WfE - Easy Travel Photography Guide

If you can illustrate your travel article you gain in two ways. First, your product is more attractive thus more easily sold and second, you earn money for the text and the photographs!

The good news is that photography requres the same basic skills that you already employ as a successful travel writer.

Travel writing requires research, observation and creativity. Prior research of a subject, observation while on site and a creative way of communicating this information to a given audience are the elements of a saleable article.

Research - As you research your subject take mental notes as to what type of photos would best suit your article; spectacular seascapes, portraits of young children in regional dress or a green-clad soldier carrying a semi-automatic rifle. To a certain degree you will be able to imagine what type of pictures would change your text from vivid to tangible.

Observation - Once on site, take time to observe how you observe. Why did you decide that this beach was to be included in your article? What unique twist did the town parade take that made it noteworthy? What tensions in a region led you to cover this story?

You know how to describe these elements in text. Now, how can you enhance your text with an image?

Creativity - A photograph should describe the same thing that your text will describe. The litmus test is to look at the photograph and put into words what you see and feel based on the photograph alone. Does it communicate the same feeling as your text?

Continuing with our examples, few or no people will be in a photograph of a pristine, isolated beach. A spontaneous dance during the town parade will show excited faces and communicate movement. A soldier will be on alert and nervous if tensions are high in a war zone...not in a relaxed position.

Visualization is the most valuable tool that a photographer has. Some people naturally visualize well. Others need some practice. Start with these three steps. Take time to critique the "voice" of your photo. What does it say? Could it have expressed the situation better?

Subsequent chapters of this guide will show how to get the most out of the camera that you have. The objective is to train your eye to be as mighty as your pen (or keyboard). There will be no discussion of filters, film speed or other, specialized equipment. So whether you have a sophisticated SLR, a point & snap or a digital camera, this guide will help you create images that sell your travel article.

Time of Day

Travel and event schedule permitting, use lighting to achieve photos with an impact. What are the best times of day for great lighting? In the morning and in the afternoon. What if an event is scheduled mid-day or it is raining? I will offer some solutions to take a saleable photo under these conditions too!

Enhancing Light

The best time of day to take your photos is generally in the morning or in the late afternoon. These times provide a type of soft, golden lighting that makes you "oh and ah" when looking at a green field in springtime. This lighting almost always favors your subject be it a person, a building or a landscape. The only big danger to using this type of lighting is shadows.

If you have the good fortune to be at a destination for various days take note of what point in the east and the west the sun rises and sets. Keep this in mind as you travel throughout the day. If there is one spectacular shot that lacks 'umph' at mid-day, decide if it would receive more light by morning or by evening and return at that time to take that shot.

You can also plan to take that side trip so as to coincide with the most favorable lighting if you know the orientation of the subject in advance. Go in the morning, take your photos and, then, just enjoy the outing or, the reverse, visit it during the afternoon and take your snaps at the end, when the sun's rays have gotten long & golden.

Shadow watching

But keep shadows in mind when shooting at these times of day as they can detract from a photo. The presence of a shadow is not automatically negative but take a moment before you snap the photo to study it. Is half the subject is in the shade? Does it detract from the image? If not go ahead and take that picture.

If the subject is in the shade and you absolutely need an image of it at that time, try finding an element of the subject that is completely in the shade, zoom in and use your flash to provide the lighting for your subject. This works only at close range (yards) but is often times successful even with the most modest of flashes and zooms.

As you practice shadow-watching, you will see that some shadows actually create images that can be the subject of a photo. For example, the shadow of a palm tree on the white-washed surface of a Mediterranean edifice can create a more spectacular image than a photo of a building with a palm tree in front of it.

Mid-day Sun

Mid-day lighting, especially during the summer, dulls colors considerably. If you find yourself in a city center, you can use the flash-in-the-shade trick quite successfully as the buildings create shadows late in the morning and early in the afternoon.

But if you find yourself without shadows, reflect the scorching heat of mid-day. Zoom in on an sweaty, tattooed arm or that tourist cooling himself in the public fountain. Another option is to squat down and shoot upward using the widest angle your camera has (i.e., zoom out). Still pick an image that communicates heat such as a local fisherman walking down the street, ice cream cone in hand.

Rain

The only greater challenge for your photo than the mid-day sun is the rain. Not only do you have to consider how to keep your camera dry but you must figure out how to get a good photo. The most dramatic solution is to find one bright object among all the gray objects; a brightly costumed dancer standing under an awning to avoid the downpour or an orange beach umbrella left behind on a wet, deserted beach. Take your shots and then wait...

The Positive Side of Rain; It Stops

In a storm, stay around until the end as provides one of the dramatic lighting conditions. When the rain trickles to almost nothing and the sun peaks out from behind the clouds, it is time to start studying the subjects these few rays light up. Discard subjects with unacceptable shadows and focus in on the ones that are fully lit and have dark storm clouds in the background . Unless the subject itself is dark, the contrast of your photo will be high and the subject beautifully lit. You have just taken a photo for the front cover of a publication.

Framing of the Object

After having practiced the illumination of the subject, let’s talk a bit about the placement of the subject in your picture. Both lighting and placement rely heavily on your ability to observe and create. Observation is your best weapon if you want to improve your photography and make that sale.
In this chapter, we will focus on placing people in a photo for the best result. The concepts will apply to all your subjects but I choose people for its difficulty. I rarely see good photos of people in travel magazines when all you have to remember is:
- Tell a story
- Always shoot at their head level
- Leave space in front of the face
I suppose that a lot of it is the fault of our extended family...what with all those snapshots of Aunt Edna, Cousin Lilly and Grandpa Jed we get used to the subject looking straight at the camera while we yell "smile". So we are at a loss when we have to compose a picture with a person in it.
Let’s go to an (imaginary) backgammon championship held on a Mediterranean island. The final game will probably be disputed outside in a rustic setting and the contenders will likely be older, their faces marked by character. As you know, this is not the best time to yell "smile" but rather to capture the power of the moment on film. How? I would recommend choosing one or the other players as the primary subject. Watch how he moves. Is he most expressive when he rolls the dice or when he contemplates the next move? What story does it tell? Is he losing or winning? Then, position yourself so that your head is at the same level as the subject’s head. You may need to stand up or squat down for this. Then look thru your camera and place your subject to the left or the right of the frame depending on the direction in which he is looking (the objective is to leave space in the direction he is looking).
While waiting for the right moment to take the photo pause to consider the lighting. Unless they are playing in the late afternoon, they have probably found a shady spot to play in which case you may need to use your flash.
Let’s apply these concepts to another situation. A fisherman mending his net at the port has two, clear shots both of which can be meaningful. One, is to focus in on the movement of the hands doing the mending and the other is the fisherman with his net. Both will probably require that you squat or lie on your stomach to be at the same head height (or hand height in the first case). Which shot you take will depend more on what text you will be illustrating with this photo. If you are undecided as to the story you will be telling, take both pictures and decide later.
Once you have practiced these concepts with subjects that are relatively still, you can apply them to people who are moving...a dancer in a parade or a farmer passing by on a donkey-drawn cart. I propose this as a more advanced challenge as all the aforementioned decisions must be taken more quickly with little time to observe. To compensate, it is a good idea to try to take several shots of the same subject and choose the best shot from the series.
For all subjects, there is a concept called the Rule of Thirds which is a simple cheat sheet for placement of any subject, be it a person, scenery or a pair of shoes. Take any old photo that you have, a ruler and a pen and draw two vertical lines that divide the photo into thirds from left to right (example below). Then draw two horizontal lines, dividing the picture from top to bottom into thirds again.

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Now, if you are taking a picture of a Scottish lake (loc) with a mountain (ben) in the background, you should place the horizon so that it follows one of the two horizontal lines. Since, there is a mountain in the photo, you will probably need to align it with the bottom line so as to leave space for the mountain.
With people, you will probably place their head and torso along one of the two vertical lines. Which one will depend on which way they are facing. But if you take a shot of the fisherman and his net, place the person on one of the vertical lines and the net on the bottom, horizontal line.
Remember that these concepts are nothing more than guides. Use them when you can but if your heart tells you to take the shot another way, do it. You can compare the results later and decide which photo communicates what you need to say. And if something unexpected happens and there is no time to observe and compose, for heaven’s sake take that photo quickly! The photo can be cropped (cut) afterward to help with the composition but if the event was unique enough, that photo will sell itself.

Cut Off the Edges!

I recently saw a press release made by a union about a wage protest. The text of it led me to understand that people had appeared in masses and that there was popular support for the union cause. However, the photos that accompanied it showed another story. Yes, there was a protest but the photos clearly demonstrated that the attendance was less than massive. It did not illustrate the text but rather had the opposite effect, it proved that the text was a lie.

This example goes to show that the wrong illustration can confuse the reader and lead her to the conclusion that the writer is not to be trusted. One photo has ruined the credibility of the entire article.

The photo showed a small, core group in the center of the image. To the left and the right of center, the group grew more and more disperse. At the edges of the image, no people appear at all. The reader does not see a massive protest, she can only SEE that 30 people showed up! I am not condoning exaggeration but the photographer should have used a simple remedy...cut off the edges!

The photographer needed to get closer or zoom in on the core group. The edges of the image would still show people shoulder to shoulder chanting with protest signs in hand. Now, the reader does not read and see opposite messages. The photo becomes a much more impactful vehicle that compliments the text.

This concept can apply to any subject and it communicates endlessness. Take for instance the famous photos of Flander’s field in France. To illustrate the high price in lives, the photographer has captured row after row of tombstones on film. Leading the reader to conclude that there was a massive loss of life. This does reflect reality.

If you are in India and want to depict the heavy traffic of some of the biggest cities, an shot of a long line of vehicles stopped along a local highway would communicate the transportation problems inherent to these cities. Don’t let the line of cars dwindle off the page, but rather pick a point, like a curve in the road or a series of larger vehicles to end your photo.

An easy visual example is this basket full of wooden toys. The photo on the left shows us that there are a limited number of these toys in a defined space. Now, imagine that you want to communicate many toys...you would use the image on the right as it is infinite in concept and more visually enticing.

HINT: If there is space between the subjects, back up and zoom in. The zoom lens always compacts objects giving the sensation of them being closer together.

Scenic vs. detail

When you create an article about a place, you want to be able to communicate with both words and photographs; the latter complementing the former or visa versa. And when trying to communicate glorious sunrises over Naples or warmth in a Andalusian kitchen in mid-winter should you try to capture the whole scene or just a part of it?

Most of the answer lies in the feeling you are trying to recreate with the photo. Observe how the subject in question makes you feel and why. Then, create an image with your answer.

A sunrise in Naples while having coffee in a coffee shop on a bustling street produces a different feeling from having coffee on your own balcony in Naples still dressed in your pajamas. The coffee shop sunrise produces feelings charged with energy and effervescence. The balcony coffee; peace and tranquility. What image can be photgraphed could relate these different feelings?

Energy and efferverscence could be depicted by a wide angle shot of passers-by hurrying to work or by zooming in on a coffee-drinker reading a copy of the Wall Street Journal. Peace and tranquility could be a close-up of a man savoring the smell of good European coffee or a wide angle shot sipping the coffee from a lounge chair in the foreground with a spectacular view in the background.

Are you with a family in that warm Andalusian kitchen getting ready to eat warm stew or are you entering it in the morning with a load of firewood in your arms for the señora? The former is a feeling of belonging and being satisfied after a good meal. The latter a sense of renewal, beginning and expectation (of breakfast, maybe!).

Using a wide angle you can take a picture of the entire kitchen with the warm glow of the fire gently illuminating the family gathered around the table. Since the lighting is low, this shot would require a professional camera with good lenses. If this is not possible, focus on the hearth where the pot of stew hangs. This shot will depend heavily on shadows, be careful of the picture it draws. Now, the whole hearth with steam rising from the pot or a shot of the señora leaning over the pot tasting the stew from a wooden spoon? The answer is, "what is your article focusing on?". Cozy retreats for skiers or a Food and Travel magazine?

Observe the surroundings and find the images that match the mood of your words. Communicating the mood of your article is a sure fire recipe for a first class article.

Two Essential Filters For Any Camera

I remember the first digital camara, a Sony Mavica, and my first staff photography stint for a local newspaper in Madrid. Since the photos were to be published in black and white, I attempted to use my red, green and blue filters while shooting in BW mode. The end result was a flat photo. My experience taught me to shoot in color and to use the RGB separation of my photo processing software. I concluded then and there that filters were not part of the digital photography world...but I was wrong.

While there are instances that the filter does not bring the desired results, there are others in which they are essential...especially if you are shooting in color. My recent trip to Africa where the sun is always directly overhead and the shadows in sharp contrast, led me to use a warm-tone filter (Cokin P.028) to take the blue out of the elements in the shadows and to combat the harsh light that plagued me even in the morning and afternoon hours. A polarizing filter was also essential to give some umph to the photos to deepen the tone of the sky or green-up the grass.

Your camera lens may or may not be designed for screw on filters. If it is not, you can buy the square Cokin filters and simply hold them in front of your lens when shooting the photo...just be careful that your fingers don't get in the way!

Every Picture Tells A Story

The image that you capture with your camera can be the basis of your article instead of the other way around. Long before you have conscientiously decided the focus of your article, your eye may have already captured the most interesting aspect of your destination.

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Senegal is a coastal country and I expected to find many people working in this industry during my visit. I was correct and happily suprised to see that fishing was basically a village-based industry and not in the hands of a rich few. The coast of the country is lined with brightly painted wooden boats as the ones seen in these pictures.

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Here is a story of many families in Senegal. A story of five strong men who take the boat out into the ocean for days on end, who feed their families fresh fish, who make and maintain fishing nets, repair motors and buy fishing rods to bring home their family's sustenance. Your camera has just found the focus for your article.

writingfromeurope@hotmail.com

Contents

Sell more articles with your photos.

Introduction

Composition:

Cut off the edges!

Depth of Field

Every Picture Tells A Story

Framing of the Object

Scenic vs. detail

Lighting:

Time of day

Shooting against the light

Shooting in the shade

Two Essential Filters

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