Every­thing you need to know about doing a Hoi An Pho­to Tour. From Old Town Hoi An to the pho­to tours and work­shops explor­ing the coun­try­side and meet­ing the peo­ple, you can find it here!

Click on a ques­tion in the Table of Con­tents to go to that sec­tion of the post. Or just read through the arti­cle to find out all about Hoi An Pho­to Tours and Workshops.

What is the best Hoi An Photo Tour?

This depends a bit on what specif­i­cal­ly you are look­ing for. If you want to see Old Town Hoi An with­out all of the peo­ple then the Old Town Hoi An Pho­to Tour & Work­shop is the best for you. Hoi An 360 is the only com­pa­ny offer­ing a pho­to tour in the Old Town at sun­rise & with some­one to take pic­tures of. Trinh, a Viet­namese girl in tra­di­tion­al cloth­ing will be there on every pho­to tour to help com­plete your com­po­si­tions around the Old Town while you learn pho­tog­ra­phy tech­niques, both tech­ni­cal and artistic.

The oth­er option for a Hoi An Pho­to tour, for those that want to get out and con­nect with the peo­ple, is the Coun­try­side and cul­ture pho­to tour. You will get to see and meet the farm­ers and oth­er trades­peo­ple and tru­ly con­nect with them in a way that no oth­er Hoi An Tour will give you. The tours are kept small (4 peo­ple max­i­mum) and you will always be accom­pa­nied by Trinh and Alden. Trinh is your link to the Viet­namese peo­ple and cul­ture, while Alden will teach you the pho­tog­ra­phy skills to cap­ture these won­der­ful people.

I only have a cell phone. Can I still do a Hoi An Photo Tour?

The answer is a resound­ing “YES”! Any of the pho­to tours with Hoi An 360 wel­comes cam­eras of all types. You will even get spe­cif­ic instruc­tion on cell phone pho­tog­ra­phy if this is what you are shoot­ing with.

What is the Sunrise Photo Tour in Old Town Hoi An?

The focus for this pho­to tour & work­shop is on cap­tur­ing beau­ti­ful shots around his­toric Hoi An Old Town. With a sub­ject in tra­di­tion­al Viet­namese cloth­ing (ao dai and non la) you have a won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to cap­ture stun­ning shots of quin­tes­sen­tial Viet­nam, some­thing unique to Hoi An 360. The white ao dai con­trasts and com­pli­ments the vibrant yel­low walls of the city.

Hav­ing a sub­ject to shoot, there will also be more time to dis­cuss cam­era set­tings and com­po­si­tion with­out the stress of chas­ing fleet­ing moments.

Are there more opportunities than just a girl with an ao dai?

There def­i­nite­ly are! Many more in fact. We start with this for two rea­sons. First, hav­ing a sub­ject to pho­to­graph makes it eas­i­er to learn as there isn’t any stress on cap­tur­ing a fleet­ing moment. Sec­ond, she is the per­fect sub­ject to shoot against yel­low walls and blue shut­ters, afford­ing you many oppor­tu­ni­ties to get great shots in the ear­ly morn­ing light with­out all the tourists and while most of the shops are still closed. And third (I know I said two but this a huge bonus) Trinh is Viet­namese and can con­nect with the locals in a way no for­eign­er can.

As we walk around Hoi An there will be oppor­tu­ni­ties to take pic­tures of the locals. Local res­i­dents like Que and My and of course Lu, the one receiv­ing all the atten­tion in this picture.

I’ve done Hoi An Food Tours and I’m looking for something different.

Think about what draws you to Hoi An. Is it the Old Town? If so, why not do a Pho­to Tour IN Old Town?! Cap­ture your own beau­ti­ful images of the pic­turesque town that you will be proud to show your friends back home! Food Tours are great but why not try some­thing different?

When is the best time to take pictures in Hoi An?

I believe the ear­ly morn­ing is the best time; from just before sun­rise to about an hour and a half after. Dur­ing this time the shops are all closed and the locals go about their busi­ness, most of which are on their way to the mar­ket. There are also far few­er tourist at this time and the light can be magical.

My sec­ond favorite time is in the evening, just before dur­ing and just after sun­set. Dur­ing this time the lanterns in Old Town are illu­mi­nat­ed and the sun is cast­ing its last rays of gold­en light over the yel­low-walled build­ings. Mean­while, the boats fill up the Thu Buon Riv­er, also illu­mi­nat­ed by lanterns, and tourists place float­ing paper lotus­es with can­dles in the water. The only down­side to this time is that there are usu­al­ly a LOT of peo­ple. So just be prepared.

 

Are there any Photo Tours that focus on People Photography?

Yes! Hoi An 360 has a pho­to work­shop that is all about tak­ing pic­tures of peo­ple. Top­ics cov­ered includ­ed approach­ing peo­ple to take their pic­tures, tech­ni­cal set­tings, tak­ing advan­tage of nat­ur­al light to pro­duce beau­ti­ful por­traits, using ele­ments in your scene to help tell your sto­ry and much more! This work­shop focus­es on dra­mat­i­cal­ly improv­ing your por­trait pho­tog­ra­phy and is tai­lored to the peo­ple par­tic­i­pat­ing in the work­shop. It is lim­it­ed to 5 peo­ple to ensure that you get one-on-one attention.

Here are a few por­traits from our Por­trait Pho­tog­ra­phy Workshop.

The oth­er option is the Coun­try­side and Cul­ture Pho­to Tour explor­ing the less-known vil­lages and rice fields around Hoi An. For this pho­to tour, you will also have many oppor­tu­ni­ties to do por­trait photography.

Hoi An 360 is the only tour avail­able in Hoi An where you will have a pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­ph­er and a local Viet­namese guide and sub­ject to pho­to­graph. Trust me, hav­ing a local Viet­namese to con­nect with the locals makes a world of dif­fer­ence. Trinh can con­nect with the local peo­ple in a way foreigners.can’t.

What is the Countryside Photo Tour?

This is the Hoi An Pho­to Tour we are most pas­sion­ate about. We will take you to the coun­try­side around Hoi An and get up close and per­son­al with the locals. This isn’t a watered down “local vil­lage tour” or ” see the local farm­ers with 17 peo­ple” tour. We take a max­i­mum of 4 peo­ple and vary who we see and where we go in order to keep our impact to a min­i­mum. This might just be the most gen­uine tour in all of Hoi An.

With our hearts for Viet­namese cul­ture in addi­tion to pho­tog­ra­phy, we com­bine the two, to bring you a deep­er under­stand­ing of the cul­ture, life, and peo­ple in the coun­try­side of Viet­nam. It is not just about trav­el­ing and tak­ing pic­tures, but it is also about explor­ing, expe­ri­enc­ing and learn­ing about Viet­nam and the peo­ple who make this coun­try what it is. The hard­work­ing farm­ers and crafts­men that embody the spir­it and charm of Vietnam.

Is there a Sunrise Photo Tour?

Cur­rent­ly, Hoi An 360 offers a sun­rise pho­to tour in the Old Town. We believe that the best time to see Hoi An Old Town is just before and for about an hour after sun­rise. We will also be offer­ing a sun­rise tour in the coun­try­side to pro­vide addi­tion­al options for photographers.

I have no experience in photography, can I still do a Photo Tour?

Yes. We accept peo­ple of all skills lev­els. Cell phone shoot­ers to pros with a 3‑foot lens.

What about Private Photo Tours & Workshops?

Hoi An 360 offers pri­vate pho­tog­ra­phy tours, com­plete­ly cus­tomized to your needs and skill lev­el and can bring you to the places we don’t usu­al­ly vis­it on our reg­u­lar tours. This is per­fect for peo­ple who want both pri­vate instruc­tion and access to the places and peo­ple not avail­able on any oth­er tour in Hoi An.

What is the main language for the Photo Tours?

Eng­lish is the main lan­guage but Trinh will always be there to speak Viet­namese with the locals.

Where are the best places for Instagram in Hoi An Old Town?

Hoi An Old Town has many beau­ti­ful places to take pic­tures and is per­fect for Insta­gram. Yel­low walls, blue doors, lanterns, and con­i­cal hats, it’s great! Check out the detailed arti­cle here on where to shoot for Insta­gram in Hoi An.

What makes Hoi An 360 different from the other Hoi An Photo Tours?

I could list many more things I feel that makes Hoi An 360 the best Hoi An Pho­to Tour com­pa­ny but hon­est­ly, it prob­a­bly just comes down to what you want to shoot, the images that you want to cap­ture. Do you like our style? Do you want to learn or be giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to cap­ture images like the ones you see here? Do you also want the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn some­thing about the peo­ple you pho­to­graph, con­nect with them and know that we are giv­ing back to these peo­ple? Well, then we look for­ward to meet­ing you on our next tour or workshop.

Links

Hoi An 360 Photo Tours and Workshops

Hoi An Old Town Photo Tour & Workshop

Countryside & Culture Photo Tour