Road Trips

10 tips for good Travel photography

Travel presents the best opportunity for photography, and over time I have developed some tactics to take decent photographs. You can take good photographs even with basic equipment, and without spending too much time setting up or in post editing. The hardest part (especially for a non-artistic person like me) is to understand what constitutes a good photograph - the subject of interest, lighting, and focus, but this can be developed by reading books, photography blogs and seeing the works of good photographers. Here though is some basic tactics that will improve your travel photography:

1. Hardware and software - Along with your expensive camera, it is always good to have a small inexpensive pocket digital camera. The best opportunities while traveling arise when you are involved in physical activity - hiking, on the beach, or the boat - when it is too risky to carry an exepensive camera. Along with your cameras it is good to have a tripod or a monopod. Use a good free software like the Gimp (www. gimp.org) which allows you to manipulate your digital photos after you get home... this will make a big difference.

2. Early morning or late evening - The best photos are generally taken in the early morning or in the evening when the slanting rays of the sun provide a warm golden light. This reduces harsh shadows and contrasts in your photos. While travelling I like to use my small camera throughout the day. In the evening time, typically having reached a scenic spot or on the way back from an excursion I use the main camera to take the best photos.

3. Choose a subject - The most common mistake that beginners make is not deciding on a subject. Generally while travelling every vista appears so beautiful, that people just point their camera at the scenery and snap photos. Thus they end up with several moderate photos of the same scenery. The trick to good photography is to not include all the beautiful things, but to eliminate that which does not add to the beauty of one single subject. If required take several photographs of the same scene, but focusing on different beautiful things each time.

4. Making an interesting photo - It would be fantastic if you arrive at a remote beach, and suddenly find the sun forms a golden orb behind a spectacular cloud formation, and the rays hit the water and cliffs at exactly the right angle. But typically you will have to contend with less than extraordinary scenes during travel. You can still make good photos, by improvising.
a. Angles - To add drama to the subject change the perspective. For example by going down low and looking up towards the subject you can get an intersting perspective.
b. Micro - Try to focus on something small, like a single pebble on the beach instead of the whole scene, to create a different photograph.
c. Action - An element of interest in the photo can be introduced by photographing something dynamic. For example wait to catch the wave breaking on the rocks, the expression of a person who is part of the scene, etc.
d. Create - There is no harm in manipulating the scene to some extent by introducing subjects and posing them to make something of interest. For example tossing a rose in a stagnant pool of water creates something interesting in an otherwise colorless, and static scene.

5. Framing the subject - Follow the law of thirds while framing the subject. Divide the frame into 3 layers - the upper third, the middle third, and the bottom third. Similarly divide it vertically into the left third, the middle third and the right third layer. The dividing lines in your scenery should approximately coincide with these 3 layers. Your subject should be placed at one of the 4 intersections of the dividing lines.

6. Lighting, and focus - Different shades of light on the subject and in the scene, makes it come alive. Similarly by selectively focusing on certain objects, and keeping the other blurred you create a depth of field which adds 3 dimensional perspective. It is good to reduce harsh contrast, especially on the face (if photographing humans). At the very least have the subject face the sun, and make sure that the surrounding scene is generally the same brighness as the subject. If you have seen photos where the subject's face is either washed out or too dark, while the surrounding scenery is perfect, you know what I mean.

7. Color and depth of field - Color adds variety and brings a photo to life. While several artistic photos are devoid of bright colors, an amateur travel photographer can do very well by including the basic colors of red, green, and blue in his/her photos. Also some elements might not appear to be much while on-site, but after you come home and download the photos to your computer you see the difference they make in the photos. These are elements that add depth to the photo - a road tapering off in the distance, clouds that can add both drama, color and depth, the shoreline, a fence, or anything that informs the viewer about the relative magnitudes of height and distance in your photographs.

8. Taking the photo - It is always best to use a tripod while taking photos. Even with the pocket camera, you can take great photographs, just by placing the camera on something solid (your knapsack, or a rock), and setting it on the timer. This will keep the camera steady as it snaps the photo. If you have a camera where you can adjust the apperture, shutter speed and focus, just as an experiment, it is good to get 2 or 3 different photos of the same scene, with different parameters. You will be amazed at the results.

9. Edit your photos - You can always improve your photos with basic editing software like the Gimp or Photoshop. Even after taking an unimpressive photo, as long as the right elements are there, you can achieve good results by simple editing techniques like cropping, applying the contrast mask, or other digital tricks. For a set of tutorials for the gimp check out - www.gimp.org/tutorials/

10. The power of plenty - The advantage of digital photos is that you can take a very large number of them. Just the law of probability guarantees that some of them will come out good. But that takes me back to the earlier point - recognising a good photos is the hardest part for an amateur like me. And always learn from your mistakes....