Spiaggia Grande and the town amphitheatre

Positano is built like an amphitheatre with the beach as its stage, and Spiaggia Grande is the only place you can photograph the whole performance at once: the stacked pastel houses, the bougainvillea, and the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta anchoring the centre of the frame. Everywhere else in town you are inside the view; here you finally face it.

Shoot from the water's edge or, better, from the pier on the west side of the beach, which pushes you far enough out to get the full sweep of the town without tilting the camera. The classic composition puts your subjects low in the frame with the town rising behind them — the scale is the story. In the evening the houses hold a warm glow long after the beach itself falls into shadow, because the amphitheatre faces south over the sea.

High season is the constraint: from late morning the beach is a mosaic of loungers and the pier is a ferry terminal in constant motion. Early morning gives you empty sand, fishermen, and soft light on the whole hillside — the town wakes late, and that hour belongs to whoever gets up for it.