Vacation photography is an incredibly important type of photography.
We all want to document where we go and what we see.
Here’s a few tips to help you the next time you pack up the family for a day trip or for the vacation of a lifetime!
1) Include people doing something next to or around the iconic place you visit. So many people photograph their family mugging the camera in front of the Grand Canyon, The Statue of Liberty etc. That’s okay, but for an image that will knock people’s socks off, try an image that shows off the neat icon with folks looking at it or enjoying it. For example, in this image of Air Force One at the Reagan Library, I waited till a few folks were admiring and taking a photo of this famous airplane.

2) Silhouettes make iconic and interesting images. This next photo is a line of people waiting to go inside the airplane. Yes, a line of people. Not too interesting, but turn those folks into silhouettes and instantly I have an iconic image that is interesting and eye-cathching. This situation was made for silhouettes with the large glass wall that the line was near, I just put the window behind the crowd and started shooting.

3) Use people for context. Place people in the frame to show how large or small something is. Scale.
In the last image, there is a painting of the various planes that presidents have utilized. It was very large and long. I included a lone figure at the very end that showed scale and size.
Going on vacation is a needed break from work and the drudgery of everyday life, but don’t leave your photo sense at home.
Think and you’ll be rewarded with great vacation photos.
Be inspired!

Visual complexity, especially in travel photography is a must.
Without it, images are static and contain little visual interest.
Here’s the same image without the human figure.

See how the figure adds visual complexity?
Adding a slow shutter speed lets the figure become an iconic, “every man,” in the frame.
Without the figure there’s no humanity or context to the image.
It creates complexity, mystery and intrigue. All this because of a slow shutter speed and a random passerby.
Utilize this technique to make your images more visually complex and interesting.
Be inspired!

Congratulations to William and Kate!
I had to go back through my files and look for all things British.
So, here’s my shout out to the royals, may they live happily ever after!

St. Brides, which is also known as the journalist’s church, is located right off Fleet Street.
The famous street where all the newspapers were located.
Have you ever wondered how the tiered wedding cake came about? Look no further than the distinctive spire of St Brides just off Fleet Street. An 18th century baker William rich used the three tired spire as inspiration in a range of wedding cakes and it has became the standard ever since.

Cheers again to the newlyweds!

This statue of Queen Anne, standing outside the west front of St. Paul’s Cathedral, depicts the ruling monarch at the time of the Cathedral’s compleition in 1710. It is an 1886 replica by Richard Belt which replaced the original dilapidated version sculpted by Francis Bird in 1712. The ladies around the base of the statue represent England, France, Ireland and North America, all of whom Anne considered herself to be queen of. I thought since Kate will probably end up becoming the Queen at some point during her life, this would be very appropriate.

Finally, there’s nothing like a British Guards to help us have a feeling for everything English.
My well wishes to the happy couple, may their lives really be a fairy tale.
Be inspired!

Here’s another photo from my recent trip to Yosemite. My son wanted to climb up this crack in the rocks. I wanted to capture him as he was working hard to climb up this mini chimney type crack. He was starting to get older and was coming into his own on this trip. He is the youngest of our three kids and this trip was an opportunity for him to be alone with mom and dad. To be spoiled. It was fun just taking a lot of images of him doing nothing and everything.

Let’s look at this image with strong composition in mind. As you can see, I placed him in the upper right area of convergence. This causes our viewer’s eyes to be lead up the crack between the two rocks, right to the boy. The crack is the right vertical third of our tic tac toe grid.

Here’s another version.

In this image, I placed the subject in the center of the image. Now some of you are thinking, “Hey, that’s not a bad image. I’m confused.” That isn’t a bad or wrong thought. But, just like sports, you need to learn the fundamentals/rules before you head out on your own.

Too many photographers start without having a strong foundation and in the end, that weakens their overall ability.

Learn the foundations of photography and then start breaking rules to make interesting and different images.

Okay, let’s look back at our first image and how much more interesting this image becomes with strong composition.

The second image is interesting, but I think it would be stronger with better composition.

In this version, I placed the subject in the lower right area of convergence. It strengthens the composition and causes the crack to be placed in the right vertical of the grid. The light at the top of the crack also leads the viewer’s eyes from the subject to the top of the frame and then back to the boy.

In the previous frame, the crack remains in the center without much movement for the viewer’s eyes.

Composition can take your photography and photos to new levels.

Images that people will want to look at.

Be inspired!

Hi again. Today we have Travel photography tips. Round two.

Here is our first example of using scale to give context to your photos. Specifically, your travel photos and using the relative size of something to visually compare or enhance a primary or secondary subject. What?

Let’s look at our first image. This is one of the giant Sequoias in California and my daughter.

I wanted to show how huge this tree was so I asked her to just stand next to the trunk, she’s even holding my second camera. I used a wide angle lens to show as much of the tree as possible and contrast the size of my daughter and the tree.

Get it?

In the next example, Half Dome is spectacular and huge thunder clouds that rolled in in the afternoon. I decided to zoom out and show the hugeness of the clouds compared the size of Half Dome. Now Half Dome is a very large piece of granite, you can image how big the cloud in this image is.

I zoomed out as far as I could and placed Half Dome in the lower right area of convergence.

The result is an image that shows the immenseness of the cloud and the beauty that is Yosemite in a slightly different perspective.

My final photo for today is also at Yosemite. Bridal Falls is the waterfall in the famous Ansel Adams photograph of the Yosemite Valley. It is an incredibly tall waterfall.

My son climbed to the bottom of the falls and is so far away that you can barely see him. If you can’t find him he’s in the lower right area of convergence.

It’s a great example of contrasting subject size to show how large the falls are.

Let’s recap: In taking images for Travel photography tips you can use a technique for contrasting subject size. So, consider putting this tip in your bag of tricks. Enjoy.

Today I want to look at a few images from a trip to Paris. Let us study some digital photography tips about travel photography.

When you go to a different place, your senses are heightened and you are aware of the smallest details. Details you might normally overlook.

One of my list of things to do in my life, was to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Thanks to my good friend, Travel Editor at the Orange County Register, Gary Warner, my first trip was a quick 18 hour side trip to the city of lights before meeting up for our assignment in London, England. What a great guy!

One of my strongest rules about vacation photography is too shoot now!

Things happen and you might never see or have a chance to photograph something again. So see it and shoot it!

Just because you are visiting the Eiffel Tower, you still need to apply strong photo rules to make a great image.

Please remember the three rules of a great photograph:
1) Composition
2) Lighting
3) The Moment

Remember these and when you are in the fantastic and exotic location, you can make incredible and memorable images to last a lifetime.

Our first image was a very French-looking man who stopped to gaze out one of the windows in the Louvre. Let’s reverse engineer to see how I did:

1. Composition – I placed the gentleman and his beret in the lower right area of convergence, where the lower horizontal and the right vertical meet and the tower of the building in the upper left area of convergence.

2. Lighting – Strong light from outside created a silhouette of anything inside the window. A strong and high contrast image results from this type of lighting.

3. The Moment – The moment captures the essence of the scene or event that you are photographing. For me, the solemness of this museum made me want to capture a reverence that I felt. In the midst of the masterpieces, this man took a break to gather his thoughts before returning to the most incredible museum in the world.

Next, one of my favorite pieces in the Louve.

Cupid and Psyche by Canova.

The story/myth about Cupid and Psyche in a nutshell is about love, jealousy, redemption and loyalty.

Let’s do one more:
1) Composition – The lovers are placed into the lower left area of convergence and the shaft of light helps to lead the eyes of the viewer to the statue. Also, the wings of Cupid and Psyche’s arms make an X on their faces.

2) Lighting – Beautiful sidelight coming from a large window on camera right and the shaft of light add drama and contrast.

3) The Moment – Even though our couple is frozen in their pose, what a romantic pose it is. The summary of their story is shown by Canova and his masterpiece.

When I went to Paris hoping to capture a different view of the Eiffel Tower. My first idea was to shoot the tower from a window. Too expensive for a hotel and I couldn’t find the right angle, maybe next time! My next wish was to try a view from the surrounding neighborhood.

I wandered around and found a street scene complete with cars, trees and an apartment building. I placed the tower in the left vertical third, to add to the imposing height of the tower.

Finally, a nice surprise!

I was on a tour boat on the Seine river and saw the Statue of Liberty! This second Statue of Liberty is near the Grenelle Bridge on the Île des Cygnes, an island in the river Seine.

I composed it so the statue was in the right vertical and the Eiffel Tower could be seen in the left vertical. Lady Liberty’s face is near the upper right area of convergence and the tower is in the lower left area of convergence.

Thank You, France!

Lastly, I just wanted to thank Phototrend.fr for linking my new blog!

Bonjour!