Kyoto Travel Photography Guide: Best Photo Spots and My Most Used Lens

Kyoto travel photography: my most used lens in Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is one of my favourite places in the world to photograph. This was my second time in Kyoto, so instead of rushing between the main attractions, I slowed down to find new Kyoto photography spots: Nishiki Market, a day trip to Uji, the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, a koi garden, a rainy sunrise in Higashiyama, a hidden bamboo grove and the streets of Gion in the rain.

This Kyoto travel photography guide shares the photos from that week, where I took them, which lenses I used and the tips that helped me get photos without the crowds. I shot almost everything on the Lumix S1R II, and one lens ended up on my camera far more than any other. You can watch the full vlog below, including the day trip to Nara, which has its own post with all the deer photos.



My most used lens for Kyoto travel photography

I packed three prime lenses for this trip to use on the Lumix S1RII, the Lumix S 35mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8, plus the Lumix L10 for lighter days. The 50mm f/1.8 was the lens I reached for most. It's wide enough to capture a whole street or temple garden, but tight enough to cut out distractions and crowds, and it doubles as a portrait lens with beautiful background blur.

  • 35mm f/1.8: busy, tight spaces like Nishiki Market and narrow laneways where you need to fit more in
  • 50mm f/1.8: my everyday lens for streets, gardens, temples and portraits
  • 85mm f/1.8: compression and reach, perfect for picking out details and simplifying busy scenes full of power lines
  • Lumix L10: a compact camera for a lighter, more relaxed day at the Botanical Gardens

Every photo in this post is shown edited with my Lightroom presets, and I've listed the pack used under each set of photos so you can recreate the look.

Nishiki Market: food and street photography

Our first full day in Kyoto started with a matcha and a walk to Nishiki Market, which we'd somehow missed on our first trip. It's a long, covered market street lined with food stalls, and it's as much fun to photograph as it is to eat your way through. Try the tempura on a stick and some matcha salt.

I used my 35mm f/1.8 here because everything is tight and there are always people walking past. The trick is to look for layers and fill the frame: a stall full of seafood or a vendor at work tells the story better than a wide shot of the crowd.

Vendors preparing food at a stall in Nishiki Market, Kyoto

Nishiki Market. Lumix S1R II + 35mm f/1.8, edited with Meadow.

Colourful glass roof and shop signs in the Nishiki Market arcade, Kyoto
Vendor grilling skewers at a food stall in Nishiki Market

Edited with Meadow.

Seafood filling the frame at a stall in Nishiki Market, Kyoto
Seafood vendor arranging his display at Nishiki Market

Edited with Meadow.

That afternoon we caught the train to Nara to see the deer. It deserves its own post, so head to my Nara day trip photography guide for the deer park, Kasuga Taisha and golden hour at Ukimido Pavilion.

Uji day trip: matcha and quiet streets

Uji is the matcha capital of Japan and an easy day trip from Kyoto, only about 20 minutes away by train. It's peaceful and green, with beautiful houses, cafés and the river, and of course matcha everything. Get a matcha soft serve, and if you have time, visit Byodo-in Temple.

The laneway below was one of my favourite spots of the whole trip. It's softly backlit, with traditional buildings, lanterns and trees on either side, which makes it perfect for portraits. You might recognise it from the video thumbnail.

Portrait of a woman in a white dress on a quiet traditional street in Uji, Kyoto
Woman walking down a backlit lane with traditional houses and trees in Uji

Uji. Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Hibiscus.

Kyoto Botanical Gardens and the Imperial Palace

On day three we went a little out of the way, stopping at the Kyoto Imperial Palace before an incredible katsu lunch and an afternoon at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens. The greenhouse is full of plants I'd never seen before, there's even a night garden, and the rose garden was in full bloom with bushes twice my height.

I wanted this to be a slower day, so I shot most of it on the compact Lumix L10 instead of my full frame kit.

Lush tropical greenhouse at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens

Kyoto Botanical Gardens greenhouse. Lumix L10, edited with Dulce.

Bright red tropical flower in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens greenhouse
Lily pads floating on a pond at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens

Lumix L10, edited with Dulce.

Hand next to a large white flower in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens
Looking up at a bamboo canopy with the sun shining through, Kyoto Botanical Gardens

Lumix L10, edited with Dulce.

White blossoms on a flowering shrub at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens
Man resting on a bench beneath climbing roses in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens rose garden

Lumix L10, edited with Dulce.

Pink roses climbing over a white pergola, Kyoto Botanical Gardens
Pink roses in full bloom against the sky at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens

Lumix L10, edited with Dulce.

The bamboo was perfectly backlit and shaded, so I switched back to the S1R II and 50mm for a few portraits. Whenever I travel, I'm always thinking, imagine doing a photo shoot here.

Portrait in a bamboo grove in Kyoto before and after: unedited and edited with the Dulce Lightroom presetUneditedEdited with Dulce

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8: unedited (left) and edited with Dulce (right).

Backlit portrait of a woman in a brown outfit in front of bamboo, Kyoto

Edited with Dulce.

Where to see koi fish in Kyoto: a picturesque garden

I spent the whole day on the lookout for koi. The Imperial Palace grounds didn't have any that I could find, and the Botanical Gardens only had a couple, but we finally stopped at a garden with ponds full of them, including some really colourful ones. For 100 yen you can buy fish food and feed them.

I wasn't expecting to take any photos here other than of the koi, but the garden was so picturesque that I came away with portraits and landscapes too: a red bridge, a temple gate, stone lanterns and azaleas in bloom.

Wooden pavilion surrounded by maple trees in a Japanese garden, Kyoto

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Hibiscus.

Pink azaleas blooming against a rock in a Kyoto garden
Stone lantern in a Japanese garden in Kyoto

Edited with Hibiscus.

Maple tree in a Kyoto garden before and after: unedited and edited with the Hibiscus Lightroom presetUneditedEdited with Hibiscus

Unedited (left) and edited with Hibiscus (right).

View of a garden pond through tree branches in Kyoto
Two golden koi fish swimming in a dark pond, Kyoto

Edited with Hibiscus.

Orange koi fish framed by green maple leaves in a Kyoto garden pond
Koi fish swimming beneath maple leaves in Kyoto

Edited with Hibiscus.

Azaleas in bloom beside a wooden garden sign in Kyoto
Traditional temple gate at the end of a stone path, Kyoto

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Disposable Film.

Koi pond and wooden gate in a Japanese garden, Kyoto

Edited with Disposable Film.

Portrait on a red bridge in a Kyoto garden before and after: unedited and edited with the Disposable Film Lightroom presetUneditedEdited with Disposable Film

Unedited (left) and edited with Disposable Film (right).

Woman walking across a red wooden bridge in a Kyoto garden
Smiling portrait of a woman leaning on a red bridge in Kyoto

Edited with Disposable Film.

Kyoto street photography: look for contrast and framing

On the walk to dinner, I found a scene I loved because of its contrast: an industrial structure overhead with soft pink flowers below and perfect framing down the middle of the road. I shot it on the 50mm and waited for someone to ride past on a bike to add a line through the frame.

Just around the corner I switched to my 35mm for a straight-on shot of a half-closed roller door, with stairs leading up and flowers framing the doorway. In street photography, the lens you choose changes how much context you include.

Kyoto street with an industrial structure overhead, shot on a 50mm lens
House doorway framed by pink flowers on a Kyoto street, shot on a 35mm lens

50mm (left) and 35mm (right), edited with Disposable Film.

Shooting from our balcony with the 85mm

For the second half of the trip we moved closer to Gion, where the traditional streets are, and our balcony lined up perfectly with the street below. I photographed it at different times of day, and my favourites are the rainy blue hour shots, where everything is reflective and the lights glow against the moody sky.

I used my 85mm f/1.8 for almost all of these. There are a lot of cables, lines and textures in Kyoto, and a telephoto lens helps minimise those distractions and makes them part of the photo instead. It also gives you compression and reach when you can't get any closer.

Kyoto street at blue hour seen from above with an 85mm lens
Rainy Kyoto street glowing at blue hour, shot from a balcony

Lumix S1R II + 85mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Rainy Kyoto street and power lines from above, telephoto view
Two people with umbrellas crossing a wet street, seen from above in Kyoto

Lumix S1R II + 85mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Narrow Kyoto street lined with power lines, compressed with an 85mm lens
Pedestrians with umbrellas crossing a Kyoto road in the rain

Edited with Havana.

Red car on a rainy street framed by trees and power poles in Kyoto
Person with a clear umbrella behind a pine tree in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Rainy Kyoto street with power poles and wires, telephoto
Blue van driving down a narrow wet street in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Sunrise in Higashiyama: Kyoto photo spots without the crowds

If you want to photograph the old streets of Higashiyama and the Yasaka Pagoda, you have to get up early. The old town is small and the streets get overrun with people later in the day. Even at sunrise in the rain, the famous photo spots were already taken, so instead of repeating the shots from my last trip, I used the empty streets to look for new ones.

I looked for narrow streets that line up, with old-style buildings on either side and greenery framing the scene. A street that slopes downhill gives you a lovely angle of view, too. I started on the 35mm, then switched to the 50mm.

Yasaka Pagoda at the end of an empty traditional street at sunrise, Kyoto

Yasaka Pagoda at sunrise. Lumix S1R II + 35mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Woman walking down an empty Higashiyama street lined with wooden houses at sunrise
Traditional wooden houses and greenery on a quiet Higashiyama street, Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Portrait of a woman walking along a narrow old town street in Kyoto
Woman looking back over her shoulder on a traditional Kyoto street

Lumix S1R II + 35mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Quiet sloping street in Kyoto early in the morning
Woman with a clear umbrella on a traditional street in Kyoto

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Red shrine gate and umbrellas on a rainy morning in Kyoto
Person in a red raincoat walking toward a shrine in the rain, Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Yasaka Pagoda above traditional rooftops on a rainy morning in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

I was actually excited about the rain, because I wanted photos with a completely different look from my first trip. Rain makes the streets reflective and the greens even richer.

A Kyoto bamboo forest without the crowds

After breakfast and a quick stop for our raincoats, we visited a temple we hadn't been to before, Kodai-ji, which has a beautiful garden and its own small bamboo grove. If you'd love to photograph bamboo in Kyoto but want to avoid the crowds at Arashiyama, this is a lovely alternative.

Yasaka Pagoda seen through the trees from a temple garden in Kyoto
Moss-covered stone details at a Kyoto temple in the rain

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Stone steps leading through a bamboo forest in Kyoto
Soft green maple leaves in a Kyoto temple garden

Edited with Havana.

Bamboo forest path in Kyoto before and after: unedited and edited with the Havana Lightroom presetUneditedEdited with Havana

Unedited (left) and edited with Havana (right).

Woman in a white outfit standing on a bamboo forest path in Kyoto
Woman walking along a fenced path through tall bamboo in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Green maple leaves in soft focus in a Kyoto garden
Tall green bamboo grove at a Kyoto temple

Edited with Havana.

Path through a quiet bamboo grove in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Looking up at tall bamboo stalks in Kyoto
Temple roof and pine trees in a Kyoto garden

Edited with Havana.

Right next door is Ryozen Kannon, a huge memorial statue, and the path as you leave the temple gives you a different perspective of the Yasaka Pagoda that I hadn't photographed before.

Ryozen Kannon statue surrounded by green trees in Kyoto

Ryozen Kannon. Edited with Havana.

View over the rooftops of Higashiyama, Kyoto, on a cloudy day
Yasaka Pagoda seen through pine trees in Kyoto

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

View of Yasaka Pagoda and Kyoto rooftops from a temple path
Woman crossing a street below the Yasaka Pagoda in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

Gion in the rain

We headed back down to Gion in the afternoon, only this time with the rain and a massive crowd. Compare these to the empty streets from sunrise and you can see why getting up early is worth it. That said, I love how the black and clear umbrellas add a really nice touch to rainy photos in Kyoto.

Crowd of umbrellas on a traditional street in Gion, Kyoto
Rainy street in Gion with people holding umbrellas

Lumix S1R II + 50mm f/1.8, edited with Havana.

Yasaka Pagoda above a busy street full of umbrellas on a rainy day in Kyoto

Edited with Havana.

We were absolutely soaked by the end of the afternoon, but the shots were worth it. The next morning we caught the bullet train to Tokyo.

Kyoto travel photography tips

  • Get up for sunrise. Higashiyama, the Yasaka Pagoda and Gion are best before the crowds arrive.
  • Don't skip rainy days. Rain gives Kyoto reflective streets, richer greens and umbrellas that add interest to your photos.
  • Bring a 50mm. It's the most versatile focal length for streets, gardens and portraits, and it was my most used lens in Kyoto.
  • Use a telephoto for busy scenes. An 85mm compresses power lines and clutter into something that works in the frame.
  • Look beyond the famous spots. Quieter streets, smaller temples and gardens often make better photos than the busiest viewpoints.
  • Eat early. Many restaurants in Kyoto have long lines or sell out, so arrive a little before lunch or dinner time.

For more of this trip, watch my Osaka vlog and Tokyo vlog, or my first Kyoto vlog for the classic sights.

Kyoto photography FAQ

What are the best photography spots in Kyoto?

Some of my favourites are the old streets of Higashiyama and the Yasaka Pagoda at sunrise, Nishiki Market, Gion in the rain, the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, the bamboo grove at Kodai-ji and the backlit lanes of Uji.

What is the best lens for travel photography in Kyoto?

A 50mm was my most used lens in Kyoto. It's versatile enough for streets, gardens and portraits. A 35mm is useful in tight spaces like Nishiki Market, and an 85mm helps simplify busy scenes and adds compression.

How do you avoid crowds when photographing Kyoto?

Go at sunrise. Kyoto's old town is small and gets very busy later in the day, so arrive early, especially in Higashiyama and Gion, and look for quieter side streets near the famous spots.

Is Kyoto good for photography in the rain?

Yes. Rain makes the streets reflective, deepens the greens and fills Gion with umbrellas, giving your photos a moodier look than on a sunny day.

How far is Uji from Kyoto?

Uji is about 20 minutes from Kyoto by train, which makes it an easy half-day or day trip, especially if you love matcha.

Where can you see koi fish in Kyoto?

Many Kyoto temple and garden ponds have koi. In my experience the Imperial Palace and Botanical Gardens had very few, so check ahead if seeing koi is a priority.

Is Nara a good day trip from Kyoto?

Yes. Nara is about an hour from Kyoto by train and makes a great day or afternoon trip to see the deer, Kasuga Taisha and Todai-ji.

Want your travel photos to look like these? This post uses Hibiscus, Havana, Dulce, Disposable Film and Meadow. You can browse all my packs in the Lightroom Presets for Portraits collection, and if you're stuck between a few, you can buy any 3 presets and save 10%.

 

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