Travel shots are often a combination of architectural photography and landscape photography. While you roam around on vacation, you’re bound to find interesting things to photograph within cities, as well as in the countryside. The chief difference between travel photography and architec- tural or landscape pictorials is that the travel shots invariably have one or more members of your party standing smack in the middle of the picture waving or pointing.
It doesn’t have to be so. Oh, of course you want to prove you’ve been to
the Eiffel Tower or Grand Canyon, so go ahead and take a few shots that show you or your companions mugging for the camera. But then shoo everybody out of the way and take a few well-composed photos that you
can be proud of. After all, 20 years from now, most of your family members in the photos will be old and wrinkly. But the Eiffel Tower and Grand Canyon will be un-aging parts of your vacation memories, if you take the time to capture some memorable photos while you’re there.
Vacation photos are your chance to apply some of the basic compositional techniques that I discuss throughout this chapter. A few new principles to consider include
Try to balance your compositions. Place interesting subject matter on both sides of the frame. I don’t mean that you need to have two centers of interest, only that you don’t want a lopsided photo. If you pose a person on one side of the frame, include a building or some foliage on the other side to create a balanced look. This trick encourages viewers to explore the image, rather than feel uneasy because they’re wondering why all that empty space is on the other half of the photo.
✓ Avoid mergers. Mergers are the (usually) unintentional combinations of unrelated subjects spliced together in disturbing ways. The classic merger is usually a tree growing out of the top of someone’s head (but you can do the same thing with the Eiffel Tower if you’re careful — and tired of having your subjects just stand in front of it and wave).
Mergers can also happen when subjects seem to grow out of the edges of the picture. For example, if you have a tree branch drooping down into your image but you don’t see a tree anywhere in the rest of the photo, the branch appears to have sprung from the edge of your picture. Examine your compositions carefully to spot and eliminate mergers before you capture them in pixel form.
Don’t be afraid to try some new subjects. Certain travel photos are almost obligatory. Return from Spain without a picture of a flamenco dance, or come back from Philadelphia lacking a shot of Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell, and your acquaintances might doubt whether you actually took that trip. But don’t let those expectations limit you.
I like to photograph what I call the Gettysburgs of each location that I visit — the places that many people have heard of, but have rarely seen pictured. In the United States, that might be a view of the St. Louis arch taken from underneath the arch itself, rather than from the other side of the Mississippi River, or a close-up of the flaking paint on an old sculpture. In Europe, you might want to photograph El Toboso, a village in Spain where Don Quixote’s Dulcinea lived, rather than snap only the same-old-same-old photos at the Alhambra or the Costa del Sol.
With a little imagination, you can return from your trip with well-composed, interesting photos that capture the spirit of your vacation but don’t look like you cribbed them from postcards.
HOW TO GET STARTED WITH TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
Here are some of the tips that will help you to get started with your travel photography better.
WHAT TO PACK?
WHEN YOUR ARE MOVING TO ANOTHER PLACE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC REASON CARRY :
1. PHOTOGRAPHERS BAG: when you are on a photographic mission avoid those typical tourist bags, carry the bags which protects your equipment and is durable & waterproof. Keep the comfort on top priority when you are absolutely on your own and need to carry it around all by yourself. The Bag should be big enough to carry all the necessary equipment but no bigger than that as sometimes, it becomes too difficult to handle and manage a bigger bag especially if it a pleasure come photography trip.
2. CARD CASE: It often happens that you tend to loose little things while you are traveling so it is better to carry a card case with you so that you can keep all your memory cards at one place safely. I always keep two. One for the new cards and the another with a red tag for the exposed cards.
3.CLEANING KIT: When you are on a tour your camera's gets exposed to dirt and dust. you must keep a lens cleaning cloth or a blower with you to keep
4. LAPTOP and EXTERNAL STORAGE DRIVE: Keep an external hard drive with you so that when your card is about to get filled you can transfer your data to hard drive and can go on clicking . It also keeps your data safe.
5.TRIPOD: Especially if you are dedicated purist kind of a photographer, carry your tripod along because it might happen that you get stuck at a scene where it is quite difficult for you to take the picture with camera hand held. Invest in a good light weighted carbon fibre tripod. However, keep in mind that if its a pleasure trip as well, you are most likely going to need the tripod only at dusk or night but you will need to carry it along all through out the day. If you do not mind the noise, increasing the ISO on a good camera may be a good trade off between quality and comfort. Remember, for moving subjects, tripod still wont be the right choice and higher ISO would work better. So it depends on what kind of photography you are into.
6. LENSES AND NECESSARY ACCESSORIES: Take only the lenses you'll be needing for your travel photography instead of carrying a load of lenses. take all the camera accessories and other stuff which might be used during your journey like cleaning kit, filters, extra battery pack, extra cards, a spare switch board, a water resistant camera carrying bag etc. You may leave the additional stuff in your Hotel room.
BEST LENSES FOR TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
When you are up for travel photography carry a few lenses with you that include your wide angle , fixed focal length & telephoto zoom lenses.
~CANON 24-105L f/4: This is such an easy lens to carry and liked by most of the travel photographers. This is a 'L Series' lens you can imagine with what perfection this lens will be created. The advantage of this lens is that it offers a great IS-Image Stabilization function and has a fast autofocus mechanism.
~ CANON 16-35l f/2.8: This ultra wide angle lens has a aperture of f/2.8 which makes it a great lens to use when its getting dark out side. Those who wish to do landscape photography this lens is a must.
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