Travel photography is one of the most popular types of photography. When you are traveling by yourself or with friends or family, you will probably want to take some photos to remember your adventure. If you want these to be photos worth showing off, then there are some tips you should follow.
Before you begin shooting, you need to know what you are going to be shooting. The most popular things to take photographs of are famous landmarks and distinctive scenery. Both of these are great, however you should consider taking photographs of more mundane things.
For example, let’s say you are in Italy and you go to a lovely Italian restaurant. A photograph of the dish you ate there would perhaps bring back more memories of your trip than a photograph of you standing in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
When you are doing travel photography, you should take your photographs with their purpose in mind. If you’re planning to sell your photographs, then taking a photo of your chicken parmesan might not be what you want to do. If you are planning on using your photographs to document your trip then you should take such mundane photos.
You will get your best results with travel photography if you follow some basic photography techniques.
First off, you need to consciously frame your focal point. The focal point is where the viewer’s eyes to go on the picture. If you are taking a picture of the Tower of London, you focal point is going to be either the entire building or some point on the building.
As you might expect, you want your focal point to dominate the photograph. If you are taking a photograph of the Tower of London, you want the Tower of London to take up most of the photograph and the surrounding buildings to take up only a small portion.
A good photographer doesn’t just include his subject in the photograph- he makes the subject the photograph.
Another good rule to apply is the “rule of thirds.” The rule of thirds basically says that instead of having your focal point directly in the middle of the photograph, you should have it about 1/3 lines away from one of the sides of the photograph. This means that it should be 1/3 of the photograph away from the top, bottom, left or right sides.
Many digital cameras have grids that can help you center your photo on one of the 1/3 lines. These are especially helpful when you aren’t taking a picture of something that is a straight line. If you are taking a picture of a person, for example, you can use this camera’s built-in feature to center his/her eyes on one of the 1/3 points.
Paying attention to lighting is also important. If you are photographing outdoors, you need to pay particular attention to the sun. The last thing you want is for all of your photographs of friends to be of them squinting and forcing a smile while the sun blasts their faces.
Never have the people you are photographing stand where they are directly facing the sun. At the same time, never have the people you are photographing stand directly in front of a light source. This will cause the photograph to look like a silhouette. Silhouettes are cool, but I suspect you don’t want all of your outdoor photographs to be them.
To avoid this problem, have your subjects stand so that the sun shines to their sides. You will not only avoid the above problems but will have some interesting shadows in your photographs. If you want to be artistic, taking different photographs with shadows going in different directions is a cool way to have more visually interesting photographs.
The two times of day when the lighting may produce some of your best photographs when traveling are the first and last hours of the day. Photographers call these hours the “golden hours” because photographs taken during these times leave a soft and warm glow on whatever you are taking a photograph of.
This is especially true if you are taking a photograph of an urban setting. One of the coolest photographs you can take when traveling is a photograph of the city’s skyline when the buildings look like they are literally shining.
Traveling is an excellent time to play around with your digital camera’s built-in features. The most basic feature to play around with is the flash. Flash photography does have its place when you are traveling, but in most cases you are better off not using it. This is especially true during the day.
Another useful feature that most digital cameras have is the “scene mode.” The camera’s scene mode automatically adjusts the camera’s features depending on, you guessed it, the setting where you are taking the photograph. This mode automatically sets your camera’s settings depending on where you are taking the photograph.
These adjustments include the time of day you are shooting, the amount of sunlight available and other types of lighting to the shots and whether it is a landscape or a portrait shot. Using this mode can help make your photographs look more professional.
A final trick is in stabilizing your shots. If you are traveling, you probably will not want to lug around a bulky tripod. To compensate for this, try leaning against a firm object when taking your photographs. Two examples of this would be a stone pillar or a brick wall. By making yourself a tripod you will avoid taking blurry photographs.
