We are taking a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons in a couple of weeks. We've always taken lots of travel photos. We progressed from the old wind ups, to Polaroids, to 35 mm, and now digital. My dear wife still sometimes cuts off the heads of the subjects but thanks to digitals, I don't have nearly as many fingers in the shot.

I just saw a post where TheWeasel said that the best light is morning or evening. That makes perfect sense, but I had never thought about it before.

Then I starting thinking about the number of camera threads here that helped me decide on a digital camera.

So now maybe you great Fodorites could help me learn some ways to take better photos on this upcoming trip.

Now I'm not gonna run out and buy a light meter or anything like that, but what are some little tips that you have learned along the way that might help?

Is there hope of teaching an old dog some new tricks?!

Hi Speedbuggy,

There are some great tips on the National Geographic web site:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pa...ure/phototips/

A couple of my own tips are:

- Always scan your viewfinder around all four corners of the image (kind of helps eliminate items in your photos you don't want, i.e., fingers!)

- Don't center focal objects. If you're shooting a sunset, put the sun off center, if shooting a large tree, put it off center. My photography teacher called it the rule of thirds. Place an imaginary grid in your view finder with 3 areas horizontally and 3 areas vertically and line up important items with the lines in between those areas. (another example - put the horizon on the lower line or the top line, but not in the middle.)

- Never shoot into the sun, always have it at your back.

That's all I can think of now. Have fun on your trip!

Heidi

The problems I had to overcome in the past:

- don't let the sun shine into the camera

- if there is a tree, the twigs will make lines on faces

- if a person is in the shade, and the photographer is in the sun, the picture comes out too dark

- just dump the camera and buy cards, they are made by professionals, and you see the result right away

- if you aim too long, people stop smiling

- 2 days after arrival nobody cares already to see your pictures

- your camera is never ready when you need it the most

- if you put your bag down for a moment to take a picture, you'll walk off forgetting the bag

Hi SB!

We had a hand-me-down digital camera from one of our sons and just recently purchased an upgraded digital ourselves. You know I really miss my 35mm camera - I thought I (it) took really nice pictures.

I'm still getting use to my digital, but there is one thing that I noticed on our last trip to London and Portugal, and that was that I didn't stay still long enough to take pictures. Overall, I was unhappy with lots of my photos. I think mainly because my eye still prefers a view-finder, something my new digital is missing.

So, my advice would be, in addition to proper lighting, to take your time to frame the picture (obviously no action shots, lol).

I hope I learn some great tips too. Great thread!

One more thing... when you get back, go through your photos and edit them. Only show your friends the good ones. On an average trip, I'm known to shoot anywhere from 200 to 1,000+ photos, but only show friends about 25-100 of them. This way, they think I'm a really good photographer!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."--Robert Capa

http://www.oneeyed.homestead.com/photogtips.html

This is a link to a page on my personal travel photography site.

I can think of a few others relevant to your needs. Digital is even worse than film when scenes are too contrasty (i.e., a wide range from lightest to darkest areas of the scene). If you have this situation, you could end up with a washed out sky or too dark foreground for example, try focusing on different areas of the scene and get different exposures to see which you like best.

Bright overcast days are great for taking closeups of things like flowers. Not too much contrast and can really bring out colors.

Different lighting is good for different effects. Side lighting for texture, front for color, back for shape.

Another good link for you - http://www.naturephotographers.net/np101/dw0904-1.html.

If you have a viewfinder on your digital (and I'm sure you do) use it instead of the larger LCD display screen. It's much easier to hold the camera steady looking through the viewfinder than holding it out at arm's length to look at the LCD display. You can always (and should) check the photo instantly with the LCD screen to make sure it looks good.

Take a little extra time to set up the shot. Even if you're just taking a quick photo of someone standing in front of a sign, look at it for a few seconds and verify that nobody has a tree coming out of their head, etc.

Landscape shots (especially those with large sections of sky in them) are usually not very good in bright sunlight. The sky is washed out and there is a lot of glare/reflection off anything that can reflect sunlight (water, glass, leaves, grass, rocks). Switch to closeups, or live with the fact that the photo won't look as good as the real thing.

Like Dan said, flower closeups are best when it's overcast. You can create that situation yourself by positioning yourself, or someone else to block the sun. I've been fairly successful at using my jacket (which can also help block the wind so the flower isn't waving around).

If the light is somewhat dim, use a tripod, set the camera on a steady object, or brace yourself as best as you can.

Man oh man! What can I say about all the great Fodorites on this forum, and the terrific advice you all ALWAYS quickly offer?! What a great group of people you all are!

Thank you so much!

And I am certain that many of us are finding all these helpful suggestions most useful!

TheWeasel, is it unusual for a digital camera NOT to have a view finder? We unfortunately only found out when I went to take a distance shot on a bright day that mine new camera didn't! Poor planning on my part. And a real pain in the neck!

Fodor's own tips helped get me thinking a little differently about my approach to travel photography: http://www.fodors.com/focus/.

STW- now that I think about it, I'm not sure. I think, generally speaking, the newer/pricier digitals have viewfinders, and possibly the older/smaller ones do not. But I could be wrong - I just seem to recall that the digital SLR's have them, and the prosumer ones I've looked at do.

don't make people squint into the sun; don't make them pose, try to catch them naturally; and always try to have people in the photo (sounds silly, but those are the ones you look at the most in the years to come). Sometimes sillhouettes are great. If the sun is directly above and you don't have filters, try shading the lens with your hand. Move in close!!

When you put someone in your shots (a person with scenery behind them), have the person come much closer than you would think, only about 4 or 5 feet away. You get their head & shoulders with the scenery and the shot is much nicer. Otherwise, you get a little speck of a person against the background and usually can't even make out their face.

I strongly recommend purchasing a book titled "Kodak Guide to Shooting Great Travel Pictures" by Jeff Wignall. I have read it cover to cover several times and, before each trip, I go back and review its primary points. It is a wealth of information.

With the less expensive point-and-shoot digitals, you don't have as much control of exposure as you would have had a with a mid-range 35mm so you need either to exercise control when taking the image, acquire and use a good post-processing software program, or both. The real advantage is you can take many more photos than you might have with 35mm because, after equipment costs, it costs almost nothing to take one or a thousand photographs.

Enjoy your new camera.

Anyone who loves 35mm and is disappointed with digital should consider a digital SLR. They cost a little more, but they have the feel and basic function of a 35mm camera. They have mechanical shutters and use the same lenses (Canon, Nikon, for example) from the 35mm line of cameras. Digital SLRS do not even have "real time" previews - only post-shot reviews on the LCD screen. You HAVE to look through the viewfinder, just like a 35mm camera.

Great camera: Canon Digital Rebel. Even the 2004 model (6.3MP) is fantastic, if you can find a used one. 6.3MP will produce stunning enlargements. If you are a Nikon person instead, obviously go the Nikon route and use your lenses.

Andrew

There are some great tips posted here for taking good pictures. The one about the sun should be understood. Yes, photographers' favorite times of the day to shoot are early morning/daybreak/sunrise and late in the day/sunset/dusk. It usually helps to have the sun nearly behind you - otherwise your forground could be all washed out. But, you can have the sun in front of you as long as you use it to effect and understand it will be there. Sometimes "lens flare" can add a neat artistic effect. I sometimes shoot right into the sun through a tree or bush or something (not directly into it, of course, and don't STATE at the sun through your viewfinder!). You can see with digital if it looks cool or not almost right away.

The one filter I use is a circular polarizer - not something you can use on the cheaper digitals but if your camera can take a filter, consider getting a polarizer. It removes indirect light from view. It can make that blue sky really blue and bring in white clouds and snow-capped mountains in your pictures that might normally be washed out. The "circular" part means you can turn the filter to adjust the amount of polarization you get.

Try to add depth to your shots. If you are shooting a building, see if you can put a tree or a person or anything in the foreground (even if not in focus), maybe on one side of the frame. If it's digital, try it both ways and see the difference. I like to see a (imaginary) line from the left or right side of the image toward the center, from foreground to background.

Andrew

Andrew beat me to the punch on this one. A common practice with landscape photographers in particular is to have an interesting foreground, as Andrew said. I think it doesn't matter so much if the foreground object is in focus if you are framing a distant object, but often the photo looks better if the whole scene, particularly the foreground object (if large in the frame) is in focus. Try both ways. I often do this and pick the one I like best later.

There are lots of options for creative framing to add depth. Sometimes it's fun to ignore your temptation to have a completely unobstructed view of your subject. Maybe you have some trees obscuring part of it, maybe some tree branches along the top and side(s) of the image and you see the subject in the middle or off to one side (centering your subject is usually not recommended, but sometimes it works after all, if you are otherwise framing your subject well). The beauty of digital is you can experiment and discard the ones that don't work.

Now here's another thought: how do you know you LIKE a picture? I sometimes find that if I look at a picture too long, I can convince myself that I like it. But I've learned to listen to my first split-second reaction. How do I feel in the first 1/8 of a second? If I "feel" the picture is good, I know it's good.

On the other hand, sometimes I dislike pictures that other people rave over. So I'm trying to be less critical and let other people give me more input before I just go deleting stuff.

Andrew

I took an evening class on photography many years ago and it was one of the best things I ever did. 20+ years later, I still remember many of the highlights. Several have already been mentioned but here is one more...OK 2.

Compose your picture in 1/3's rather than 1/2's. For example, do not compose the horizon in the center of the photo. Put it on a line at the 1/3 or 2/3 portion of the picture. This can also apply vertically.

Understand the limits of your flash. For built ins, 8-10 feet is about the max. Zooming in from a further distance does not improve the reach of your flash. Learn about fill flash. Very useful even in well lit situations.

Be aware that in most digital or point and shoot cameras, you are not looking through the lens. Your fingers, camera strap, lens cover, etc. could still be in front of the lans and you won't know it until later.

Practice, practice, practice and take lots of pictures.