September 15, 2005
Travel Photography - Some Basic Resources
I have been experimenting for a while now with travel photography,
and every time I go away I take hundreds of pictures. The most I
ever took on a trip were 900+ pictures on my trip last year to Spain!
After that experience I realized that almost 1000 pictures was a
bit much and it took me a very long time to sort out my images.
Since then I have become more discerning, and I no longer snap
away at everything that moves (or everything that's stationary as
well). But I still end up with a few hundred pictures after each
and every one of my getaways. Fortunately, digital photography has
made taking pictures easy, and the good thing is you can snap away
and if you don't like the picture, you just erase it. (But make
sure you don't erase the whole memory card, as my husband did after
a fabulous first-time exploration of Paris....)
I am not much of a technical photographer (yet), I really rely
very much on my camera's basic all-round settings. The only thing
I have experimented with recently is macro (close-up) photography
with the help of my brother-in-law. I try to follow some basic photography
rules, such as getting closer to my subject, adding depth to landscape
shots by placing people, trees or animals in the foreground, keeping
the camera steady, or putting the sun behind me. Other than that
I pretty much just try to frame the shot, pull the trigger and see
what happens.
Last year I even tried to experiment using people as subjects for
my photos. On the island of Ibiza I saw a really interesting family
of Gypsies - 3 generations including grandmother, a young couple
and their grandchild - and I asked in the politest Spanish that
I could muster, whether I would be able to take a picture of them.
What came next totally surprised me: the older woman started cursing
me out and shook her fist at me. It took me a couple of seconds
to realize she was serious, and ever since that time I have become
quite shy when it comes to taking pictures of strangers.
That shouldn't deter you though. To help you improve your travel
photography there are a large number of great resources on the web.
Discussions cover topics such as whether to use regular film or
digital photography, the types of subjects you can cover (animals,
people, landscapes, architecture, plants, sports, aerial shots,
underwater shots, etc.), techniques, techincal jargon and many more.
In the end it doesn't much matter, as long as you get out there
and have fun while you document your travel experiences.
Of course the Internet provides a great number of sites with tips
for travel photography and galleries from experienced travel photographers.
Here is a collection of useful resources on the web to help you
spruce up your travel photography:
http://www.travelphotographers.net/index.html
http://www.photosecrets.com/links.html
http://www.fodors.com/focus/
http://www.travelphoto.net/
http://photographytips.com/page.cfm/52
http://malektips.com/digital_travel_photography_help_and_tips.html:
excellent tips
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/tribaleye/htm/tips1.htm:
good tips on how to approach people to ask for photos
http://www.photosecrets.com/p00.html
General digital camera terms: http://www.cooking-italian-food.com/photography.htm
Useful books:
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