Big Ben is the icon of London and the subject of every establishing shot of the city. So start your photography adventure with pictures that say “I went to London.”

Officially called Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell inside), the 315-foot-tall (96 m) Gothic Revival tower was completed in 1856. Located in central London by Westminster tube station, Big Ben is best photographed (as above) in the afternoon from Parliament Square Garden on the west side, with golden light.

You can double your impact with a second icon — a double-decker bus. This shot is from Great George Street at Parliament Street. Using a wide-angle lens increase the perspective for even more impact.

Photographing the iconic sights first allows you to get the essential shots in the bag and let you breathe easier for the rest of the trip.

The Palace of Westminster includes Big Ben and is known as the Houses of Parliament for its occupants. Replacing a royal palace from 1016 used by the Parliament of England since the 13th century, the current Gothic Revival palace is, for ceremonial purposes, officially a royal residence.

Westminster Bridge and the South Bank provide the classic photos of the Palace of Westminster. Extending east from Big Ben, the bridge is best photographed in the morning (for sunlight from the east) and at dusk. You can include passing buses as a foreground and contrasting color.

Buckingham Palace is the Queen’s London residence and often hosts state occasions and royal hospitality. Dating from 1703 as a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, the palace has been enlarged in a French neo-classical style. The principal façade was completed in 1850 by Edward Blore, and redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb, who also contributed the Victoria Memorial (above).

Located ¾ mile (1.2 km) west of Big Ben, Buckingham Palace is best photographed from the northeast, using as a foreground the flower beds by Green Park (above). Travel photography often has hard, man-made subjects far away, so always look for soft, natural foregrounds to add depth, dimension and color to your shots.

A similar flower bed is on the west side of St James’s Park.

Changing of the Guard is a major ceremony and a perfect time to capture colorful photos of people. This free show features the iconic black bearskin hats and red tunics of The Queen’s Guard and occurs once a day in the summer, and every other day otherwise (but not in wet weather or during large events).

The parade starts at 10:45am and is very popular, so arrive well beforehand to claim your preferred spot. I like the west side of the Victoria Memorial, with Buckingham Palace in the background.

At any time, you can photograph a guard outside the east gate. Unfortunately you can’t get a close-up view as the as you’ll be 124 feet (38 m) away, at the fence by the Victoria Memorial. So use a long lens and rest against the ironwork for a steady picture.

Westminster Abbey has hosted the coronation of every crowned English and British monarch since William the Conqueror in 1016. You may recognize it from the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.

A church has existed on the site since the seventh century and the present structure dates from 1245. The mainly Gothic church (which is no longer an abbey) is located next to the Palace of Westminster. There are two sides to photograph: the main entrance on the west side (above) and the north entrance with flying buttresses and a rose window.

These photos show different ways to indicate depth in your photos. Above, a steep angle emphasizes perspective, and right, the pathway adds leading lines and tree leaves help make a frame.

Horse Guards offers you photos of horse-mounted guards in red regalia. You can get surprisingly close to the stoic guards, but don’t as horses can kick or bite.

On the west side is Horse Guards Parade, a large parade ground home to the annual Trooping of the Colour ceremony. At 4pm daily, you can photograph the guards and horses on the parade ground, after visiting the Household Cavalry Museum. Queen Victoria started the routine in 1894 when she caught guards drinking and gambling in the afternoon and punished them with a four o’clock inspection — for 100 years.

As with people, animals are best photographed at or below eye level. This is easy to accomplish with a tall horse.

Trafalgar Square is a picturesque plaza with two fountains. You can photograph the fountains with a variety of backgrounds, including St Martin-in-the-Fields (above), Nelson’s Column, and the National Gallery.

To get a smooth look to the water (above), use a slow shutter speed, such as 1/8s. You can accomplish this by using a small aperture and, on bright days, a neutral density filter.

The best place to photograph Horatio Nelson atop his column is from the equestrian statue of Charles I, which marks the official center of London. There is a plaque in the pavement to mark the point from which all distances to London are measured.

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden has a neo-classical façade dating from 1858. The Royal Ballet also resides here and outside the Bow Street entrance is a suitable foreground.

Young Dancer is a ballerina statue by Enzo Plazzotta in 1988, and a gift from his estate. Behind her, on Broad Court, is a row of five red telephone boxes, so you have several photographic elements to toy with.

Chinatown has a colorful gate in the style of the Qing dynasty. , Built in 2016, the Chinatown gate is on Wardour Street, off Shaftesbury Avenue.

On the adjoining Gerrard Street at Macclesfield Street are a pair of Chinese lions and the decorative Lotus Garden restaurant (below).

Liberty is an historic department store with a spectacular Tudor revival building. Built from the timbers of two ships, HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan, there are overhanging bays and a carriage arch. Inside are three light wells, and many of the rooms had fireplaces, some of which still exist.

Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened a fabric and arts store in 1875 and built this black-and-white marvel in 1924. Liberty is located in the West End on Great Marlborough Street, off Regent Street.

Piccadilly Circus is the Times Square of London known for its large neon signs. The busy junction was originally a traffic circle (roundabout), which is known in Latin as a circus.

The area was redesigned in the 1980s so that the circle’s famous center, the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, was moved and is now a pedestrian area.

Atop the 1893 fountain is a statue commonly known as Eros, but actually of his brother, the Greek god Anteros.

Little Venice is a scenic district around the junction of the Grand Union Canal, which opened in 1801, and Regent’s Canal, opened in 1816. A bridge at Warwick Avenue affords a view up the waterway. The towpath by Waterside Cafe has a view of the junction and Robert Browning’s Island (below-left).

Paddington Basin is a redeveloped canal basin, southeast of Little Venice, with two unique movable footbridges. Thomas Heatherwick’s Rolling Bridge (2004) uses eight eight triangular section and hydraulics to curl up into an octagon. There are scheduled lift times at Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, and Saturdays at 2pm.

The British Museum is one of the world’s largest and most famous museums. Established in 1753, the museum has an impressive entrance (below) along Great Russel Street. Inside, the Great Court (above) is the largest covered square in Europe, with a tessellated glass roof around the original Reading Room (below).

St Pancras International is a glorious Victorian edifice. The frontispiece (above) is a hotel opened in 1873 with a grand staircase. The arched entrance leads to a 30-foot (9 m) high sculpture called The Meeting Place (2007, Paul Day) and Sir John Betjeman (2007, Martin Jenning).

The Tower of London is where Beefeaters guard the Crown Jewels. The White Tower (above) gives the castle its name and was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 following the Norman Conquest of England. The complex includes two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.

North of the White Tower is Jewel House which houses the Crown Jewels. This is the best place for close-up photographs of the Queen’s Guard, two of whom stand sentry on the west side of the entrance to Jewel House.

Beefeaters (Yeoman Warders) are retired soldiers and guardians of the Tower of London. Other guards include the famous ravens, at least six of which are kept are kept at the Tower at all times, believing that if they are absent, the kingdom will fall.

Tower Bridge is an iconic symbol of London. Named for the nearby Tower of London, it is sometimes incorrectly called London Bridge.

Built between 1886 and 1894, Tower Bridge is recognizable for its two Gothic towers on piers. The two halves of the center roadway fold upwards to allow ships to pass. Scheduled lift times are posted in advance at www.towerbridge.org.uk/lift-times/.

You can photograph Tower Bridge from a multitude of places. The classic view above is from the south, along a pedestrian path accessed by an arched alley called Maggie Black’s Cause. Arrive in the late afternoon to get golden light on the stonework.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is an arts and culture area on the River Thames, about 4.5 miles (7.3 km) east of the City of London.

In the center is Container City 2 (above), a 2002 studio and office complex made from 22 recycled sea shipping containers in a colorful ziggurat. Docked at the wharf is the bright red Light Vessel 93, built in Devon in 1938 and used as a photographic studio and location.

Overlooking the Thames is London’s only lighthouse. Trinity Buoy Wharf Light, also known as Bow Creek Lighthouse, was built in 1864–66 by James Douglass and was used to test lighting systems for other lighthouses. Michael Faraday carried out experiments here.

The Natural History Museum has an ornate Romanesque terracotta facade on Cromwell Road (below and later). Inside, the main Hintze Hall (above) has skylights, an imperial staircase, and large niches for exhibits.

The Royal Albert Hall is best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941. You can photograph the 1871 main entrance (above) on the south side from Prince Consort Road, and the north entrance from Kensington Gardens. Paid tours include the auditorium.

St Paul’s Cathedral is the masterpiece of Britain’s most famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren. Built in 1675 after the Great Fire of London, the dome was the tallest building in London until 1967.

Since 604, there has been a church at this site, the highest point of the City of London. Today, you can photograph from all around the cathedral, with the best views from the southeast corner, along St. Paul’s Churchyard (above) and Festival Gardens. After capturing shots of the grand central dome, you can climb steps to galleries above the dome. The Golden Gallery, just below the cross on the top, offers panoramic views of the London skyline.

The Lloyd’s Building is known as the “Inside-Out Building” since services such as ducts and lifts are on the exterior to maximize the interior space. Built 1978–1986 on Lime Street, the building is best photographed from Leadenhall Street, by the northeast stairwell tower, toward 30 St Mary Axe.

The Tate Modern is the world’s most-visited modern art gallery. The massive Turbine Hall (above) was part of the Bankside Power Station.

On the southwest corner is the ten-story Blavatnik Building, which has a viewing area on the top level.

Millennium Bridge is a steel suspension footbridge aligned for a clear view of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The suspension cables are to the sides of the bridge, rather than overhead, producing a wide and low profile.

The bridge is best photographed from the South Bank by the Tate Modern, to include St. Paul’s in the background.

The Shard dominates the London skyline and is Europe’s tallest building. Standing 1,016 feet (310 m) high, the 2012 skyscraper was designed by Renzo Piano. There is an observation deck [paid admission] called The View (below).

London City Hall is housed in a 2002 slanted orb by Norman Foster. A helical walkway ascends the full ten stories and leads to an open viewing deck which is occasionally open to the public.

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich played a major role in global navigation and is the historical home of the prime meridian (0° longitude). Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is measured from here, as the average (mean) moment the sun crosses the observatory and reaches its highest point in the sky.

Built in 1676, the Royal Observatory was commissioned by King Charles II to “…to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of the art of navigation.” The 20 foot high Octagon Room (above) housed two clocks with 13 foot (4 m) long pendulums above the clock face — the most accurate of the day.

A red time ball was added in 1833 to help mariners at the port to synchronize their clocks to GMT. Every day, as a time signal, the ball is dropped at 1pm.

Old Royal Naval College is Sir Christopher Wren’s twin-domed riverside masterpiece. Built 1696–1712 as a naval hospital, the symmetrical complex has an avenue in the center due to a requirement of Mary II: that the Queen’s House to the southeast retained a view of the Thames.

Cutty Sark is one of the fastest — and last — tea clipper ships. Built in 1869, she sailed eight times from China to England, with a fastest time of 107 days. She is on display in Greenwich at a dry dock, where a glass-roofed building (fee required) allows you to walk under and around her keel.

This high impact perspective is courtesy of a wide-angle lens. My favorite length is a 28mm lens (or the equivalent on a non-35mm camera). To get both the foreground and background in focus (called a “wide depth-of-field”) you’ll need a small aperture (with a big “f” number, such as f/22).

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is the site of the 2012 Olympic Games and includes three photogenic elements from the event.

The Olympic Rings (above) are located on a small hill along the main approach pedestrian path. This view from the south side includes the Velodrome in the background.

ArcelorMittal Orbit is Britain’s largest piece of public art. The Olympic tower is a sculpture and observation tower, 376 feet (114 m) tall. Funded mainly by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal, the Orbit was designed by Sir Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond.

Hampton Court Palace is Henry VIII’s 16th century masterpiece, his favorite palace and residence to many of his queens. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey commenced construction in 1515, but, to reduce his fall from favor, gifted the palace to the King in 1529.

The Great Gatehouse (above) combines perpendicular Gothic-inspired Tudor with restrained Renaissance ornament. The bridge over the moat features heraldic animals, called the King’s Beasts.

Hampton Court Palace is located 12 miles (19 km) southwest of central London in Richmond upon Thames, easily reached by train from Waterloo station. Paid admission.

Kew Gardens is a famous botanic garden with the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world. Created in 1759 and officially known as Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the 300 acre (121 hectares) site is in Richmond, 5.6 miles (9 km) northeast of Hampton Court Palace.

The Palm House (above) was built 1844–48 with a space frame of wrought iron arches and glass panels. On the east side are the Queen’s Beasts (ten statues of animals bearing shields) and a formal garden (pareterre).

Another photogenic wonder is The Hive (2015, Wolfgang Buttress). A 56-foot (17 m) tall enclosure provides an immersive experience with lights and sound inspired by bees.