Pre, Post, and During: the Ways to Take Your Vacation Photography to the Next Level
When we are traveling around the world, one of the best ways to capture our memories is, very simply, through the photos we take. Whether you are heading on vacation or you are looking for a better way to preserve those experiences in celluloid or digital format, it's important to understand the right ways that you can take your photography to the next level. From photo prep to the setup and long after you've returned home, here are a few approaches to consider.
Incorporating Surroundings
If you want to create more context and depth to the photos, elements of the environment become critical because they tell a story. Everybody is an amateur photographer these days because they've got a selfie stick or they know how to take the best picture of themselves, but when you are taking vacation snapshots, you've got to look at how the elements of that environment create so much more.
Lots of people love to create something that is sprawling and covers the vast landscape. This is where something like drones can, of course, absolutely elevate your photography. Attaching a GoPro to a DrDrone is an amazing way to capture an image of you in the vastness of a location like the Pyrenees or the Grand Canyon. When you include those elements, you start to be aware of how best to tell a story.
Understanding the Lighting
If you want to get better at capturing the moment, you may want to steer away from heavy post-production, better known as editing, but there are so many ways to edit an amazing photo because vacation snapshots are all about the moment, you should look at incorporating natural lighting. There are an abundance of different ways to do this.
Pay attention to the time of day because different lighting conditions will work well for various scenes and subjects. For example, if you opt for the golden hour, which is either just after sunrise or before sunset, you will instantly enhance your photo quality because of the warm soft lighting being radiated by the sun.
The weather is an amazing way to create flattering portraits, for example, overcast days can give you what is known as diffused lighting. Utilizing clouds can add depth and color, not to mention drama. We all love the look of a dramatic cloud, and when we start to use specific weather conditions during different times of day, it will instantly elevate various scenes and subjects.
Being aware of how to bounce the direction of light and capturing silhouettes against bright backgrounds can also aid in your storytelling. Investing in a good reflector is an amazing way to control the light's direction for better results.
Learning to adapt to changing light conditions is critical because it will inform your photography. Knowing how the sun progresses throughout the day can instantly give you an understanding of how best to set your images with the right lighting.
Learning to Compose a Shot
The difference between photography and videography is that a photo is merely a snapshot in time. A video captures everything warts and all and therefore can be harder to control. One of the most amazing things about taking a photo is that you are creating that moment in time and when you work to capture the essence of an image whether it's a person looking out onto a vast seascape or an action shot, learning the art of composition can be perfect to give those images something extra.
Experimenting with angles is an amazing solution, especially when you are capturing buildings. Angles instantly change how a photo looks. So many people think purely in terms of portrait and landscape and while this is an amazing foundation, if you are looking to create something unique, tilting your camera can be all you need.
Using natural frames within your shot can add interest. Our eye is always drawn to something within a photo not just the entire image and when you start to use natural frames within an image, for example, a photo of someone in front of a mountain, the mountain itself provides natural context and plays with levels, while also drawing focus.
Removing unnecessary elements can be tough but if you are looking for a way to provide a clearer message in your photo, learning to keep things simple is just as important. Sometimes a picture of a person can be far more interesting than what's going on behind them or in that moment. When you learn to keep things simple, you start to focus on specific details. We can capture the essence of an image far more effectively when we get rid of the extraneous elements. It's so easy to be overwhelmed by the vast scenes, but a vacation is not just about what is setting the scene in terms of buildings and surroundings, but it's also there to capture the emotions experienced through those people.
Learning the Fine Art of Editing
Editing is a great way to ensure that the message filters us through effectively. If you are trying to capture a moment in time, having that reportage approach to photography is an amazing method because you can be ultimately trigger-happy when using phones, and you can find the perfect image later on. But it's also worth considering some of the following to edit those photos far more creatively:
Using editing apps such as YouCam Perfect and Snapseed can be great for quick and effective editing while you are on the go.
Experiment with color adjustments such as changing the hue, saturation, and warmth to enhance the visual impact.
Using a cropping tool can help change the size of the aspect ratio of the images resulting in far better composition. Increasing the exposure selectively can help to brighten subjects to make them stand out more prominently in the photos which is an excellent way to tell those stories.
Ultimately, great editing is also about making sure that you don't fall foul of certain mistakes, for example, using horrible lighting, having too many distractions, blurry images, forgetting details, and actually editing on the original photo itself.
Your vacation photography should be a snapshot in time, so make sure that you try some or all of these approaches so your skills can go to the next level.