This is a photo of a professional photo, and a lovely reminder of my time in Turkey
When travelling, remember to take photos of the most unlikely things, such as the doorway to the places you’re staying, the rooms you spend time in, your car or kombi, the kitchen, the pool and other ‘normal’ scenes. It is surprising how many memories are stimulated when you see these things.
Other Photo Tips
- “Say CHEESE” … Getting your audience to say a word with this sound means that when the photo is taken they are smiling. Get creative and use other fun words and you may get other cool photos … say “Tease” also works.
- FRAMING is one of the key things people forget when taking photos. Make sure the object you’re taking is clearly in the photo so chopping off heads, arms, legs etc is not a good idea – you can always crop a photo, but it is pretty difficult to add bits you missed.
When we went sailing in the Whitsunday's, this was just SOME of the technology we had!
- FLASH DISTANCE: Not many people realise that the range of a standard compact camera flash is about 2.5 meters. Make sure you bear this in mind when taking photos using the flash.
- ZOOMING: It is better to walk forward than use the zoom. If you’re taking a photo of a group of friends, stand closer instead of using the zoom. Using the zoom inappropriately can mean a loss of quality and also, the camera aperture (i.e. how big the hole is that the light comes through when you take a photo) is reduced when you use the zoom so a photo which could have come out bright enough, may not come out so well. If you link this with the last tip, you’ll realise you’ll get better pictures all round by moving yourself and not the camera zoom.
This was an outdoor party I went to. This reminds me of so much fun!
- TRIPODS: Get yourself a pocket tripod (such as the awesome gorillapod) as this will allow you to take better photos and videos of yourself and others. Use this together with the self timer to make sure the camera is perfectly still when taking photos.
- FLASH during the day: If it is bright behind the person or thing you’re taking a photo of, make sure you use the flash. If in doubt, leave the flash ON for your outside shots as well as inside shots and it will fill in dark places on people’s faces from shadows.
- MAKE TAKING PHOTOS SO NATURAL and quick that you can whip your camera out and have it away in 10 seconds. This way, you can live in the moment and capture the images for the future. Here’s an example of a shot I took in Singapore whilst on a bus – I had about 2 seconds to decide and take the photo.
Literally an Indian Restaurant Takewaway!
- TAKE PHOTOS OF PHOTOS – with the quality of cameras these days, take photos of photos or posters as souvenirs. Maps, brochures and other similar things are great reminders. The photo at the top of this post is a photo of a photo.
Also, if you blog or design things, remember to use your own photos. Here’s a fun design I made in Powerpoint and using Paint.net, which is a simple and effective free graphics programme like Photoshop.
BTW, have fun with your videos too – here’s something I made by slowing down and reversing a short clip I made in Turkey.
Here’s a fun clip I took in Turkey recently. I set up my camera on a gorillapod and then edited the result by slowing down and reversing some of the content and adding the music.
That’s right ! There is a lot of those tips that I’m currently using during my trip.
Numerical zoom always makes a loss of quality, so even if there is no other choice it’s better to take the picture without zoom and then resize it on you computer.
And flash is useless with numerical zoom because of the same reason you’re writting about being aware of the flash distance.
Having my camera attached in a holster on my belt is my way to be able to take a picture of anything within a few seconds.
A cool tip if you’re travelling light is to carry a long string and a screw that fits your camera : By putting one of your feet on the string and attaching the other part to the camera with the screw your can stabilize it in way more positions than with a tripod, and faster !
Great tip about the string – keeping the camera still in darker environments is so important.
Also, for those who don’t know, when you use the zoom, the aperture (size of the whole when you take a photo) can often be forced to be smaller so the picture comes out darker than it would have without the zoom.