How to Take Awesome Pictures on Your Trip
You'll be taking tons of posed shots of yourselves in front of famous landmarks to prove that you're there or simply to document the moment. That's all well and good... I do that too. But I urge you to try to take more artistic photos... ones that will impress yourselves and others. Here are some general tips to keep in mind, whether you're using an SLR or a Point and Shoot or a digital camera. The pictures here are for illustration... not to prove that I'm a great photographer because I'm not... just got serious about photography recently. Actually, looking back at my SAS pictures... I'm disappointed and wish I had known better, had an SLR, and used better film.
Anyway, here are the tips. We'll start with the basic ones.
1. Rule of Thirds
After pressing the shutter release button half way down to lock focus, move your subject off-center. That creates tension in your photograph and makes it more interesting. In photography, they call it the rule of thirds. Imagine a photograph divided into thirds horizontally and vertically by four intersecting lines. You want to place the dominant objects in your picture on those lines. So if you're taking a picture of the sunset, place the horizon either towards the bottom or the top.... never in the middle.
2. Think Foreground, Background
Don't photograph people in front of a blank wall or any flat surface. Re-position them so that there's something interesting in the background... even if it's out of focus. When shooting something that's far away, try including something in the foreground -- a person, an object -- just to create a sense of depth.
3. Frame Your Picture
Istanbul, Turkey
4. Easy on the Zoom
You all have fancy zoom lenses on your cameras that go all the way out to 90, 120, or even 200 and 300. Use those sparingly. Most consumer zoom lenses aren't good enough to give you sharp pictures when zoomed all the way out. And it's hard to hold your camera steady enough to prevent blur. Concentrate on taking pictures of things near you. As Robert Capa said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."
5. Don't be a Fair Weather Photographer
Don't just take pictures when the weather's nice. Get your camera out when the weather's bad. Whatever picture you take, it'll be different from what most people take. This picture from Vietnam is totally out of focus. But I think it captured the mood well.
Cu Chi, Vietnam
6. Take Three
After you take a picture of something you like, take (at least) two more... one with a different composition and one that tries to capture a better expression (of a person) or action. It took me a few tries to get this. (Notice the rule of thirds in this picture too. And don't get any ideas from this picture about renting motos. We were not on SAS. :-)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
7. Be Candid
Try not to take too many posed pictures. They're boring to look at after a while. It's better to capture candid shots... of people/things in action! You'll get a lot of missed shots but film is cheap and the ones you get will be better than any posed shot you get. Candids require patience... a willingness to wait for that "decisive moment." But it's well worth it.
Mother Theresa's Orphanage in Chennai
8. Go Dutch
In photography, "dutching" is turning your camera at an angle to take a picture. There's no reason why it always has to be parallel to the ground. I keep reminding myself to do this but I still forget.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo by Rich Moore.
9. Turn Flash ON During the Day, Turn Flash OFF at Night
That's a bit counter-intuitive but it's one of the best advice out there. During the day, when taking pictures of people, turn the flash on. It'll help lighten some of the shadows but more importantly, it'll add that glimmer (called "catchlight") to their eyes. And eyes are the most important part of a person's face. Why turn the flash off at night? Well, flash-lit pictures tend to be boring. Flash is ok for snapshots of people at a bar maybe but try to make the most of available light. If you turn the flash off on your camera, it'll use a slow shutter speed to let in the light that's there. Often that means a long exposure, in which case you'll want to set your camera down on a hard surface to prevent blur. You can also use the Bulb feature (available on most cameras, even point and shoots) to keep the shutter open for a few seconds, so you can take pictures like this...
Hong Kong Skyline, from pool deck of SSUE
10. You photograph me and I'll photograph you. Deal?
When you're on a trip, ask another SASer to take pictures of you and in turn, you'll take pictures of him/her. If you have similar cameras, you may even want to trade (if you trust the other person with your camera). This way, you can get candid shots of each other "in action." This beats handing your camera to someone after all the good stuff has happened so you can get a token posed shot. Heck, you can even take pictures of each other taking pictures.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
There's a lot more to photography than what I've listed above but the best way to learn is to take lots of pictures and do a lot of experimenting. Again, film is cheap, so snap away!
Miami, last time touching the ship.
If you have your own advice to add to this page, email me.
