Golden Hour Street Photography in Berlin, Germany

In May 2024, I visited Berlin, Germany for the first time and had the opportunity to spend sunrise and sunset at Alexanderplatz - Berlin’s eastern center and an area with a variety of beautiful architectural structures.

As a street photographer, this was one of my favorite locations during my 3-day stay in Berlin. Although the evenings were crowded with tourists and locals, I was able to capture some peaceful golden hour photos that showcased the beauty of the different buildings in this center without too much of a distracting background.

In this blog post, I will be sharing a selection of my favorite street photography images featuring architecture and buses here in Berlin. All of the photos featured in this blog post were taken on my Sony a7R III camera body and edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

 
Golden sunrise reflected on steel buildings in Berlin Germany
 
 

YELLOW TRAMS IN ALEXANDERPLATZ

One of the most notable aspects about Alexanderplatz is that there are a lot of junctions where a lot of trams will pass by. These long yellow trams riding on the rails stuck out to me immediately when I first arrived and I captured a couple of photos with them. But the one pictured below was one of my favorites because of the high-rise buildings and red cranes in the back.

I wish the woman bicycling was a little bit closer to the camera but I think having her in the shot adds something interesting to the photo as she is riding parallel to the bus.

I went with my widest focal length of 24mm in order to really emphasize how long the yellow trams are in the scene, but I also wanted to get some of the sky in the photo. Sunset was starting to approach so I wish I had waited a bit longer to capture this photo, but I had to move on to capture another tram shot.

 
Long yellow trams riding on the rails with red cranes and high-rise buildings in the background
 
 

ARRIVING AT THE TRAM STOP

This was a photo that I really wanted to capture when I came to Berlin. Although the photo I had in mind was in another location, I wanted to try and capture a photo of a yellow tram straight on with greenery surrounding it. I love creating a contrast between nature and urban elements that you find in different parts of the city.

I like the composition of the photo and the symmetry of the tram car with the trees on each side. This photo was captured with the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART. Looking back, I wish I had taken the photo from a bit of a lower angle to emphasize the leading lines of the track, but I’m still happy with how this final photo turned out.

 
Yellow tram arriving at a stop with trees on both sides of the tram
 
 

SUNSET ON THE SPREE RIVER

Once I had reached the Spree River area near Alexanderplatz, I was able to capture a beautiful sunset with a beautiful golden light reflected in the water. At first there was a thick cloud covering the sunset, but as the evening quickly passed, the clouds slightly dispersed and caused a more even golden sky. The second photo below ended up being one of my favorite photos that I captured during this entire trip.

I think it would have been great to have tried and gotten a long exposure photo of the sunset from this angle, but since there was only a short amount of time before the sunset, I didn’t have time to pull out my Ulanzi travel tripod.

 
White and yellow train riding along a bridge over the Spree River
 
 
Beautiful golden sunset over the Spree River in Berlin Germany
 
 

SUNRISE AT THE BERLIN TV TOWER & WORLD TOWER CLOCK

When I arrived at Alexanderplatz early in the morning, I came across some beautiful clouds illuminated by the sunrise creating a nice orange glow. I had taken a lot of photos of the Berlin TV Tower on my first day at Alexanderplatz. But the color of the clouds mixed with the perpendicular crossing of the tram wires created a composition that resulted in my favorite photo of this tower.

When it comes to travel or street photography, I would highly recommend trying to visit a certain location twice at different times of the day because different weather conditions (or simply different lighting)  can make all the difference in producing an amazing photo.

During this time, I also managed to capture a photo of the World Tower Clock. When I first visited Alexanderplatz, there were plenty of people walking around the area so it was difficult to capture a photo of the clock without distraction.

Although I wish I could have been at eye-level with the clock, I’m satisfied with the low angle shot I got.

 
Beautiful golden clouds at sunrise with the Berlin TV Tower
The World Clock Tower at Berlin Germany in the morning
 
 

SUNRISE AT THE ALTES MUSEUM - BERLIN, GERMANY

As I continued to explore Alexanderplatz in the morning, I came across the nearby Altes Museum and managed to capture a photo while the outside area was empty. I was fortunate that there were still some clouds in the sky, which I think makes for a better background compared to a clear sky.

I really like the perfect alignment of the columns and the contrast between the orange/yellow color of the museum’s exterior mixed with the red panels and banners.

 
Sunrise wide angle view of the Altes Museum
 
 

Dramatic Sunset at the Reichstag Building

The final photo below is another one of my favorite photos. I got incredibly fortunate with the weather since this was my only time visiting this part of Berlin. There were a lot of dramatic clouds in the sky and the golden light from the sun set perfectly on the Reichstag Building. 

I love the architecture of the building and even though this was the only angle I was able to capture, I love that you can see a bit of the shadows from the pillars spilling onto the sides of the building in the first photo. I would have preferred it either if there weren’t people walking and sitting in the frame, or if there was one bicyclist cycling by as a silhouette.

This photo was taken at 30mm and 24mm respectively and with an aperture of f/5.6 on the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G-Master lens. I wanted to use a narrow enough aperture that the entire Reichstag Building would be sharp and in focus, rather than emphasizing a shallow depth of field.

 
Dramatic clouds in a blue sky surrounding the Reichstag Building at sunset
 
 
Beautiful sunset over the Reichstag Building with golden clouds in the sky at sunset
 
 

Final Notes

Golden hour is my favorite time of the day to capture a variety of niches of outdoor photography. When it comes to travel and street photography in a city like Berlin, golden hour creates a beautiful soft light on architecture and sometimes a human subject, which results in a cinematic image.

When it comes to street photography, I wanted to not only focus on getting cinematic light, but exploring different textures and colors that you can find in the city. Although I wish I had more time to explore the different areas of Berlin, I felt fortunate that I was able to take the sunrise and sunset photos I was able to.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post and my analyses of some of these final photos.

Thank you and until next time.

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travelBrian Brownlos angeles photograhper, sony alpha, sigma lens, street photography, prime lens, sunset photography, city photographer, adobe lightroom classic, golden hour, travel photographer, berlin, germany, sunrise photography, architecture, altes museum, alexanderplatz, Reichstag Building, World Tower Clock, Spree RiverComment