase-detection AF points covering approximately 65% of frame
• High-speed continuous shooting at up to 24 fps with full AF/AE track
• High resolution 4K movie shooting with full pixel readout and no pixel binning plus 4K HDR for instant HDR workflow

Perrine Allain, Head of Digital, Eurostar said, “Our onboard entertainment system offers over 300 hours of free content, streamed directly to a traveller’s own device. We’re always looking for how we can continue to improve the customer experience, and in partnering with Sony, the new Alternative Guide to Amsterdam provides visitors to the city with a great selection of lesser known sites, so that they can start discovering the city before stepping off the train.”

The guide will be available to watch on the Eurostar onboard entertainment platform from the 13^th November to 31st December 2018.