Travel Photography Tips
It’s a great idea to take along a digital camera when you travel. Good scenic or vacation photographs are about what you see and how you see it. The results might delight you.
Shooting What You See
Sometimes you might have taken a photo that looked good in real life but didn’t look so great on the computer. Check the length of the lens you used. The field of vision of the human eye is 40 degrees. You can make your own test of this principle by examining a scene like a skyline. Don’t move your eyes right or left and note what you’re viewing. For comparison, view the scene using the camera. You’ll observe that some parts of the scene are missing, or perhaps now you’re seeing elements that were formerly excluded. A camera with a zoom lens will usually allow you to ‘frame’ the image the same as your eye. Trial and error will allow you to work this out until you’ve established which zoom setting will give the same as the view through your eyes.
Composition
Composition is the art of ‘framing’ the photograph or arranging the elements so that it draws the viewer’s eye to what you want seen or noticed. Here are some basic rules of composition:
1. The Eye Scans Diagonally
The eye usually scans automatically from bottom right of a picture diagonally across to the top left. Choose any picture from your files and reverse it using photo editing software ‘flip horizontal’ tool and you’ll gain an idea of this. Depending on which way you flip, some elements are more noticeable, some less so. You can use this rule, for example, in portrait photography.
Ask the subject to turn his body slightly away from the camera. Get your subject to rest his hands in his lap or on his legs. Now ask him to turn his face only so he can see you. This is called a three-quarter pose. Check what you can see through the camera. Possibly you’ll notice that first your eye moves to the hands, and they direct it upward diagonally to the model’s face. Make your photograph, upload it, then use the flip horizontal tool. Which view communicates most effectively?
You can get a good idea of how this rule works by looking through a book of photographs. The photographer may have used a line or shape in the bottom right corner so the eye is guided to the picture’s central element. If the photographer wants to achieve an arresting effect he may deliberately break this rule.
2. Frame the Photograph
The edges of a photograph are like the fence around a house. The space is defined by them. Print and frame one of your favorite pictures and you’ll get the idea. This gives better definition to the entire picture. Apply this compositionally by placement of the subject so it is between trees, in a doorway, viewed through a window, etc. You can get an opposite effect if you deliberately choose a neutral, featureless background like the sea and place your subject in front of it. The eye is drawn to the subject without distraction by any other elements.
Add to the mood and feel of your final image by framing to include background elements. Sometimes the subject can be overwhelmed by a background that is too cluttered or dominating. Best avoid these. Your visual story can be made more interesting by the inclusion of some background elements. Once you think you’ve framed the scene, ask yourself if it answers the following questions
Where is this?
Who is it?
Why are they in that location or scene?
What are they doing?
The Rule of Thirds
This rule divides the image into thirds horizontally and/or vertically. The central zone is for the subject. Alternatively, arranged to occupy the points where the grids intersect. In a landscape the top third is the sky, the middle third is the subject. The lower third is the foreground providing a foundation to the subject.
Most portraits are composed vertically, half to three quarter length. Imagine the scene compartmented vertically, with the face at the border of the top and middle segments. In this way you get ‘breathing room’ above the subject, which results in a better look. And this is a more balanced composition with the space either side of the subject.
Sometimes a feeling of intensity and immediacy can be created by close-ups.
In photography, the more you shoot the better you get. Take many photographs and study the good ones and the bad ones. The basics of this very rewarding hobby can be quickly learned.
