by Don George
Writer’s tip: Using your phone as a camera
Taking photos with your cell phone is no different from using any other type of camera. Apply the same basic principles of approach and composition as you do when you’re using a camera, and in addition:
• Set the phone’s camera resolution to the highest setting.
• Keep the lens clean.
• Shoot in the brightest possible light and avoid low light.
• If you have a flash, use it indoors and outdoors in low light and when your subject is backlit, but remember its range will be around 1m.
• Use the volume buttons to take the photo rather than the screen button, which will help keep the camera steady.
• Fill the frame by moving closer or pinching on-screen to zoom in.
• Keep the phone cool. As the sensor heats up the noise increases, making for inferior-quality photos.
• Transfer the images to a computer and edit them using image-editing software in exactly the same way as your camera photos. You’ll be amazed at how good some of the pictures can look.
Practice as much as possible with different compositions, equipment and light conditions
© PMatteo Colombo / Getty Images
Practice, practice, practice
Once you’ve got the technical stuff sorted, can work efficiently with your gear and can see the light; practice. You can photograph most of the subjects you’ll encounter while traveling in any town or city in the world, including your own.
Planning and executing a shoot of your own city is a great way to practice your research skills, test your camera equipment, perfect your technique, develop your eye and get a feel for changing light. Buy a guidebook, check out the postcards and souvenir books, and draw up a shot list. Treat the exercise exactly as you would if you were away from home. You’ll quickly get an insight into just how much walking you can expect to do, how many locations and subjects you can expect to photograph in a day, and how manageable your equipment is.
You can then use this knowledge to plan your trips away from home a little more accurately to meet your goals. As a bonus, you’ll be rewarded with a fresh insight into your home town. You’re sure to see it in a different light and to discover subjects and places you didn’t know about.
A little research and planning may enable you to capture special events in your destination
© outcast85 / Getty Images
Research and plan
Research and planning go a long way to getting you to the right place at the right time more often than not. The more time you have, the more opportunities you give yourself to photograph subjects in the best light. Photographers demand more time in a place than the average camera-toting tourist – sometimes just a few extra minutes can make all the difference. The sun may come out or go in, the right person may stop and stand in just the right place, the rubbish-collection truck parked in front of the city’s most beautiful building may move on, the people buying fruit may hand over their money. If you have days rather than minutes, you can look for new angles of well-known subjects, visit places at different times of the day, shoot in a variety of great light, and get better coverage.
Check out the dates of special events such as festivals, public holidays and weekly markets. The spectacle, color and crowds that are the hallmarks of these special days provide so many great photo opportunities that it’s worth planning your trip around them.
For the most productive and enjoyable time, ensure you have an understanding of the size and layout of the city, or general area in the case of nature-based destinations, and the locations of the key sights and activities. Stay in the most central location you can (and book a room with a view). Accommodation may be cheaper on the edge of town but you’ll have to spend more money on taxis, walk further, get up earlier and carry around extra bits of gear (such as a tripod) when you don’t need them.
Use the aperture to ensure the exposure on your finished image is correct
© Matt Munro / Lonely Planet
Shoot raw files
If you want to get the very best results from your digital camera, capture your images using the raw file format, an option available on advanced compacts and DSLR cameras. Often described as a digital negative, it’s the format preferred by professional photographers.
Raw files are not processed by the camera’s software, which compresses the data and makes adjustments that are permanently embedded in the image file. Instead, raw files are compressed using a lossless process, so they retain all the information originally captured, but are saved to the memory card quickly. Adjustments such as white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness are made by the photographer after the image has been downloaded to a computer. Creative decisions can then be tailored to each image using the much greater functionality of image-editing software.
It requires patience and commitment to capture a perfect moment
© Alan Crossland / Getty Images
Be patient
So much time creating good pictures is spent not actually taking pictures but incessantly looking, either on the move or standing around; watching, waiting. Very few really good photographs are the result of random, machine-gun-fire technique or accidently being in the right place at the right time. Moreover, if you’re out and about you create the opportunity to come across fleeting moments. You will not get those ‘lucky’ pictures from your hotel room or barstool.
When you do find a great location and the light is just right – but an element beyond your control is needed to make the picture, such as a child in a red jacket running into frame – you’ll have to balance the competing desires of trying to see everything and patiently waiting for the perfect moment to create interesting pictures. If possible wait; be patient; commit to the image. Whether it’s a matter of seconds for an action to occur, a couple of hours for the weather to change or revisiting a location at the best time of day, the quality of your images will improve dramatically. Commitment to the image is a key professional trait; it keeps photographers out there way beyond the time needed to simply visit a place.
If possible, seek the permission of your subjects when photographing strangers
© Niels Busch / Getty Images
Talk to strangers
Some photographers ask before shooting strangers, others don’t. It’s a personal decision, often decided on a case-by-case basis. Asking permission allows you to use the ideal lens, get close enough to fill the frame, and it provides the opportunity to take several shots, as well as to communicate with your subject if necessary. It also means you know you’re not photographing someone against their wishes.
How you approach people will affect the outcome of your request for a photo. Simply smiling and holding your camera up is usually sufficient to get your intention across. You may choose to learn the phrase for asking permission in the local language, but it can be less effective than sign language (especially when you have to repeat the sentence 10 times to make yourself understood). Approach the person with confidence and a smile. When you get the go-ahead, shoot quickly, which will increase the possibility of capturing more spontaneous and natural images.
A good way to get started is to photograph people who provide goods or services to you. After a rickshaw ride or buying something from a market stall ask the person if you can take their photo. Very rarely will they refuse.
A higher ISO setting will increase sensitivity to light in darker conditions
© Matt Munro / Lonely Planet
Adjust your exposure
Correct exposure means the sensor is exposed to just the right amount of light to record the intensity of color and details in the scene that attracted you to take the photo in the first place. Too much light and the image is overexposed and will appear too light. Not enough light and you have underexposure and the image is too dark. A good exposure is achieved through a combination of the sensor’s ISO rating, the aperture setting and shutter speed:
• ISO
– image sensors are light sensitive and the ISO rating is the foundation on which the variable settings of shutter speed and aperture are based. As the ISO setting is increased, the sensor becomes more sensitive to light.
• Shutter speed is the amount of time that the camera’s shutter remains open to allow light on to the sensor. Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and fractions of seconds.
• Aperture is the lens opening that lets light into the camera body. The aperture is variable in size and is measured in f-stops.
These elements are known as the exposure triangle and an understanding of how they interact with each other, and the ability to quickly assess the best combination required for a specific result, is fundamental to creative photography. By varying these three elements of the exposure triangle the same scene can be portrayed quite differently.
Look for detail that can bring colour and texture to your photography
© Audrey Smithson / Getty Images
Highlight your subject
The very first thing to consider is the subject – what is it and why are you taking a photo of it? Successful images have a point of interest: the key element around which the composition is based and that draws and holds the viewer’s attention. It’s probably the thing that caught your eye in the first place.
• Always focus on the point of interest. If something else is the sharpest part of the composition, the viewer’s eye will rest in the wrong place.
• Aim to place the point of interest away from the center of the frame because centering the subject often makes for a static composition.
• Avoid including other elements that conflict with the main subject. Look at the space around and behind your subject and make sure nothing overpowers it in color, shape or size.
If a particular image is crucial to your story, take both portrait and landscape photos of it
© Perfect Lazybones / Getty Images
Follow the rule of thirds
As you look through your viewfinder or study the LCD screen, imagine two vertical and two horizontal lines spaced evenly, creating a grid of nine rectangular boxes. Try placing the point of interest, or other important elements, on or near the points where the lines intersect.
If you’re taking a portrait, the subject is the person’s face and the point of interest would be his or her eyes. In a landscape the point of interest may be a boat floating on a lake; place the boat on one of the intersections and also position the horizon near one of the horizontal lines.
One of the traps with the rule of thirds for autofocus cameras is that if the subject is not in the middle of the frame, it may not be in focus because the autofocus sensor is usually in the middle of the viewfinder. However, most compact and all DSLR cameras have a focus-lock facility, which you should be confident using. This facility allows you to produce more creative and technically better pictures by locking the focus on the main subject then recomposing without the camera automatically refocusing.
The rule of thirds is a principle that will help you take balanced, interesting images
© Samuel Borges Photography / Getty Images
Learn to use editing software
Shooting raw files requires a considerable amount of post-capture computer time and more than a basic understanding of image-editing software. Raw files must be processed or converted before they can be opened in photo-editing programs. Cameras with raw file capture are sold with proprietary software for that purpose. Alternatively, you can use a third-party specialist raw-conversion program or most typically one that is included in your image-editing software.
As with image capture, you can use automated features to make the process quicker, but to obtain the absolute best results and produce digital files and prints that maximize the capabilities of your camera take the time to learn how to use the powerful tools in your software. Your investment in time, software and computer equipment will be rewarded with the ability to bring your images to life and to have total control over how they look.
A slow shutter speed (used with a tripod) will bring an ethereal blur to waterfalls
© Francesco Riccardo Iacomino / Getty Images
Be your own critic
With more pictures being taken and seen than ever before (that’s more pictures, not better pictures!), it’s important to take some time to critique your own photos in an objective way. This is not easy. We’re all emotionally attached to images we take, but if you want your pictures to stand out, a disciplined assessment of them will give them the best chance of catching people’s attention and being appreciated.
The assessment and selection process is an excellent time for reflection and self-teaching. Your best pictures and worst failures will stand out clearly. Study them to see what you did wrong and what you did right. Look for patterns. Are all your best pictures taken on a tripod? Are all the out-of-focus frames taken with the zoom at its maximum focal length? Next time you can eliminate the causes of your failures and concentrate on the things that worked. Your percentage of acceptable pictures will start to rise. It’s better still if you can complement your own assessment with the views of someone you respect and trust to give honest, constructive feedback. Note that this will very rarely be your family and friends. Self-critiquing is an important and never-ending process in the life of a photographer.
Here’s a handy guide to get you started and help you along the way: a collection of valuable resources online and in the USA, UK and Australia including publications, reference tools, courses, organizations and much more.
Online resources
Writing opportunities
Please bear in mind that some of these publications don’t pay for stories, and most of the ones that do pay very little. In most cases you can find pitching or contributor guidelines and information about rates in the ‘About us’ section of their website.
About.com
www.about.com/travel
About.com uses freelance writers for its travel content. See ‘Write for About’ to find out which destinations they’re seeking experts for.
Atlas Obscura
www.atlasobscura.com
Atlas Obscura are looking for surprising and unexpected stories, particularly about history, science, weird news, culture, and exploration. Find their editorial calendar online to help with crafting your pitch.
BBC Travel
www.bbc.com/travel
The travel feature section within BBC.com (only accessible outside the UK) commissions stories that have a new or unexpected angle and a strong, context-heavy narrative – and they pay well above the standard online rates.
BootsnAll
www.bootsnall.com
Billed as the ‘ultimate resource for the independent traveller’, and offering booking information, discussion groups, travel guides and traveller’s resources. They accept story submissions and publish travel articles.
BudgetTravel.com
www.budgettravel.com
A resource for the budget-conscious traveler with tips and tools focused on making every destination more accessible – make sure your pitches are strongly budget-focused.
International Living
internationalliving.com
The idea behind this site is that in the right places overseas, you can live better, for less. Although targeted at retirees, they seek personal stories from anyone (not necessarily professional writers) making a living overseas or while traveling. There are also opportunities to write for their Fund Your Life Overseas and Incomes Abroad newsletters.
Matador Network
matadornetwork.com
An online travel publisher with a global network of contributors: editors, writers, photographers, and film-makers; contributions invited.
Nowhere
nowheremag.com
A literary travel magazine publishing narrative with a strong sense of place, character or time; traditional features as well as travelogues, journal excerpts, profiles, conversations, reviews, video and audio. They also
run writing contests each fall and spring.
Outpost Magazine
www.outpostmagazine.com
A Canada-based website with an adventure spin, publishing longform travel journalism and comprehensive travel guides to little-seen destinations around the world.
Perceptive Travel
www.perceptivetravel.com
Online travel magazine publishing quality writing aimed at independent travelers; they only accept submissions from authors with books in print.
Roads & Kingdoms
roadsandkingdoms.com
An award-winning online magazine with an investigative journalism spin on the traditional travel story. Pitch if you have an unusual angle or you can go deep on a specific issue; make sure you read the site to understand what they’re looking for.