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Travel Photography Tips
(4)
D. General
Technique & Composition.
Premeditating a potentially photogenic moment and getting
yourself in the right place, selecting and framing the composition
and exposing correctly are all important in capturing a
successful image.
When faced with a photogenic moment,
don't skimp on film. Various pitfalls, often beyond the
photographer's control, can scupper a potentially stunning
shot. With a changing scene it's also sometimes difficult
to know whether all the elements that have caused you to
raise your camera are going to gel better with time or suddenly
evaporate into normality. That wonderfully balanced &
perfectly framed moment could be rudely interrupted in an
instant so shoot it whilst you can. Taking a sequence of
shots will give you the luxury of being able to select the
best. Remember, that un-noticed split second blink of an
eye can ruin a potentially great shot.
Translating a scene or personal vision
into succesful image demands the skilful use of equipment.
Without mastery over your camera and lenses you will at
times fail to capture the moment.
Practice using your equipment until it becomes second nature.
Spend time using your camera in the manual mode - letting
the camera think for you is fine for most situations but
this will hinder you mastering the technical aspects of
photography. Gradually you will learn how to correctly gauge
exposure and how to put this to your artistic advantage.
Expose for what you want to look right.
Shooting slide / transparency film will also help you hone
your skills as it is not very forgiving if incorrectly exposed.
The results will clearly indicate whether you've got to
grips with things. If the images are too dark, try and ascertain
what you did wrong.
Predominantly white scenes (e.g. snow
scapes) will fool the camera's internal light meter and
lead it to believe that there is actually more light available
than there is - this will result in shooting faster or using
a smaller aperture than actually is required. Conversely,
if the scene has a predominance of black in it, it will
give also the wrong signals to the light meter, advising
the photographer to shoot slower or open the aperture wider,
resulting in an overexposed slide. If the camera were left
to it's own devices in these situations it would result
in incorrectly exposed frames. Furthermore, in aperture
priority mode, your camera will shoot at the speed according
to the available light and the aperture setting. As long
as you're aware as to the speed the camera is shooting at,
this is fine, but if you forget, the shutter might operate
too slowly to capture a sharp image (this is called 'camera
shake', and is also dependent on the length of the lens,
see paragraph below on hand holding a camera).
A telephoto lens has a limited depth
of field - in fact, the longer the lens, the more limited
it becomes. This makes focusing even more crucial, and requires
an understanding of how the aperture setting on the lens
will determine what appears in focus. The smaller the aperture
(larger the f-stop number) the greater the depth of field.
Remember however that there is a trade-offto be considered
- a smaller aperture means that less light is available
to make a correct exposure and a slower shutter speed will
be required to compensate.
Use a wide aperture to induce a narrow depth of field. Controlling
depth of field in this way allows one to eliminate untidy
/ uninteresting backgrounds (or foregrounds) by throwing
them out of focus and leaving the eye to be drawn to the
subject itself (a portrait perhaps.) Remember that the widest
aperture (commonly f1.8 on a standard 50mm lens) may mean
that whilst the subjects eyes are in focus, their ears or
tip of their nose may not be.
Concentrate
on the quality and direction of the light. Taking photographs
when the sun is high in the sky creates huge difficulties
for taking aesthetically appealing images due to sharp differences
between the light and dark areas of a scene. In portraiture
this can result in harsh shadows on the face created by
the brows and nose (or the whole face if the subject is
wearing a hat). Using a flash can help fill-in these dark
areas, but can produce slightly artificial results.
Try and use natural light whenever possible, reflected if
necessary, and search out areas of diffuse light (such as
areas of uniform shade) when photographing people. Shoot
when the sun is low in the sky.
Low light levels will not readily
permit the luxury of being able to use a smaller aperture
- the iris will need to be wide open to ensure that enough
light hits the film. If you're using a longer lens, this
will also require a faster shutter speed so light intensity
is very important, especially with slower films. Using faster
films, tripod or flash can ease these limitations.
Faster lenses can facilitate shooting in lower light but
the problem of a limited, even restrictive depth of field
is exacerbated.
Exactly what a photographer decides
to include in a composition is just as important as what
he/she decides to exclude. Do this by selectively cropping
out the superfluous, untidy elements that fail to make a
significant contribution to the overall composition. If
necessary, move around your subject and shoot from an alternative
perspective. Posts and overhead cables are obvious examples,
but also watch for scraps of rubbish at peoples feet, and
exterior elements that might unwittingly add an appendage
to your subject (saying that, a TV aerial protruding from
someone's head might add a humorous touch to an otherwise
lack lustre image !)
When hand holding, cameras with longer lenses attached are
more prone to camera shake (blurred images through movement
of the camera during exposure) than shorter lenses. Learn
your limitations when hand holding. To guard against such
pitfalls, employ a simple rule. That is, shoot at a speed
that is at least the focal length of your lens. For instance,
for 50mm lenses, shoot at 1/60th second or faster; 85-125mm
- 1/125th; 135-200 - 1/250; 250-400 - 1/500th. A shutter
speed of 1/60th is a safe minimum, but with a steady hand
you should be able to manage 1/30th (or maybe even 1/15th)
with a wide angle or standard (up to 50mm) lens. If you
need to shoot slower, and don't have a tripod, look for
a stable platform to help support the camera. Some cameras
are easier to hand hold than others; the lack of mirrors
in rangefinder cameras, and their use of shorter lenses
makes them less prone to camera shake than SLR's.
Remember that our eyes possess the ability to see far more
contrast in a scene than film. Our eyes can sense up to
a 16-stop range, whilst slide film can record 5, and print
film, 7-stops. Once you understand the implications of this,
you'll know whether a scene will translate into a decent
photograph.
Often, the sky is a lot brighter than
the ground. This presents a dilemma - to expose for the
sky would make the foreground too dark, and vice versa.
Using a graduated neutral density filter can help reduce
the disparity, and can be used to accenuate colour and cloud
formation
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