Travel photography tip 2 ticks another of the boxes – exploring the creative possibilities of your camera in a fascinating new location is about as good as it gets. But great travel photography is about more than hopping on a flight to Havana and snapping old ladies with cigars.
It requires as much skill, preparation and careful technique as any other photographic genre. How do you make your shots of a popular tourist destination stand out from everybody else’s – to be more than pure ‘postcard shots’?
Get the ‘classic’ view in the bag early
There’s nothing wrong with a simple visual reminder that says ‘I was here’, but finding your own personal take could give you greater satisfaction, not to mention some more interesting pictures to look back on. We’d recommend getting the classic/cliché shot out of your system as soon as you arrive at a well-known location, otherwise it can have a tendency to block you from more creative images.
Go the extra mile?
Getting up in the small hours, skipping meals, putting up with extreme temperatures, long-distance trekking – it’s all in a day’s work for the dedicated travel photographer. There will be very few instances when you can simply roll up beside your subject in an air-conditioned taxi and shoot a truly knockout view. As the saying goes, you never get a great shot from the car park!
If you want to capture truly memorable pictures you need to be prepared to pound a few streets. It might be possible to reach a historic landmark quickly on foot, but finding the most impressive view might involve a little more legwork.
Find a new viewpoint?
When confronted with a famous landmark, move around it and look for ways to show it in a different context – such as framing it through an archway or using a slow shutter speed to render moving elements as a blur. A variety of lens focal lengths can be invaluable here.
If the classic shot’s taken with a wide-angle, for example, move further away and switch to a telephoto for a tighter composition – or vice versa. Shoot from a more adventurous viewpoint by lying on the ground or looking for a high vantage point.
