Holiday time...
Well, even if we can’t go anywhere exotic with warm sunshine guaranteed, it’s nice to think about. Some of us might get away and some will stay in Ireland but these tips will help everyone.
Even if you’re not planning to do any photography, learning about the area you are traveling to will be a great benefit and save a lot of wasted journeys. We find the travel books such as ‘ Lonely Planet’ a wonderful knowledge base of places to visit and make a brief list of the sights and towns we want to see. This doesn’t have to be a military task, it just helps guide you through your holiday and if you miss a few, there is always next year!! The phrase books available also offer some useful information about etiquette and what to wear with useful phrases to assist with your holiday.
Aim for a plan that keeps you on track with places to visit, but is also flexible enough to allow you to enjoy the experience. YouTube also offers an encyclopaedia of videos showing other peoples’ experiences and visions. Plan your time to visit these special areas. There is nothing worse than arriving at your special town, village or sight and finding you have to queue for two hours in the blazing sun and then battle with other sightseers to get your pictures.
Photography and tourism websites will also give you information on the best time and what to expect when you visit.
So, next thing, are you going on a photography holiday or a family holiday taking pictures? Being a photographer I tend to go for the latter where family comes first and then image making. I’m lucky that my wife likes taking pictures too but that is not the case with all families. Try and get that balance and include your family in the making of the images. Make it fun for everyone.
There are a lot of good reasons for waking up early for holiday photography. This is your holiday, so get the balance right so you don’t need a holiday after your holiday! Here are the reasons you’ll be up at the crack of dawn for the best holiday photography.
Sunrise – We have discussed the ‘golden hour’ in a couple of my previous articles. There are some locations that are best photographed at sunrise. You’ll probably need to wake up at least an hour before sunrise, and it is best to plan where you’ll make your photographs from. Check the weather forecast!! From our experience early morning also offers a better view of local life. People are still working even though we are on holidays.
One setting we really like is the setting up of local markets, the traders arriving, locals getting their veg and meats for the day. The sights and sounds of a working village or town. An ideal time for some ‘street photography’. There is nothing worse than photographing other tourists in your holiday images. For this I would normally use a medium focal length lens, probably a 24-70mm, not too big for a couple of reasons. One, you don’t want to be lugging around heavy equipment in the heat and two, you have a better chance of getting that perfect picture if people aren’t aware you are there. You’ll be able to join your family after your early morning adventure, having made some amazing images while they were still asleep.
Apart from water and sun cream what photography equipment should go in your bag? I tend to bring a small camera body but good quality such as the smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras. This is a really good option but remember it is not speed, as in number of frames you are looking for but quality. I am not a great lover of mirrorless cameras, for news and sport but for holidays they are the right man for the job.
The lenses I would bring would definitely include a wide angle lens. This is an ideal choice for many genres of photography such as images of your family in front of famous locations, landscape photos and interiors. These all require a good quality wide angle lens. The quicker the lens (as in the wider the f stop, f2.8 for example) the better. This means you can still take interior images without the use of flash.
Your kit lens is fine but limited for letting in a lot of light. It will struggle in low light areas. A good option also is a standard lens (50mm prime). This means it is not a zoom lens but has a wide aperture, normally f 2.8 and is relatively inexpensive to buy. Something around €100-150.
For your night time images and landscapes a tripod is essential. Not a very large one, one just big enough to support your camera such as a ‘Gorilla’ pod. For landscapes I tend to use a graduated neutral density filter. This darkens the sky which is usually 2-3 stops brighter than the foreground and adds another level of detail to your landscape images. I’ll discuss some of these next week.
You could bring a flash and remotes if you have researched some areas that require them but I tend to shoot mainly without flash thus lightening the weight in my camera bag. Things I would suggest are: spare batteries, charger, SD cards and some form of backup just in case your camera’s SD or CF card fails.
Holiday pictures can result in a few cliched scenes. The most obvious is the small dot (person) standing in front of a tourist attractions (large building), just recording the fact you where there. Think perspective when you are making images like this. The closer you bring your family member to the camera the bigger they get and become the ‘subject’ of the picture rather than the building. Try and incorporate some of the compositional techniques we have already discussed in earlier tips pages such as rule of thirds, framing with trees, leading lines, textures and colours and of course watch your focus!
The majority of people will shoot both portrait photography and landscape photography on their holiday. Look at the images at the end of the first day and see what type of images are more prominent. Remember you’ll want to get a good mix. Don’t forget about candid images, the ones that will make you laugh and remember the good times years down the road.
When you return home don’t forget to back up the images in case your card fails and try selecting the best ones and printing them or even make a photo book about your visit.
‘ Til next week, enjoy your camera and keep safe.