Six ways to shoot… Travel portraits

1 Keep it simple

This sounds obvious, but it’s the most important aspect. Don’t over-complicate your composition: opt for a simple head and shoulders or a threequarter-length portrait rather than worrying about getting the whole person in the frame.

2 Be quick

Don’t rush your approach, but do work efficiently once someone has agreed to let you take their picture. The longer you take, the more uncomfortable they’ll become, and you will lose the spontaneity of the portrait.

3 Shoot wide open

As a rule, wide apertures such as f/2.8 and f/4 are the way to go: they will help diffuse any messy backgrounds and push attention onto the subject first. Make sure you focus on the eyes, though: they must be sharp.

4 Include the environment

A conventional portrait focal length is anything from 50mm to 200mm. Shooting a wider focal length such as 35mm, though, will allow you to include the subject and their environment. This is great for travel portraits of people working, such as in a marketplace or a craft centre.

5 Go off-piste

For more naturallooking images, avoid the tourist hotspots where everyone else goes. These places will either have the ‘professional’ local posers, or simply be full of people fed up with being asked to have their photo taken. The places off the beaten track will allow you to search out more interesting characters, unjaded by a stream of camera-toting tourists.

6 Avoid the cheesy grin

While some people have a natural smile, most don’t. A cheesy grin can look clichéd. Just allow the person you are photographing to be themselves, whether it’s a smile or a grimace that you get. If it’s their choice, it will look less forced and the shot will work better.