Photos While Traveling Light
You want to travel light but still make travel photos that
you can print large and make digital presentations for
your family and friends. You might even like to sell your
photos to travel magazines or place them with stock
portals on the web. Try these tips and techniques
Even if you photograph only for pleasure you can use
some of the techniques that pros use to generate travel
content good enough for magazines and newspapers.
• Whether digital or film based, you need low ISO,
good saturation, and sharpness. Film speed and ISO
settings are best kept no higher than 200.
1. Think about ways of getting sharpness without a
tripod. Forbidden in many places, the tripods extra
weight makes it hardly worth lugging except for
landscapes. Although the tripod is an essential tool in
many situations, for the traveler the tripod is just more
baggage to lug.
Learn to use a beanbag instead. With this handy
stabilizer of wedding photographers placed on walls,
restaurant tables, or the top of a vehicle for camera
support, you might never lug a tripod again.. Buy the
beans locally, donate them when done.
Carve a walking stick and use it like a mono-pod. Steady
the camera against light poles, window frames, or
benches to gain a stop or two of shutter speed and depth-
of-field. Sharpness is critical as is depth of field.
2. Learn to use the Graduated Neutral Density Filter.
The average scene contains three or more stops of light
on a sunny day so you must balance your exposure. You
can do that with a two-stop graduated neutral density
filter. The screw-on type has dark material on one half
absorbing two stops of light then transitioning into clear
glass. Amazing, but the sky stays saturated while the
foreground remains properly exposed, especially in
sunrise and sunset photos. Leave it on the camera.
Compensate for it by using a matrix setting on your
metering which should compensates for the dark
material's absorption of light. Check your image
exposure and make adjustments accordingly.
Takes a leap of faith, but if you test it before your trip,
you will prove to yourself that the GND can hold
saturation in the skies. It will be more efficiently than a
Polarizer because it doesn't turn skies black nor does it
absorb the stop and a half of foreground light that a
Polarizer would gobble.
3. People. People in the scene give interest and scale. A
camera-mounted flash unit set on auto during the day will
light faces under hats or in shade, putting catch lights in
the eyes, punching up the color, and elevating your
people shots to pro status. Get up close with a wide-angle
lens; (not for portraits though) shoot high, shoot low,
varying your point of view.
Dusk shots at markets, plazas, and beaches produce
nightlife, dining, and recreation scenes. The beanbag
and the camera's self-timer prevent camera shake. You
can editorialize with selective sharpness, expose
automatically, determine the light levels, and then go
manual, varying the shutter speed for effect. The GND
will moderate hot spots like street lights or bright sky.
When using flash, you can rotate the GND putting the
dark material at the bottom so that you wont overexpose
the near foreground areas.
4. Match Your Shutter Speed to Your Lens. When hand
holding your camera, match the shutter speed to the focal
length of the lens. Example: a 60mm lens requires a
shutter speed of 1/60 of a second or higher to avoid
camera shake. Match your 210mm zoom with at least a
1/210-shutter speed. (non anti vibration lenses)
5. Lens Hood. Shade the front lens element to prevent
lens flare; retain crucial color, saturation, and contrast
that you would loose if the slightest bit of direct or
reflected light enters the lens.
How Freeing. Four pounds of camera gear, half of it
battery charger and batteries. Be more mobile and
quicker at getting the photos that tell your travel story.
You want to travel light but still make travel photos that
you can print large and make digital presentations for
your family and friends. You might even like to sell your
photos to travel magazines or place them with stock
portals on the web. Try these tips and techniques
Even if you photograph only for pleasure you can use
some of the techniques that pros use to generate travel
content good enough for magazines and newspapers.
• Whether digital or film based, you need low ISO,
good saturation, and sharpness. Film speed and ISO
settings are best kept no higher than 200.
1. Think about ways of getting sharpness without a
tripod. Forbidden in many places, the tripods extra
weight makes it hardly worth lugging except for
landscapes. Although the tripod is an essential tool in
many situations, for the traveler the tripod is just more
baggage to lug.
Learn to use a beanbag instead. With this handy
stabilizer of wedding photographers placed on walls,
restaurant tables, or the top of a vehicle for camera
support, you might never lug a tripod again.. Buy the
beans locally, donate them when done.
Carve a walking stick and use it like a mono-pod. Steady
the camera against light poles, window frames, or
benches to gain a stop or two of shutter speed and depth-
of-field. Sharpness is critical as is depth of field.
2. Learn to use the Graduated Neutral Density Filter.
The average scene contains three or more stops of light
on a sunny day so you must balance your exposure. You
can do that with a two-stop graduated neutral density
filter. The screw-on type has dark material on one half
absorbing two stops of light then transitioning into clear
glass. Amazing, but the sky stays saturated while the
foreground remains properly exposed, especially in
sunrise and sunset photos. Leave it on the camera.
Compensate for it by using a matrix setting on your
metering which should compensates for the dark
material's absorption of light. Check your image
exposure and make adjustments accordingly.
Takes a leap of faith, but if you test it before your trip,
you will prove to yourself that the GND can hold
saturation in the skies. It will be more efficiently than a
Polarizer because it doesn't turn skies black nor does it
absorb the stop and a half of foreground light that a
Polarizer would gobble.
3. People. People in the scene give interest and scale. A
camera-mounted flash unit set on auto during the day will
light faces under hats or in shade, putting catch lights in
the eyes, punching up the color, and elevating your
people shots to pro status. Get up close with a wide-angle
lens; (not for portraits though) shoot high, shoot low,
varying your point of view.
Dusk shots at markets, plazas, and beaches produce
nightlife, dining, and recreation scenes. The beanbag
and the camera's self-timer prevent camera shake. You
can editorialize with selective sharpness, expose
automatically, determine the light levels, and then go
manual, varying the shutter speed for effect. The GND
will moderate hot spots like street lights or bright sky.
When using flash, you can rotate the GND putting the
dark material at the bottom so that you wont overexpose
the near foreground areas.
4. Match Your Shutter Speed to Your Lens. When hand
holding your camera, match the shutter speed to the focal
length of the lens. Example: a 60mm lens requires a
shutter speed of 1/60 of a second or higher to avoid
camera shake. Match your 210mm zoom with at least a
1/210-shutter speed. (non anti vibration lenses)
5. Lens Hood. Shade the front lens element to prevent
lens flare; retain crucial color, saturation, and contrast
that you would loose if the slightest bit of direct or
reflected light enters the lens.
How Freeing. Four pounds of camera gear, half of it
battery charger and batteries. Be more mobile and
quicker at getting the photos that tell your travel story.
Tripods are not
allowed in most
ruin sites; the
bean bag can
help to steady
the camera
allowed in most
ruin sites; the
bean bag can
help to steady
the camera
Freeing, yes but there are situations when a tripod comes in
handy.
When in low-light situations like the slot canyons of the
Southwest,lighthouse at dawn, windmills on Cape Cod at
sunset, the Grand Canyon at dusk, and twilight street
scenes, you will need to steady the camera. Although a
tripod is the preferred tool for making sharp images, the
bean bag and your camera's timer will stand in for those who
want to travel light.
The photos on this page of the cannon, the church, and the
twilight street scene were done in this method. A curb side
rubbish container steadied the camera for the street scene,
a bean bag on the ground gave support for the cannon and
church.
The camera's timer gave hands-off steadiness.
handy.
When in low-light situations like the slot canyons of the
Southwest,lighthouse at dawn, windmills on Cape Cod at
sunset, the Grand Canyon at dusk, and twilight street
scenes, you will need to steady the camera. Although a
tripod is the preferred tool for making sharp images, the
bean bag and your camera's timer will stand in for those who
want to travel light.
The photos on this page of the cannon, the church, and the
twilight street scene were done in this method. A curb side
rubbish container steadied the camera for the street scene,
a bean bag on the ground gave support for the cannon and
church.
The camera's timer gave hands-off steadiness.
Copyright SoftSeatTravel
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Dave Hilbert's
SoftSeatTravel Make Travel Photos That You Can Sell
SoftSeatTravel Make Travel Photos That You Can Sell
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Travel Photography
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