Through the Gadling Lens: Tips for choosing which vacation shots to take

by Karen Walrond on

As I type this, I’m about half-way through my trip to England. It’s a whirlwind trip of visiting family, seeing long-lost friends, making new acquaintances and cramming in sight-seeing daytrips when I can — not to mention fighting a rampant case of jetlag. But through it all (and as you may well imagine), I’m taking a lot of photographs … which has got me thinking about how I choose the images that I choose to shoot. I mean, why do I take one shot over another? Is there a “right way” to shoot a vacation?

Obviously, the answer to that question is about as varied as the number of people who own cameras: the “right way” differs for each person. And in truth, the way I shoot for my own personal use (that is, to capture as many vivid memories of a trip as possible) is far different from the way I shoot for professional purposes. But I’ve heard time and time again from people who say “my vacation photographs don’t move me as much as my own memories do,” and I think that’s really unfortunate. So I thought I’d share some of the ways that I shoot my vacation, in the hope that perhaps it will trigger something for you.
1. Shoot the iconic shots. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how many times I’ve heard friends say “I tried to shoot a photograph of myself in front of the Eiffel Tower, but I couldn’t get the tower and me in the shot!” First of all, don’t be afraid to shoot from weird angles (get someone to lie down on the ground and shoot up at both you and the tower, for example), but even more obviously, you could always forget about trying to get in the shot — just shoot the icon. Find something your destination is known for, and capture an image of that … just that. Remember, you’re going to be shooting lots of additional images, so it’s okay if some of them don’t include you or your travel buddies. And trust me, even if it seems cliche to you at the time, once you return home you’re going to wish you had that picture of the cable car in San Francisco, or Big Ben in London.

2. Get portraits of your travel companions. Again, this may seem like a given, but understand I’m not just talking about an image of your spouse standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon (although, done right, that would probably make a pretty good shot as well). I’m talking about getting in close and taking an actual portrait of your wife, husband or friends who are with you. I mean, if your holiday is going well, it’s going to show on their faces, you know? They’ll be relaxed, or excited, or thrilled — and nothing triggers great memories like capturing the emotions on their faces. So grab your camera (remembering what focal length lens works for portraits), get close to your companions, and capture their expressions.

And one more thing, while we’re on the subject: when it comes to taking portraits of your kids, particularly when they’re on vacation, it can be damned near impossible to get them to smile sweetly and look into the camera. Don’t let this stop you: just get down on their level, get as close as you can without getting smacked in the face by their flailing hands and feet, and take the shot. You’ll find that your kids just being kids will make far more appealing shots than posed images of them grimacing while shouting “CHEESE!!!”

3. Get portraits of total strangers. This isn’t about walking up to the locals and asking them to pose for a portrait (although if you’re brave enough, by all means do it — just remember to be polite and respectful in your request). For me, one of the easiest ways to get some images of the locals is to take images of buskers: people who entertain on street corners, in subways, or in parks. In fact, I’m always mindful to keep some change in my pockets for just this very reason — and then, armed with my 70-200mm lens, I can take nice, intimate portraits, and thank my subject with the equivalent of a few dollars.

4. Grab images when your travel buddies aren’t paying attention. This is sort of similar to tip #2 above, but different: in this case, you’re still trying to capture expressions and emotions, but this time your subjects have no idea you’re photographing them. In fact, on this particular trip, I’ve managed to capture some great images of my father-in-law and his wife, as well as my brother-in-law and his wife, and in both instances, they had no idea I was taking the shot. But I think both shots the atmosphere at the time I took the image and will certainly be wonderful reminders of how much I love being around them. Happily, they’re pretty pleased with the shots as well:

5. Be inspired by colour and texture. I don’t know about you, but I find some of my most vivid memories occur because of the vibrant colours and unfamiliar textures that a foreign land often has to offer. For this reason, I usually remain on the lookout for images which take my breath away, merely because I’m shocked by the colours: a vivid sunset, bright flowers, or crystalline oceans. If something makes me catch my breath because if its hue, you can pretty much guarantee that I’m going to grab a shot.

6. Shoot in situ. At some point in every vacation, I find that I have some down time: I’m sitting on the beach relaxing, or in a cafe watching the city wake up and start its day, or simply watching the sun set. Invariably, I grab my camera and just shoot what’s right in front of me — it may not be a perfect image, but it’s generally enough to remind me exactly what I was doing when I was really relaxing into my travels.

7. Let what you see frame what you see. I know this makes no sense, but perhaps the following will explain: the other morning, my father-in-law took me into the Forest of Dean so that I could grab some images of the amazing fall foliage that’s currently all over the English countryside. We drove into a public park called Cannop Ponds, and I got out of the car to walk into the forest.

As I was walking through, all of a sudden the branches of the trees parted, and I caught a glimpse of some swans gliding along a small lake. It was breathtaking. Now, I could’ve walked a bit closer and taken a shot of the swans, but really, what was amazing to me was the sudden appearance of these beautiful birds through the branches. And so, I took a photograph, letting the branches frame the shot:

Again, technically not the best shot in the world, but it captures a moment I’ll never forget.

8. When in doubt, don’t choose. Sometimes, when I’m taking a shot, I find myself a bit torn: should I take a photograph of this delicious margarita right in front of me, or the image of my husband and daughter snorkeling off in the distance? Or should I take just one shot of my kid cracking up? In these cases, I just shoot everything, and then let the diptych (or series of shots) tell the story:

9. Every once in a while, give someone else the camera. I’m actually horrible at this: I much prefer to be behind the camera, rather than in front of it. But if I’m honest, sometimes it looks like I never go on vacations with my family! For this reason, I’m trying to teach myself to hand my camera over to my husband, or to whoever else might be traveling with me. It takes an effort not to be self-conscious in front of the camera, but as time passes and I look back on the shots, it’s nice to be able to see how I was enjoying the experience myself.

With that, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my holiday. Please share your tips of how you choose your own images, below. Next week, we’ll answer the age-old question: can point-and-shoots really take as good an image as an SLR? And in the meantime, if you have any questions you’d like to ask, please e-mail me at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com, and I’ll do my best to answer them in future posts!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: How to pack like a photographer for your trip

by Karen Walrond on

I mentioned last week that I was getting ready for a trip to England — and I was a bit panicky about the fact that I hadn’t finished packing. The truth is, whenever I pack for an international trip, I pack with two “me”‘s in mind: Me The Tourist (who, at all costs, needs adequate underwear and hair products) and Me The Photographer (whose head would explode if she forgot her camera charger or, God forbid, her camera). So since I’ve already written about what I pack on any trip abroad, today, I’d thought I’d talk about how I prepare from a photographer’s standpoint.
My husband is English, so this trip is a bit different than if I were leaving for a country I’d never visited — I actually met my husband while I was living in England, and have returned to visit his family many times. Still, I generally follow the same procedure for my trips back to Ol’ Blighty as I do when I visit any other country. It goes something like this:

1. Research the location. On this particular trip, we’ll be spending 6 days in Gloucester, 6 days in Cornwall, and 2 days in London. Now, if I didn’t know better (and without doing a bit of research), I could blithely fly into England expecting to just take shots of Big Ben and the Tower of London, but obviously, there’s so much more to England that that; furthermore, each region has its own sights and cultural differences. In fact, if I just Google each location or pick up a guide book or two, I’d find that each of these locations are known for at least the following:

Gloucester: a port town on the Severn Estuary, famous for the Gloucester Cathedral (where certain scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed). It is surrounded by the Cotswalds and the Forest of Dean. Also, my father-in-law is an avid archer, so maybe I’ll get the opportunity to view a competition? And because of my photoblog, I’ve made the acquaintance of another photographer and photoblogger who lives in Bath, about 1 hour’s drive away. She’s offered to take me around on a day trip for a shoot. I’ve actually never been to Bath, but I do know that it’s on the River Avon, near hot springs from which the Romans built a temple and baths (hence the name, I suppose). According to Wikipedia, Bath was “the leading centre of fashionable life in England in the 1800’s,” with some stunning architecture in support. I’m really looking forward to this trip.

Cornwall: the most southwesterly region of England, and where my husband calls home. It has beautiful wild countryside, with amazing cliffs into the ocean, quaint villages (“As I was going to St. Ives…”) and those “moors” that English authors always seem to put in their books.

London: Seriously, can you say enough about what London is known for? In addition to Big Ben and the Tower of London, there are open-air markets, amazing architecture, Westminster Cathedral, black cabs, high-end shopping, the theatre district, the financial district, Hyde Park, the Thames, the punk scene … seriously, the list goes on ad infinitem.

Also, obviously, there are the stereotypical things that England is known for: cups of tea, scones and clotted cream, pubs, pints, double decker buses, The Tube, and so on. The point is, you really can’t over-research a trip destination: Google it, buy guide books, search for bloggers who live there, whatever. Information is power.

Finally, a quick look at weather.com shows that the forecast calls for 50 degree temperatures, rain and fog in all places. Lovely.

2. Get an idea of what you’re going to want to shoot. Note that this is a bit different than “get an idea of what you want to see.” The point is to start thinking about the various locations from a photographer’s eye. For example, of course you could just walk up to a pub and capture an image of it (and frankly, I do recommend doing that when in England, some of the pubs are just beautiful). But the truth is that the pub isn’t what makes pubs cool, so much as the pub culture. It’s the whole atmosphere of the pub that makes it great: the laughter and banter among the regulars, the darkness inside (for some reason, all pubs are dark inside, regardless of the time of day), the low overhead beams requiring you to duck as you walk in, the sloshing of the foamy beers over the pint glasses, the flirting of the bartenders with the patrons, and so on. A photograph of you in front of a pub will record the fact that you were there — think of images that will record what you experienced. If this concept is new to you, feel free to jot down some ideas prior to your trip: “When in London, I want to get a shot that shows how focused the guards are at Buckingham Palace.” “When in Bath, I want a shot that shows the detail of the architecture of Bath Abbey.” You won’t need to your notes with you and tick off the items as you grab the shots; but a quick glance before you head out for your day trip might help you remember what it is that you want to capture to remember once you return home.

3. Pack your photography equipment accordingly. Given all the information above (sprinkled with a bit of previous experience), here’s what I packed:

  • My Nikon D300 camera body. Obviously, I was going to bring a camera body, but I have two. In this case, I brought my better one, but I don’t always. If I’m traveling to a place where it is generally unsafe, or if I’m traveling somewhere where it could get dirty (like a beach vacation, for example), I take my older camera — it still takes great shots, and I won’t be (as) devastated if something happens to it.
  • My 24-85mm Nikkor zoom lens. This is sort of my standard, dependable capture-pretty-much-everything lens. I will likely use this lens more than any other lens I bring. It will take nice clear shots of architecture, details of architecture (I’m thinking about Bath, here), and a pretty decent portrait in a pinch.
  • My 70-200mm Nikkor zoom lens. I really struggled with whether or not I wanted to bring this one: on one hand, it’s so damned unwieldy. On the other, it takes such beautiful shots. In the end, I decided to take it, because one of the things I love about England are the amazing faces, and this allows me to take tight shots without people knowing I’m taking their photograph. Also, as I mentioned above, I was hoping that my father-in-law would show off his bow-and-arrow for me, and this way I can frame a nice tight image without worrying that I’m going to be in the way of an errant shot. This will be a great lens if we go to an open-air market in London, or to Hyde Park — in London, no one will bat an eye at the large lens, and I’ll be able to get some great shots.
  • My 100mm Nikon telephoto lens. This lens is actually manual, so it can be a bit tricky to use; but oh how I love the results — it takes some of the most amazing portraits. Since it’s not very big, I went ahead and stuck it in the bag — I’m thinking of doing family portraits for Christmas presents this year, so while I won’t take it out on daytrips, I’m hoping to do a few sittings while I’m there.
  • My 2GB memory card. This baby holds 2,100 hundred shots. Because I shoot so much, this actually wouldn’t be enough for a two-week trip, but it’s certainly more than enough for a day’s shoot, and I download my photographs every evening anyway. Which brings me to…
  • My MacBook. I know, I know — my sister laughs at me that I take my laptop everywhere, even on vacation, but the truth is that I love nothing more than winding down each night with a glass of wine and processing my photos. It ends a day perfectly for me.
  • My Nikon Coolpix. I never go anywhere without my point-and-shoot — it’s sort of a throw-it-in-my-daypack-and-forget-about-it camera. Also, it has a wider angle than any of the other lenses I’m taking with me, so when we get to the top of those Cornish cliffs and I want a true panoramic view, this camera will definitely come in handy. And of course, it’s great for those “party-pic”-type snapshots that are always so great on holidays.
  • Chargers and power cords for everything above.

For those of you who have point-and-shoots: obviously, your packing list will be much smaller than the above. In your case, I would definitely pack (a) an extra memory card (or a really, really large one) if you don’t want to take your laptop and download every day, (b) your charger, and (c) your manual, so you make sure you know exactly how to play with your aperture, ISO and shutter speed settings, in order to maximize the kinds of shots you want to get. Trust me, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be surprised to find that some of your shots rival those that can be taken with an SLR camera.

On your next trip, I challenge you to try to put a little forethought into your trip from a photographic standpoint. Also, I’ve been getting some great questions over the last few weeks — if you have any questions, or would like me to cover something specifically, feel free to send them to me at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com. At some point, I’ll feature some questions and answers here on the site. And of course, in coming posts, I’ll share some of the shots I’ve captured on this trip.

In the meantime, keep clicking those cameras!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: apertures and shutters and ISOs, oh my!

by Karen Walrond on

So, so far, we’ve discussed two things: how to pick a camera and what kind of lenses you might want to take with you on your trip. Today, I thought we’d talk about the exciting world of apertures, and shutter speeds and ISO.

Wait, where are you going?

Okay, I know that for a majority of you, you couldn’t care less about these sorts of things — you’d rather just pick up your camera, set it on automatic, and go. And I promise, going forward, we’re going to talk about less dry subjects, like shooting techniques and using Photoshop and the like. But the truth is, understanding ISOs and apertures and shutter speeds can help give you a lot of power over your resulting shots. So trust me on this: it’ll be worth it, even though the sketches that follow are a travesty to art.
So, basically, your camera, regardless of brand, whether it’s a point-and-shoot or SLR, or how simple or complicated it is, works like this: light comes into your lens, and passes through an aperture, then through a shutter before it finally hits the film (or digital sensor and storage media), and then it magically turns into a photograph. Obviously, there’s a lot more physics to it than that, but dude, I’m not a physics major, and believing that it’s “magic” is a lot more interesting, so go with me on this.

Graphically speaking, and viewing your camera from the side, it looks somewhat like this:

Now, I could try to draw exactly what each of those items actually looks like, but as you’ve probably guessed by now, sketching isn’t my strong suit. Nonetheless, it turns out that you really don’t need to know what they look like, but it’s sort of important to understand what they do. And to help illustrate what they do, take a look at this image:

I know this looks kind of crazy, but stay with me:

Your aperture acts sort of like a curtain: it decides how much light in total you want going into your camera.

Your shutter acts like a door that quickly opens and shuts, limiting the amount of actual light that gets to the film/digital sensor, regardless of the total amount the aperture actually let into the camera in the first place. Think of it this way: remember, back in the day when you had a film camera, the biggest catastrophe that could occur on your vacation was that the back of your camera would open up, and all that light would get in and ruin the film, rendering all those great images of you doing tequila shots in Tijuana completely useless? That’s because too much light overexposes the image. The shutter opens and shuts really quickly, so that only the right amount of light gets in, and the image is correctly exposed.

And finally, the film (or digital sensor/memory card) captures the remaining light and uses magic to turn it into a photograph.

Now, the very cool thing about your camera (and what you may not have realized if you’ve just been shooting on automatic this entire time) is that in many cases, it allows you to control each of the aperture, shutter speed, and film/digital sensor capacity. It’s almost like there are tiny little people living in your camera, just waiting for your command:

At the risk of your believing that I’ve finally lost it, I’ll press on.

APERTURE

As I mentioned above, the aperture helps control how much total light goes into the camera. Now, if you’ve ever heard the term “f-stop” or seen weird numbers like “f/1.4” or “f/16” on your camera or next to an image online, those terms are referring to how open or closed the aperture (or in our case, the “curtain”) is, and therefore how much light is going into the camera. There are, of course, mathematical reasons for the number designations, but really, knowing that isn’t necessary. Here’s the only thing you need to remember:

If the aperture number (f-stop number) is large, then when you take a picture, you’ll have more detail in the background of your image (i.e., your background will be more detailed, a “large depth of field“).

If the aperture number (f-stop number) is small, then when you take a picture, you’ll have less detail in the depth of your image (i.e., your background will be less detailed, a “small depth of field“).

Some practical examples might help.

Say you’re taking a vacation in the American heartland, for the express purpose of capturing an image of those “amber waves of grain.” Or, perhaps instead, you’re in Houston, in my overgrown front garden. Here are a couple of images that you might get, when playing with the aperture on your camera:

I shot the image above at f/16, which is sort of a large aperture number. Notice how you can make out the detail of each of the little slats in the black shutters in the background, and the foliage in front is just a jumble of branches. Everything, pretty much, is in focus, or you would say that this image has a “large depth of field.”

Now contrast the above with the following image:

This image was shot at f/4.2, which is, in comparison to the above, a small aperture number — the lens is the same, I’m standing in the same spot, and I took the image at the same time of day. In this image, you can no longer really make out the detail of the black shutters, and in fact, the only thing in focus is the branch at the very front. Everything else is out of focus, and therefore this image has a “small depth of field.”

Does this sort of make sense? Therefore and ergo, going back to your vacation in the American heartland, back to those amber fields of grain, before you take the photograph, you can think to yourself, “Self, do I want to show how vast the amount of grain is in this field, and therefore use a high aperture setting, so that all of the grain is in focus? Or, Self, would I rather just focus on this one golden reed of grain, and blur all the others in the background, so I should use a small aperture setting?” Then you’d set your aperture, you’d aim, and you’d shoot. No Photoshop required.

SHUTTER

Remember, this is the part of the camera that acts like a door, opening and closing quickly, to moderate the amount of light that actually gets to the film/digi
tal sensor at the back of the camera, and thus creating the best exposure. I will be honest with you — I rarely, if ever, try to control the shutter speed of my camera. I’m far more likely to mess with my aperture settings (the “curtain guy”) to control my depth of field (how blurry I want my background to be, described above), or my ISO setting (the “light catchers,” which will be discussed below), and let the camera figure out which shutter speed would be most appropriate. That said, there’s one application where you might want to play with your shutter speed setting, and that’s to control movement.

Here’s what I mean: you’ll find shutter controls described in seconds, or fractions of a second, otherwise known as “exposure time.” With a long exposure time, the shutter will be open longer, and movement will look more blurry. With a shorter exposure time, the shutter will be open for a shorter time, and movement will look frozen in time.

For example, this shot …

… was taken at a shutter speed of 1/160th of a second — notice how the water looks like it’s rushing over the rocks. There’s movement, it conveys what it felt and sounded like to be there on that beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

But in this picture …

… the shutter speed was at 1/250th of a second — much faster, making the water coming out of my backyard hose look frozen, and therefore more refreshing on a hot summer day.

ISO

Remember back in the day when you were buying film, the box of film would have numbers on it like “100” or “400” or “1000”? That was the film’s ISO number. ISO stands for “International Organization for Standardization ” (I know that mixes up the initials, but I didn’t come up with acronym, so don’t blame me), and basically the ISO number has to do with the sensitivity of the film to light. Nowadays, with digital cameras, there are still ISO settings, and understanding how they work can help improve your images. To help me remember what the numbers mean, I like to think as the ISO number as the “number of light catchers” the camera needs to use:

In other words, remember this:

The lower the ISO number, the fewer light catchers you’ll be using to catch the light. Low ISOs work better in bright sunlight — no flash necessary.

The higher the ISO number, the more light catchers you’ll be using the catch the light. High ISOs work in overcast or low light — and again, no flash will be necessary.

For example — see that photograph of my garden hose, above? That was taking at an ISO setting of 200 — because it was taken in the middle of a hot summer day, there was TONS of available light. So I knew I only needed 200 light catchers to catch the light when the shutter (“door”) was open to let the light in. Contrast this with the following shot I took of my husband this past weekend:

This was taken just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. The light was low, so I knew I needed to employ as many light catchers as I could to grab any and all available light: this was shot at an ISO setting of 3200.

And finally, compare the above shot with this one:

This shot was taking at the same time, but this time the setting was at ISO 500. See how completely blurry and out of focus Marcus is? That’s because when I decided to shoot at 500, the Door-Opening Guy (the automatic shutter control) went, “SERIOUSLY? FIVE HUNDRED? In *this* nonexistent light? That’s so not enough Light Catchers. I’m going to have to keep the door open longer to let more light in, and expose the photograph properly.” So he did — the shutter was open for 2.5 seconds. The problem is that when the shutter is open for that long, the slightest movement — my hand holding the camera dipping ever slow slightly — causes blur in the resulting image.

Given all of this, it sounds like you’d never need a flash again, right? Just crank up that ISO setting, and bam! No flash needed! Well, not quite: the problem with using high ISOs is that while you might get the image you want, the image tends to be grainier then at low ISO settings (contrast the quality of the first image of Marcus with the image of the hose, above). So if you’re looking for a nice sharp image in low light, you might want to either (a) use a flash or (b) use a tripod with a low ISO setting — that way the camera (“Door-Opening Guy”) can keep the shutter open as long as necessary, without worrying about camera shake.

So that’s it — you’re now an expert (sort of) on apertures, shutters, and ISOs! Better still, that’s pretty much as technical as we’re going to get about the workings of your camera here at Through the Gadling Lens, so never fear. As it happens, I’m leaving at the end of this week for a two-week holiday to England, so for upcoming posts I’ll talk about planning for a trip, and executing photo shoot days. In the meantime, keep clicking those cameras!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: choosing the right lens

by Karen Walrond on

Thanks for all your comments on the previous post, “what kind of camera should I buy?” — there were some really going points made, and some great feedback. Today, as promised, I thought I’d go through a quick guide on why there are so many lenses out there and why they differ — as well as why you might want a particular one on your trip.

Generally, lenses are described by their focal length. A quick Google search of the term “focal length” returns some fantastically technical definitions — my current favourite is, “The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly it converges (focuses) or diverges (diffuses) light. A system with a shorter focal length has greater optical power than one with a long focal length.“

Mmkay.
Here’s how I like to remember it: the larger the focal length of a lens, the bigger the subject looks and the less of the background you’ll see in your shot. The smaller the focal length of a lens, the smaller your subject will look in your photograph, but you’ll be able to see a whole lot more background.

In other words, if you stand 10 feet away from an apple sitting on a table, the photograph you take with a 35 mm lens will have a lot more background and a lot less apple; with a 100 mm lens, the picture will have a lot more apple and a lot less background.

Clear as mud? Not so much?

Okay, let’s look at a few practical examples. (Note: all of the following images are taken right out of the camera — I didn’t do any cropping, or processing, other than to size them to fit on this post.) I asked convinced coerced my 4-1/2 year old daughter Alex outside to act as a model, and took several pictures of her, using different lenses. I asked her to stand on the curb, while I switched out lenses. That’s her on the left:

Isn’t she cute?

Okay, so the first shot I took, I used a 50mm lens. In general, lenses that are between 35mm and 70mm are called “normal” lenses — in other words, when you look through the viewfinder, what you see is pretty much what you would see without the viewfinder — everything looks about the same size, you don’t see any more detail than you would with the naked eye, that sort of thing. Disposable cameras, for example, usually have lenses between 35mm and 70 mm. So taking the shot from the opposite curb, like so …

… the image of Alex looks like this:

A perfectly suitable shot, and the kind of image that conveys exactly what I saw at the time that I saw it. This sort of lens works if you’re going for street photography, or documentary-style photography.

But watch what happens when I switch my lens out for a 200mm lens. The following image was taken at the same spot, on the opposite curb from Alex:

See? All of a sudden, it’s like I was standing right in front of her, even though I’m still standing across the street on the curb. She looks bigger in the shot (and you can see a whole lot more detail); however, I’ve lost a lot of the background (i.e, you can’t really see the house or the trees anymore). The beauty of this lens is that you can take wonderfully intimate shots of people (e.g., the old men playing chess in the park) or wildlife (the boa constrictor wrapped around the tropical vegetation) or sports (that touchdown made by only inches) without actually getting in the way of the subject — the old men, boa constrictor or running back will likely not even know you’re there.

The downside of this sort of lens? This bad boy is huge (see the photograph at the top of this post), and therefore very unwieldy. On major trips I do usually take this lens with me, but I generally only devote one day to using it (getting lovely intimate shots of people talking to each other at a cafe, or otherwise interacting), and then put it away for the rest of the trip, instead using a lens with a smaller focal length (usually between 50mm to 100 mm).

Speaking of 100mm lenses, let’s say you don’t mind if your subject knows your taking her picture — and in fact, you want to get a nice tight portrait shot. Generally speaking, lenses with focal lengths between 75mm and 135mm are known as “portrait lenses,” and they enable you to take lovely, magazine-cover-shot type images of people.

And so, grabbing my 100mm lens, and standing right here, about three feet away …

… I’m able to take a lovely tight shot of Alex’s face, like so:

Now, is it possible for me to take a shot this close to Alex using the 200mm lens? It is, but I’d still have to stand about halfway across the street to do it, in order to get the focus right. And I probably couldn’t take a shot like this with the 50mm lens, because I would have to stand really close to Alex to take the shot, and would likely end up with a really blurry shot, because I would be too close for the lens to get a really sharp focus.

For what it’s worth, I always carry my 100mm lens (or a lens which “passes through” that focal length, like a 70mm-120mm zoom, for example), particularly when I travel; primarily because I love portraiture, and I love shooting the faces of the people who are native to the countries I visit.

Finally, let’s take a look at a macro lens: the type of lens that let’s you get really up close and personal. Again, I’ll use Alex as a model, but this time I’ll get very, very close to her (about 8 inches away):

And — you’re going to love this — check out how much detail I can capture of her here:

See how you can make out every eyelash in this photo, every tiny contour of her skin? Macro shots are beautiful for grabbing very tiny details, sometimes in breathtaking ways. And there’s no other kind of lens that can get this sort of detail than a macro lens — other lenses just can’t focus that well.

Now, obviously, you’re not likely to walk up to an individual, get all up in their personal space and shoot their eyeballs. But macro lenses can be really fantastic for getting details of, say, the bumps on the back of some weird-looking tropical insect, or the stamens of a truly exotic flower
. I always carry my macro lens with me if I’m going somewhere known for its beautiful flora and fauna — I never know what I might get.

Finally, for those of you with point-and-shoots, don’t despair: these days, point-and-shoots have wonderfully wide ranges of focal lengths for their built-in lenses. For example, the following two shots were taken with my Nikon Coolpix. According to the Nikon website, the Coolpix has a focal length range of between 28mm and 112mm.

So again, standing on the opposite curb from Alex, here’s a shot at approximately 28mm (also called a wide-angle shot, used for architecture or landscapes):


(Notice now, how much more background I get than even the 50mm shot at the top of this post? Although Alex is tiny in the shot, now I not only get the house and the two trees, but the next-door neightbour’s house as well!)

And here’s a shot zoomed in at 112mm; this time, again, standing on the curb across the street from her:

Whew — that’s a lot to cover in one post! Hopefully, this helps you better understand what different camera lenses can do, and when they’re appropriate for your favourite type of photography — and for those of you who like crib sheets, there’s a great one covering the kind of photography each lens is best for here. As always, if you have any questions, or would like me to cover anything specific in an upcoming post, please feel free to let me know in the comments below, or e-mail me directly at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com. I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: What kind of camera should I buy?

by Karen Walrond on

Maybe you’re about to take the trip of a lifetime: your passport’s ready, you’ve bought all the latest guidebooks, you now have an entirely new wardrobe/set of luggage to take on your trip, and you want to make sure you capture every perfect moment for posterity — but your camera skills are a bit lacking. Or perhaps you’re tired of going on fabulous vacations, only to return disappointed that the hundreds of photographs you took don’t really capture the brilliant blue of the ocean, the way the sun turned everything golden, the teeming humanity or the grandeur of the mountain ranges.

Well, today’s your lucky day: welcome to Through the Gadling Lens, Gadling’s newest weekly guide to ensuring you enjoy your travel shots for many years to come. I’ll give you practical tips on how to frame your shots, how to use Photoshop or other photo editing software, how to archive your shots, where to find great online photography resources and other tools to help you capture your very best images. In fact, if you have any burning questions about travel photography that you’d love to have answered, be sure to shoot me an e-mail at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com, and I’ll be happy to answer them right here on the site.

In the meantime, let’s get started with the basics: choosing a digital camera. Ask any photographer, and she’ll likely confirm that the number one question she’s asked is “what kind of camera should I buy?” This question, obviously, isn’t easy — besides the fact that there are literally hundreds of brands and types of cameras to choose from, the truth is that the answer depends strongly on how you plan on using the camera in the first place.
Given this, these days the decision ultimately comes down to a choice between buying a single lens reflex or SLR camera (read: the kind of camera where you can switch out lenses), or a point-and-shoot (read: the kind of camera where you can’t). When making your decision, here are some things to consider:

You should buy a point-and-shoot if:

  • You like to travel unencumbered. Let’s face it: SLRs are bulky. They’re heavy. And worst of all, they take up precious carry-on baggage space. If you’re the type of person who likes to pack light for trips, go sightseeing without so much as a backpack, and your rule for daytrips is that all necessary gear must completely fit in your jeans pockets, then clearly, an SLR would be exactly the wrong kind of camera to take with you. With the designs and profiles of compact cameras getting smaller and smaller by the day (without, by the way, losing any snap-taking-power), a good point-and-shoot would definitely be the way to go.
  • When visiting a new place, you don’t like to have anything on you that screams “TOURIST!” Nothing says “foreigner” like a large camera hanging around your neck — and I say this as a person who has a large camera perpetually around her neck, even when I’m at home. If you’d rather not stand out, and prefer to take your images and keep your tourist status on the down-low, a compact camera will likely be more your speed. Bonus: its easier to sneak the point-and-shoot into places where photography is discouraged — just make sure that your flash is turned off!
  • You just want a camera that will take quick shots of scenery and snapshots of you and your friends on holiday. If you couldn’t care less about apertures and f-stops and your eyes glaze over when people start talking shutter speeds and ISOs, then a SLR would likely be more camera that you require. Do yourself a favour and simply buy a good compact camera. And the good news: with a few tricks of the trade, you’ll find that a point-and-shoot is capable of images as high a quality as an SLR, even if it might not have the range.
  • You don’t have unlimited funds to purchase a camera. Brand new single lens reflex cameras are expensive; conversely, you can get a fairly decent new point-and-shoot for hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars. Then, once you’ve purchased the SLR body, you’re going to have start buying lenses and other accessories to really make it sing. If you really want a new camera, but don’t have the time to save up for a good SLR, a good point-and-shoot is your only alternative.

You should buy a SLR camera if:

  • You’re interested in learning about photography, independent of your upcoming trip. Again, single lens reflex cameras are pretty expensive — I wouldn’t recommend purchasing one unless you consider it an investment. And once you discover the power of a single lens camera — the variety of images and technical depth you can achieve with one — you’ll want to spend some time learning how to harness that power.
  • You want to take specific types of pictures. Perhaps you’re interested in taking huge, wide-angle, panoramic views of stunning scenery, like the Grand Canyon. Or maybe you’re interested in getting nice tight, magazine-cover-quality shots of beautiful local faces, or even really up-close macro shots of the stamens and petals of an exotic flower. Or all three. The truth is that a standard point-and-shoot rarely has the range to do every type of photography out there. And if you’re interested in a specific type of photography, and really sticking to it, then investing in a good SLR might be a sensible option.
  • You’ve got some money to spend. In addition to buying an SLR camera body, you’ll have to buy the proper lens … or two … or five, depending on what kinds of images you want to take, and how serious you want to get. There are things like macro lenses, fisheye lenses, portrait lenses, zoom lenses … and the list keeps going and going. Then there are flashes. Tripods. Reflectors. Clearly, you don’t need to get all of these things at once, but once you have a SLR, there’s always some new gadget that promises to increase your ability to take that stellar shot. Never let it be said that photography is a cheap hobby.

Now that you’ve decided what kind of photographer you’re going to be, here are some additional tips for going out and actually picking a camera:

1. Do some research. Ask friends what kinds of cameras they use, and how they like them. E-mail professional photographers, and ask for advice on specific products. Go to review sites, like Digital Photography Review for example, to see how the various brands stack up against each other. As with any expensive purchase, arm yourself with knowledge before plopping down the cash.

2. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, actually go to a camera store and try them out. Review sites and blogs can only tell you so much — the truth is that using a camera is a very personal experience, and what might feel good in the hands of one person may not feel so great in yours. Go to a camera store and actually look through the viewfinder. Play with the dials and meters. Click the shutters. Decide which feels right for you. Then make your decision.

3. When it comes to online purchases, buyer beware. Recently, I was in the market for a new SLR camera body. I knew how much the suggested retail price was for the specific camera I wanted, so when I found a site that purported to sell the camera body for almost half the amount, I was thrilled, and placed an order. Two days later, I received a call, and the person online wanted to “clarify” if I wanted a battery with my camera. And a battery charger. And a manufacturer’s warranty. By the time the “extras” were added, the price was more than I would’ve paid going to my local camera store — and that was all before shipping! Needless to say, I canceled the order, and purchased the camera from my local store. It was a lesson that I should’ve known before placing the order: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

4. Don’t be afraid of second-hand. Photographers are a fickle bunch, often trading in their relatively-new cameras for the latest and greatest. My first camera was purchased second-hand 15 years ago, and it still works beautifully (when I’m in the mood to shoot film, that is!). Buying second-hand is a great way to get a powerful camera for a fraction of the cost. But if you choose to do so, be sure to actually try it out before buying it (see #2, above).

5. And finally, when it comes to purchasing an SLR camera, remember that what you buy today is likely what you’ll keep buying 10 years from now. For example, I’m a Nikon user — and the Nikon D300 I just bought takes the lenses that I bought for my original Nikon FE Series camera fifteen years ago. As such, be sure to buy an SLR from a manufacturer that has a long history of service and support, that you can be sure will be around for a while, because you don’t want to spend $1000 on a lens that you won’t be able to use twenty years from now. In my experience Canon and Nikon are the most popular brands among professional photographers, so I would certainly consider them when looking for an SLR — but if you’d prefer another brand, be sure to look into history and longevity before making a purchase.

Good luck with your camera purchase! Stay tuned for more Through the Gadling Lens features: next week we’ll talk about what various lenses can help you do. And again, feel free to send me questions directly at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com — I’m happy to tackle them here on Gadling!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.