(by 4 people)
How Great Travel Photographs Happen
Great travel photographs are produced when photographers develop an in-depth understanding of the cultural environment rather than basing their images around a purely pictorial study.
Before going on a trip, it is always well worth doing a bit of research and reading about your subject. This is an essential step that will suggest to you many more potential shooting locations than a tourist map will ever do. This allows you to dig deeper than the surface and produce a unique perspective of the same place.
If you are traveling overseas, invest in a detailed guide book in your local bookstore which contain up-to-date information as well as much needed local knowledge. In addition to planning your schedule, search around the internet for recent experiences from other travelers.
Time will be of a premium, plan a realistic schedule.
More Awesome references
Digital Travel Photography Digital Field Guide
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Rick Sammon's Travel and Nature Photography
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Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography: 107 Lessons on Taking, Making, Editing, Storing, Printing, and Sharing Better Digital Images
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Travel and Photography: Off the Charts
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Digital Travel Photography (A Lark Photography Book)
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What You'll Need
Unless you're going on a exclusive photographic trip, you probably don't want to bring two big bags full of photographic equipments. You want bring only what you would need most.If you're visiting cultural capital, there'll be plenty to shoot, but you'll need different techniques for each shot. Take a scaled down kit, that's light weight and versatile, something that you can unpack and use in an instant.
If you use a digital compact, consider investing in a waist belt camera bag. For SLR users, bring only lenses to 28-80mm and 80mm-200mm - enough to tackle interior and architectural subjects at a distance.
Other essentials include a flashgun, a small lightweight tripod/monopod and plenty of batteries and memories.
Shooting People You Meet In Your Travels
Perhaps the hardest of all photographic skills to acquire is the confidence to photograph a perfect stranger. Faced with a photographer I don't know with what-looks-like-a-very-expensive equipment, most of us would be a little suspicious too. The best way is to be completely upfront by asking for permission to take a shot first.What can happen? A rejection? Shrug it off and move on. Rejection happens much less than you think. People who have never asked seem to think 99% of the people will reject their request.
After gaining their trust, what I like to do is to ask them continue with their daily task as normal while I shoot. Discourage posing as you will be faced with a self-conscious situation that will be no better than a tourist photo... unless of course your subject is a professional model.
If you can spend time chatting, that would be best and will definitely show in your photos. If you're shooting performers or any people involved in any kind of business activity, a good way to gaining confidence is to offer to post out a few print in return for their goodwill. At the cost of a stamp, this can turn the tables in your favor.
Natural Light
On location, natural light can either be you best friend or your worst enemy, making the difference between an atmospheric or lifeless photograph. If you want to shoot architectural details on a facade of a historic building, you may be in for a long wait until the light is the right place.A low angle, in the early morning or evening will draw out textural details better than straight overhead midday sun, which could mean returning to your location at a specific time.
If, however, you've got a tight schedule, a simple compass will help you predict the position of the sun in relation to a building at a particular time. For smaller subjects, you can use an external flashgun connected to an extendable synchronization cable to mimic the effects of a low angle sunlight. A longer cable allows you to hold your flashgun to one side of your camera and point i in a specific directions.
use your LCD preview after each attempt to give you feedbakc and vary the position of your flash until you've got your desired effect.
Distortions You Should Avoid
If you want to photograph a complete facade of a building, I would highly recommend shooting from a distance with a telephoto lens rather than a close up with a wide angle lens.Shooting too close gives architectural subjects converging vertical sides and leads to distorted results.
Many professional architectural photographers shoot on top of a lightweight aluminum ladder to raise their viewing angle.
When Shooting Indoors
Many museums and other historic buildings permits photography but not flash. Therefore when you shoot indoors there's 2 reasons why not to use flash.1. Avoid getting fined or kicked out.
2. Retain the atmospheric quality of the interior.
Because you cannot use flash, you'll of course need a tripod in this case too. Experiment with slow shutter or the more flexible bulb mode.
Interiors will always be illuminated with artificial lighting, so experiment also with your white balance setting. To ensure accurate color reproduction. when you are unsure what the artificial lighting is, use auto white balance and compare results on your LCD preview.
If your subject is behind a glass, there's two things you can do to prevent reflection appearing in the picture:
1. Shoot at an angle.
2. If allowed, stick your lens to the glass.
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On your travels, you will meet many subjects with spectacular surface details but very little color. These subjects are best in black and white. Modernist buildings look fantastic in black and white.Contrast enhancing editing with the channel mixer can increase contrast of texture and convert muddy colored original into a rather seductive monochrome interpretation. Therefore, alway shoot in color and convert them on your return. You have more control and flexibility than shooting in black and white.
If you want your travel shots to be timeless, a monochrome conversion strips away any sign of date, leaving you with a longer lasting result.
Travel Photography Tips Video
Travel Photography Tips
Help on improving your travel and vacation photos.In this video we discuss adding foregrounds. More tips are available at www.better-digital-photos.com
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6 Comments:
What Do You Think?
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KimberlyDawnWells
I'm going to NYC in a few weeks and will be visiting some more buildings. I can't wait to test out these tips. Thanks! Posted October 02, 2007 |
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flowski
Thanks for the helpful travel photography tips! I've got a trip coming up I'll try them out. Hey, great photos too! Posted September 02, 2007 |
