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PHOTO TIPS FROM PROS
In travel photography there are two essential elements: Planning and Serendipity.
• Learn something about the places you’ll visit.
• Have a game plan about the kinds of photography you’ll be doing.
• Make a checklist of items you’ll need.
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The use of cameras of any type with tripods or flashes is not permitted in archaeological zones, museums or colonial monuments without a special permit.
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• Don’t take more gear than you need, and stick with equipment you’re familiar with.
• Planning is important, but when you start shooting, don’t lock yourself into rigid preconceptions. Hope for the unexpected, be receptive to new ideas and fast changes, and always have your camera ready.
• When photographing landscapes, lead the viewer’s eye into the picture to create a feeling of depth.
• Try to find a camera position and angle that includes something interesting in the foreground, the middle distance, and the background–or at least the foreground and background.
• Also look for interesting cloud formations to enliven the sky area. Don’t necessarily put the horizon line right across the middle of the photograph. Raise it or lower it for a more dynamic composition.
• For highest technical quality in landscape pictures, use a tripod or a steady support–even when using a wide-angle lens–so you can stop down for sharp focus from the foreground to the far distance.
• Photographing strangers in a foreign country or different culture requires tact and sensitivity. People don’t like being walked up to and having a camera stuck in their face. Instead, try to calm suspicion. Introduce yourself. Communicate in a sincere way why you want to photograph the person–because you’re interested in what they’re doing, how they mend nets, or whatever. Once you make a connection as a human being, most people are flattered by your interest and open up for you. Learn a few words of the local language, even if it’s only how to say “please”, “pretty”, or “beautiful”. Also, body language can do the trick: there’s no cultural barrier to a smile or expressing your admiration for a pretty child.
• Talk to people first before you start photographing them. Get to know each other a bit and encourage them to continue whatever they’re doing. If they’re involved in conversation or some activity, they’ll tend to forget you’re photographing them.
• Search for places off the beaten path. Nothing leads to routine travel pictures more than standing with your camera in the same spot and shooting what thousands of other people have recorded before you.
• Use available light to be unobtrusive and not alter the natural ambience. Indoors, in a house lit by tungsten household bulbs, watch for moments when a person turns toward a nearby lamp that will illuminate the face. In a room with contrast tungsten lighting, throw in just a touch of electronic flash, dialed way down, to get a little fill-in light on the subject’s face, but let the tungsten set the ambience. If there’s not sufficient artificial light in a room, watch for a moment when the person is near a window or open door where daylight is pouring in at a nice angle. Of course a fast lens and film is essential for this kind of photography. Use Kodachrome 200 for available-light work. A wide-angle or normal lens allows you to move in close for the feeling of intimacy.
• When photographing outdoor travel subjects, it’s almost always better to shoot early in the morning or late in the day—the very opposite of what film manufacturers used to advise us. Great outdoor pictures are made either from just before sunrise to an hour or so later, or from about an hour before sunset to half an hour afterwards. The light is much more interesting at these times. It rakes low across the landscape, emphasizing form and texture. It provides warmer color and has greater character. Make the most of it.
• And remember, the bad weather that many travelers might consider ruinous to their trips should be regarded by photographers with anticipation and excitement. So in bad weather, when most people put their cameras away, take yours out.
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