Making the Most of Your Creative Travel Photography Experience

Travel and photography go hand in hand. Tourists will stock up on film when they vacation and dutifully record the trip's events on film. For those of us passionate about travel and photography, there's a lot more to gain than an album of "record" shots.

Why Go On Photographic Adventures In the First Place?

For ordinary people like you and me who are now able to travel to the most remote corners of the world -- it is up to us to make each trip special. My best advice is to be a part of the places you visit -- not just an observer passing through.

Here are some ways to improve your travel photography while discovering and nurturing your creative side. Creating rich story telling images begins with having some ideas about what you wish to communicate. There are ways to be in the right place at the right time for really great images as well as ways to make sure that your mind and your shutter finger are tuned in to your photographic experience.

Open Your Mind to the Journey and the Destination

You can begin your photographic travel adventure before you even leave home. Read histories, biographies, even novels set in the area you plan to travel, and learn to recognize what is unique and important to photograph where you're gong. Picture books, back issues of National Geographic and any film shot on location are means to learning about and savoring the trip you are about to make. Ethnic restaurants and cookbooks are delicious ways to enjoy your trip for months before -- and years afterwards.

Once you are there, be prepared to rub shoulders with the locals. Fill your frames with faces and emotions. Zero in on hand-crafted clothing and the traditional ways of preparing food and making a living. Many of the opportunities to capture traditional crafts and skills on film will be lost soon with the homogenization of people and their cultures.

Capture your travel story in a way that is meaningful to you. Photograph people engaged in activities typical to their daily lives. Such an image will most likely "win out" over an image of historical buildings, or even well known landscapes, without people in it. Their clothing and activities should be seen clearly with additional information about housing, agriculture or other elements of daily life as background.

Use extreme close-ups and manipulations such as soft-focus filters and double exposures to help express emotion and convey information creatively. Wide-angle lenses can work best here because you can fill the frame with facial features and clothing details. Handwork such as mending the nets, making lace, or stirring the stew pot can be given prominent display and yet the background can still be sharp of full of detail. Wide-angle lenses that work best for travel are between 21mm and 28mm lenses. (My favorite is a 24mm.)

The secret is to get in close--you'll be surprised at how many new friends you can make!

The More Equipment You Carry, the More Pictures You'll Miss

All photographers have their favorite, must-have equipment for local shooting. However, being on the road, sometimes in rugged circumstances with little or no porter support, means taking only those items that you feel are really necessary. Your cameras, flash, lenses and film, of course, are going to be critical. But take those that will be of the most use and leave the rest at home. (A list of what we consider to be the essentials is available from Close-Up Expeditions to all our travelers in advance of departure.)

Don't forget your tripod. The travel photographer can usually get away with a shorter tripod than a nature photographer in order to save weight and bulk. You need a ball head with quick-release feature that will support your heaviest lens.

When tripods and flash are not allowed, such as in museums or other sites, a "string-pod" alternative can come in handy. Tie five feet of nylon cord to a small eye bolt with 1/4 inch threads. Screw the eye bolt into your camera's tripod socket, stand on the cord and pull the camera up tight to your eye, keeping your elbows tight to your sides as your shoot.

Buy or manufacture a strap so that you can carry the tripod over your shoulder when you want to shoot hand held or when you need your hands free. A nylon webbed dog leash converts readily to a tripod strap and costs just a few dollars.

Tips for Better Travel Images

1) Use Sequences. If you produce travelogues, think sequences. If you see an interesting story telling picture, consider what other pictures might help you to develop the story. For example a thatched roof cottage in England attracts your attention and your first shot is an overall picture showing the entire house. A second shot might be a shot of the pathway leading up to the door and the third shot might be a close-up of the brass door knocker. As a reminder, think 1) Overview, 2) Close-up 3) Detail.

2) Get in Close. Simplify the scene and turn a record shot into a stunning graphic design. Try this exercise next time a scene says, "I'm a travel picture, take me." Move in half the distance to the subject and recompose, if you still see a picture, move in half the remaining distance and recompose. If you no longer see a picture, then go back to the last spot and take your picture from there.

3) Vertical versus Horizontal Orientation. If your subject is taller than it is wide, such as a standing figure, a tree, then a vertical format is probably most suitable. If you produce travelogues or hope to sell your images, then consider shooting the same scene in both vertical and horizontal. Magazine and newspaper editors generally prefer verticals.

4) Follow Basic Rules of Composition. The same rules of composition that make or break images apply to Creative Travel Photography. It is worthwhile to review them prior to a trip and to make a conscious decision to apply them or to break them. Apply them for pleasing, harmonious images and break them when you want to shake things up a bit.

An important rule to remember is the "Rule of Thirds". Placing the point of interest in the exact center of your image can result in static, uninteresting compositions. Mentally construct a tic-tac-toe grid in front of your lens. Where the lines cross are the intersections of interest. Place your primary and secondary subjects at those points of intersection for a well balanced and pleasing composition. This is one of the easiest ways to improve your landscapes.

5) Put People Into Your Photography. Look for people doing something important to their lives. Common advice is that one should always ask permission before taking photographs. However, many people if asked, will say "no" or pose in some unnatural way. My advice is to shoot first and after taking your shot, acknowledge with a nod or a knowing grin that you and the subjects have had a meaningful exchange. You might even come away with new friends and an address to send a print.

Generally, people will let you know if they really do not wish to be photographed. Once they've indicated this, you should respect their wishes, (which may be based on cultural rules), and look for more willing subjects elsewhere.

In general, photograph people doing things important to their life. Try starting with a long lens from a dark corner. Or, if you're in a market or on a public street, find a good background and let the subject matter come to you. But the most satisfying images are made when you are interacting with the subjects.

6) Maximize the time of day. The first few hours after sunrise and the last few hours before sunset are the "magic hours" where sometimes everything seems to glow. Adopt the siesta system of early morning and late evening shoots -- reserving the midday hours for rest and logistical chores.

When the sky is overcast, create compositions without any sky. Even a blue sky may be brighter than the foreground and therefore will be distracting as the eye goes to the brightest part of the picture.

Depending on your film, a "warming filter" may be helpful in very early, very late and heavy shade situations where the image will seem too blue without correction. Print films and "warm" or "saturated" films probably do not need a warming filter.

Tourist and Other Traps to Avoid in Travel Photography

It may seem obvious, but other tourists and photographers can kill the most interesting of scenes -- especially if they are wearing white clothing. Do yourself and your fellow photographers a favor -- and have fun, too, by dressing like the local people do, even so far as purchasing your travel wardrobe during the trip.

Also be sure to avoid:
- McDonald's Yellow Arches -- or signs in English when it is not the vernacular. Your viewers will see only them and be distracted from your great image.

- Cultural performances with obvious "floor show" backgrounds and excessive flash illumination. Such programs are still a part of the tourist's life but they usually suggest an artificial event that is performed just for tourists. If are stuck at one of these events get close-ups of the performers and their costumes or the musicians playing their instruments. And practice with slow shutter speeds and deliberate blur or panning.

- Distracting backgrounds -- if the background is lighter than the foreground, the eye goes right past the subject. Try to compose your shots with dark backgrounds, especially shade.

- Mergers of people and animals with edges of the frame, especially if they appear to be moving out of the frame. Be on the lookout for other distracting elements such as branches and bright objects. Try to eliminate any object from your composition that is not helping to direct the viewer's eye in the way you wish.

- Pieces of trash, plastic bags, and other distracting litter. Seems obvious, but I can't tell you how many pictures I've seen marred by a cigarette butt in the foreground.

Creative Techniques

There are countless ways to create travel images that reflect what you are seeing -- and feeling. Some are described below, but there are many others that you may discover even by accident.

1) Soft-focus. A favorite of many photographers for suggesting that we are looking into the past--a helpful tool since the traveler is often photographing objects or places with a past. Often distracting modern elements such as a traffic sign are not so distracting with soft focus.


Purchase soft focus filters of many types or make your own:

Vaseline Filter: put the tiniest dab of petroleum jelly on the outside of an old UV, Haze or 81A filter. Smear it around in a very thin layer until objects are identifiable but blurred. With your fingertip make a series of diagonal streaks and shoot back lit scenes--you'll get the effect of rays of sun light filtered through dusty air.

Warning: Protect your gear from the grease and the filter from lint by keeping it in a separate lens case or keeping another filter or lens cap screwed over the top. The grease will harden eventually and should be cleaned off and replaced for best results.

Plastic bag/Saran wrap: Similar to the Vaseline filter in effect. Saran wrap works well for portraits. The disposable hotel shower caps work OK if you can't get Saran wrap.

Blurred objects: Holding a bouquet of flowers almost touching the lens while focusing on distant objects can create a soft blur of pleasing colors in your foreground and eliminate distracting elements. Thin translucent petals work best.

2) Selective Focus. Draw the viewer's eye to your chosen center of interest by choosing a large aperture and focus on your center of interest so that the rest of the frame is out of focus or at least soft. This technique works well with people photography. Since most zooms are relatively slow (f4.5 or f5.6), shoot wide open -- which has the advantage of giving you faster shutter speeds.

3) Fast lenses. Carry a fast (f1.8) 50mm lens with you on trips. That large aperture means that you can shoot in low light situations at 1/30 sec. where your slower f5.6 zoom lens would require 1/4 sec. The large aperture also means greater control over selective focus situations.

4) Slow Shutter Speeds and Panning. Give a sense of "motion" by "panning" with the action. Use a slow shutter speed, 1/4 or 1/8 second with runners, and 1/15 seconds with faster moving subjects such as cyclists, horses or cars. Follow the moving figures with your camera, squeezing the shutter as the subjects pass you. With luck and practice you will have an image where the moving subjects are relatively in focus while the background is a blur. Be sure to "follow through" or follow the action as you squeeze the shutter.

Note: It may be necessary to use very slow film, neutral density filters or polarizing filters to achieve a proper exposure with shutter speeds of 1/4 to 1/16 sec. Expect to shoot a lot of film to get a few good shots.

5) Moving Water. A leaf caught on a rock in the midst of a stream can be the raw ingredients of an evocative image of calm and peace. Slow moving streams where the water is clear work better than rapid white water and slower shutter speeds work best.

To create the soft sense of flowing water, use a shutter speed no faster than 1/8 sec. Waterfalls should be shot at slow shutter speeds (minimum 1/30 sec.) to create "dreamy" lacy effects. Conversely, fast shutter speeds stop the action and create a sense of power (1/250 sec. or 1/500th sec). Avoid shutter speeds in between (1/60 to 1/125) that will result in "milky" looking scenes.

6) Sun-stars. Subject in strong silhouette may be enhanced with a sun "diamond" sparkling at some advantageous point. Stop down to f16 and include just a bit of the sun peeking around an edge of your subject, you will be rewarded with a dramatic picture. Shoot on a manual setting and use a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of your film speed. (e.g., ISO 100 film = 1/125 shutter speed)

7) Multiple Exposures. Some cameras have a feature allowing you to program the camera for two or more exposures on the same piece of film. Older cameras may require that you hold in the film rewind button and knob at the same time that you advance the shutter.

Because you are exposing the same piece of film more than once, you must adjust your settings for proper exposure. Changing the ISO setting on your camera is the easiest way to do this. Assuming 100 ISO film, change the camera's setting to 200 ISO for a double exposure, 300 for 3, 400 for 4 and on and on up to 1600 ISO for 16 exposures.
Warning: Don't forget to reset your ISO after your multiple exposure!

8) Deliberately Slow Shutter Speeds. Turn impossible crowds, intensely motion oriented scenes and poor lighting into "impressionistic" images by slowing your shutter speed. This works best where there are color and bright spots within your composition for points of interest.

If You Can Imagine It, You Can Photograph It!

No matter where you decide to take your next photographic travel adventure, creating exciting images begins with making it an objective of the trip. Then, take lots of film, get up close and personal with your subject matter, and try some new techniques. You'll be surprised at how satisfying and fun "creative" travel photography can be!