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There are plenty of spots in and around Newport to take gorgeous, Instagram-worthy photos. We’ll fill you in on those, but first, we want to clue you in on a few tips for making those landscape shots just a bit more eye-catching.
1. Just add humans!
Include a human subject to add scale and interest. You can have them facing the camera or away so the viewer can put themselves in the shot. If you want the focus to be on the background, place your human (or four-legged) subject on either side of the foreground, so there’s plenty of room for Mother Nature to take center stage.
2.Use a wide-angle lens.
On an iPhone that simply means pressing the “.5” just above the shutter button on your screen. This conveys a more powerful sense of space, adds more depth of field to your shot and allows the viewer to see much more of the environment.
Port of Newport Public Fishing Pier
3. Create leading lines.
Leading lines help immerse the viewer in the image and invite them to explore the photo. Any prominent diagonal or straight line in your photo will help create interest, but the easiest and most evocative ones are rivers, hiking paths, bridges and roads.
Now that you know how to shoot like a pro, you’ll just need the photogenic spots to do it. Just a few Newport and Newport-adjacent spots that will beautify any image are:
Yaquina Head Lighthouse
Known in its early existence as Cape Foulweather lighthouse, the Yaquina Head Lighthouse was built in Paris and shipped to Oregon in 1873. Now it’s one of the most-photographed lighthouses on the Oregon coast—and for good reason!
The lighthouse is surrounded by exceedingly photogenic landscapes—huge rocks covered in sunbathing sea lions, rocky cliffs with crashing waves at their base, and tidal pools with brightly-colored sea life just waiting for your macro lens (most “pro” smartphones now have these—check your user guide!).
To photograph the star of the show, you can choose to go up-close and personal, but the best shots are usually from further away, so you can capture the grassy hillside and rocky cliffs. (Note: The photo above utilizes both a wide-angle lens and a leading line!)
The best part of photographing the lighthouse is that it’s just a half mile from Hallmark Resort Newport. Don’t forget to bring cash or your credit card—there is a $7 fee to enter the park!
Tidepools at Yaquina Head and the Oregon Coast Aquarium
While you’re at Yaquina Head, get inspired by the eye-popping colors of nature with a trip down to the tidepools. You can snap close-up shots of starfish, anemones, and sea urchins in purple, green, bright orange, and blue. If you choose to go to Hatfield, don’t miss the beautiful estuary and marshlands surrounding the center. The Aquarium and Hatfield Center are just a mile from your room at Hallmark.
The Newport Bayfront
Still a working port, the Bayfront offers tons of opportunities for both urban and natural beauty. Shoot the fisherman selling the wares right from their boats, the sea lions fighting for spots on the rocky outcroppings, or the pink sunset skies over a literal sea of docked boats.
The sea lions are no longer right at the bayfront, so if you want to capture some, you’ll have to bring a long lens if you still have a digital SLR.
The Yaquina Bay Bridge
A gorgeous arch bridge that spans Yaquina Bay, it is one of the most recognizable of the U.S. Route 101 bridges designed by Conde McCullough who designed 22 bridges in Oregon from 1921-1936, 11 of them on the Oregon Coast Highway.
Some great spots to capture shots of the bridge include the Fishing Pier near Rogue Brewery and Yaquina Bay Lighthouse Park.
Hallmark Resort Newport
Not to toot our own horn, but we couldn’t list photogenic spots in Newport without mentioning your balcony at Hallmark Resort Newport. With a wide-angle view of the coast as far as the eye can see, there will be endless opportunities to capture the beauty of your trip.
Oh, and by the way…one more place that offers tons of opportunities for beautiful shots? Anywhere your family is.
