Through the Gadling Lens: shooting inside

by Karen Walrond on

When we think about travel photography, we usually think of images of amazing vistas, vast seascapes, impressive skylines — you know, the world outside. But the truth is, when we travel we spend a considerable amount of time inside: in museums and cathedrals, local homes, great restaurants, caves, castles … wherever. And so, while every travel album must have beautiful scenic shots (which we discussed in last week’s post), no album would be complete without a few interior shots, as well. So this week, we’re going to talk about how to take great interior shots — what to shoot, and how to shoot them.
There are a couple of tricks with shooting an interior shot in order to capture the ambiance and the actual feel of the joint when you photograph it. While every photographer differs in her practice, the following are the three steps that I’m very careful about ensuring that I do to maximize my chances of getting a true-to-life shot:

1. I turn off the flash. For me, flash is, in essence, “false light” — and if I really want to capture the feel of the place where I’m sitting, the flash will take away all sense of ambiance and mood. I never say “never,” but 99% of the time, I make sure that the flash is turned off.

2. I adjust my ISO. Remember the “light catchers“? Since I’ve chosen to turn off the light while I’m taking a particular interior shot, now is the time my ISO really comes into play. Because there is likely not going to be tons of light, I tend to adjust my ISO to a pretty high number: if I’m near a window that is bringing in lots of natural light, it could be that 400 will be sufficient; if, however, there isn’t very much light, I might up it to above 1000, to ensure that camera shake isn’t an issue. If, however, you want a nice sharp image (and therefore, want to use a low ISO number), remember that you’re going to need a tripod (or somewhere to rest your camera so that it holds steady) so that the shutter can stay open without the risk of camera shake.

3. I look for the light. This is slightly different from step 2: I’m not talking about just being aware of the quantity of light, this step is about the quality of light. Is there merely one incandescent bulb, casting a beautiful shadow? Perhaps that’s what I’m looking to capture. Or is light flooding into the dark space, and I want to capture the rays? Either way, I take a look at the source of the light, and help it frame my composition.

Given the rules above, here are a few examples of how I put them into action:

HOTELS, MOTELS AND OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS:

If the place I’m staying is pretty singular — accommodations I find extra-special, perhaps, or located in a place that I’m not likely to visit again, I almost always take a shot of the room before I get myself situated (read: make a mess of the place with all of my stuff). The point of a travel album, after all, is to provoke memories of your trip — and since you spend a considerable portion of your sleeping hours in some sort of shelter, why not ensure that you’ve captured the feel of your room, as well?

For example, the photograph above was taken at Acajou, a small eco-hotel on the north coast of the island of Trinidad, in the Caribbean. When my family lived in Trinidad, one of our favourite things to do was to travel to the north coast to witness the nesting of the giant leatherback turtles — and one year, we’d heard of this new eco-lodge that had opened up that was quite comfortable, so we decided to give it a try. This place was truly lovely — dim lighting (so as not to disorient the turtle hatchlings), cottages made from locally sourced wood, and the cuisine in the tiny restaurant was all organic and locally sourced. The hotel was staffed from locals from the remote village where the hotel was located. A really beautiful place that added to our fantastic experience.

Needless to say, we visited several times after.

Because the room was relatively dark (due to the dark wood), I opened the small door that led to the tiny deck, and turned on the lamps — and then rested my camera on a nearby shelf. I upped the ISO to about 600, and set the self-timer, and clicked the shutter, and walked away — the camera took the shot by itself, with no camera shake, and the result is the relatively non-grainy image you see above.

The shot above was taken at the Hotel Valencia in San Antonio. It was taken on a sort of impromptu trip, courtesy of Hurricane Ike: when my husband Marcus and I saw that Ike was bearing down on our home in Houston, we decided we wouldn’t ride it out, and instead head inland to San Antonio. I quickly got on the internet to look for a hotel, and decided to make a mini-vacation of it: Marcus and our young daughter Alex had never been to San Antonio before, so I found this great little boutique hotel and quickly booked a room.

The hotel was really lovely, and had this great interior courtyard where guests could relax quietly. Because, technically, this isn’t an “indoor” shot — the courtyard is open to the sky, above — there was lots of natural light flooding in. I took the shot holding the camera at a relatively low ISO setting (somewhere in the neighbourhood of 400). Our “vacation” was tense — we spent much of it combing the news services looking for images of how Houston was faring with Ike — but this image reminds me of the lovely place we stayed as we waited it out.

MUSEUMS, CATHEDRALS AND OTHER MONUMENTS:

When it comes to museums, cathedrals or other monuments, you need to be really careful: in some cases, photography is strictly forbidden (for example, they tend to frown on your taking shots of the British crown jewels at the Tower of London); in other places, they don’t mind you taking pictures, as long as you don’t use a flash (because, ostensibly, they fear what the light from the flash does to the museum pieces). Again, as a general rule, be sure to turn your flash off before capturing any images.

I’m particularly pleased with how the shot above turned out. This was taken inside Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, England (the exterior of which you can see as the first large photo in last week’s Through the Gadling Lens column). When we got inside the castle, it was incredibly dark, except for the bright light outside streaming into the windows. I wanted to capture the moodiness of the castle, so this time, I actually set the ISO to really low — like 200. I placed the camera on a low bench (like the ones you see in the image above), and again,
set my timer to shoot the image. The shutter ended up staying open quite a while (there’s no way I could’ve taken this shot by holding the camera), but the result is the lovely, non-grainy shot you see above.

This shot is of the organ in the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. Photography was not prohibited in the cathedral, but in such a holy place (the sounds of the choir could be heard practicing when we arrived), there was no way that I was going to use my flash as I walked around. So in the shots I took here, I cranked the ISO way up — to somewhere like 1600. It still didn’t eliminate all camera shake, but the image, I think, is still far better than if I’d used a flash.

VAST INTERIORS:

When it comes to shooting vast interior spaces, the rules are pretty much the same as shooting any landscape — make sure your lens is wide enough, adjust your ISO, and click away. My only additional recommendation is that when you do shoot a large space, don’t forget to look up: often (as in the case with the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, shown above, or Waterloo Station in London, shown below) architects take advantage of large spaces by making beautiful or utilitarian ceilings, so be sure to capture them in your shot.

MEALTIMES:

And finally, one of my personal favourite moments to capture while traveling are mealtimes. I find that often my most memorable times occur while breaking bread with friends, or locals, or trying out a new restaurant (which might explain my current struggle with managing my weight, but that’s a post for another blog).

Again, the same rules apply: watch for the light, turn off your flash, and adjust your ISO accordingly. If you’re lucky enough to be eating at a location where there is tons of light flooding in, then shooting is easy. Just grab the moment where everyone is sitting with excited anticipation (as above) …

… or in the alternative, grab a shot of your picture-perfect food.

For those times when there maybe lots of windows, but it’s doing nothing for your light situation, try to figure out how to make your light work for you. For example, the following shot was taken in a little tea room in the Cotswalds — despite the large picture windows, the cafe itself was amazingly dark. So instead of giving up I decided to shoot into the light: the unsuspecting patrons were therefore silhouetted (giving no real clue to their identity), but the mood of the cafe was captured.

And finally for those great night shots at fabulous restaurants, this is where that great trick of lowering your ISO, using your dinner table as a tripod, and telling everyone to hold their breath while you use your timer comes in handy. You can get great shots that truly capture the ambiance of a tony restaurant (like Two, below), in just this manner:

See? And no customers were harmed by blinding flash in the taking of the above photo.

So that’s it for interiors — and the best part? You don’t actually have to travel to practice! As always, if you have any questions or comments, as always, please leave them below, or e-mail me directly at karen DOT walrond AT weblogsinc DOT com. I’ll be happy to address them in upcoming 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: landscapes, cityscapes and seascapes

by Karen Walrond on

Last week, we discussed the best way to take a portrait (since portraits can often add a lot of colour to a travel album) — this week, we get to the good stuff: how to take great scenery shots. At first blush, it would be easy to believe that shooting a landscape image would be pretty much intuitive — just make sure you have the right focal length lens (about 50 mm or less), aim and shoot, right? The truth is, there are a few tips and tricks that can be used to turn your scenery shots up a notch, and help ensure that you capture those memories as accurately as possible.

So, without further ado:
1. Portrait or landscape? Pick one. If I were to choose one of the biggest … well, not mistakes, but … things that people do that can make a shot somewhat confusing, it’s trying to combine a portrait or a landscape. It is an incredibly difficult thing to do to both focus on your partner’s winning smile and get an Ansel Adams-quality image of the Grand Canyon behind her. Remember, there’s no crime in taking two shots: first take a nice tight close-up of your partner’s lovely face (with just enough background so you can sort of tell where the shot was taken, if you must), and then take a beautiful panoramic view of the scenery behind her.

2. Notwithstanding number 1 above, don’t be afraid to use people to show scale. In other words, this is not to say that you can’t have people in your shots; to the contrary, having people in your images can show how immense the structures are, or how vast the scenery.

Now of course, the above shots were taken with the people far away from me, so they were perfect for showing scale. But if the only people around are standing right next to you (like say, your partner joining you at the edge of the Grand Canyon), then here’s a trick: position him at the edge of the shot, and instead of having him face you and smile, have him look out at what you’re taking the picture of. That way, when you print the image, your partners gaze will help direct the viewer’s gaze to the subject of the shot — the vastness of the canyon. If, instead your partner had been smiling into the camera, it would’ve been more confusing for the viewer — do they look at the beautiful smile or the beautiful canyon?

Make sense?

Onward.

3. Before you take the shot, think about why you’re taking the shot. What is it that took your breath away, made you instinctively reach for the camera? Perhaps it’s the height of the buildings, or the vastness of the ocean or the deep blue of the early evening sky. Whatever it is, take a moment to actually compose the shot in your head before you actually aim your camera.

For example: in the shot above, I was stunned by the vibrant colour of the foliage of that tree on an otherwise dismally grey November day. Now, I could’ve taken the image so that the tree was in the center of the shot, or so the foliage took up most of the frame, but when I thought about it, it wasn’t just the yellow that I loved, it was the yellow in contrast to all of the grey around it. So in order to convey the contrast, I decided to place the tree a bit to the left of the frame, in order to capture more of its bland, nondescript surroundings.

In the shot above, what I loved was not just the cobblestone street, or the quaint buildings, but the sense of closeness of the buildings to the road, and the way the road wound down among the chock-a-block houses all the way to the ocean. So I took the shot in a way that would convey this. I have lots of other pictures of the quaint buildings and roads in addition to this shot, so it gives a more complete sense of what it was like to be in that small fishing village.

And finally, I’ve always had a thing for communities built on the banks of a stream (even if the stream is manmade) — I find the water so calming, and it lends to an air of peace in the communities through which they meander. I tried to capture that sense of peace both of the preceding images, the first of Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswalds, and the second in an early morning shot on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.



4. Break the rules. Sometimes, the best shots you get happen when you break all of the rules. So go ahead and shoot into the sunshine, or pick an odd angle to capture your shot, or capture the image at an odd time of day. Experiment a little.

For example, the shot above was taken in the late afternoon — I wanted to capture what the scene looked like while my friends and I were sitting in the lawn of a rented house on the Oregon coast. So I went ahead and shot right into the sun — and captured my friend’s silhouette, so I would remember the moment that the photo was taken.

This shot, above, was taken during a walk in the town of Falmouth, in Cornwall. I looked through the weeds and could see the beautiful estuary below, but I wasn’t tall enough to see over the fronds. So I decided to take the shot anyway, focusing on the boat and scene in the background. The result was this interesting image, which tells as much about what was right around me, as it does the view.

And finally, Big Ben. We’d been sightseeing all day, and I was really hoping to get a shot of the Houses of Parliament — but it was wintertime, and the light had all but disappeared when we arrived. Rather than be disappointed that I wasn’t going to get my daytime shot, I decided to give a nighttime shot a go: Knowing that a flash would be pretty much useless, I upped my ISO to pretty high (around 1000), and found somewhere to steady my camera (the railing along the Thames), and took the shot. I think the result was better than anything I might have taken during broad daylight.



5. Stitch together photographs for a great panoramic shot. Sometimes, the view is so vast and so big, your camera lens won’t be able to capture the entire scene — so consider taking a series of shots, and “stitch” them together to capture the scene. The panorama above, of Bow Lake (about 30 miles north of Lake Louise, in Alberta, Canada) was taken by my husband Marcus on a cycling trip, and is actually a series of individual images that he took with his point-and-shoot, and connected together in Photoshop. If you think you’d like to try your hand at creating your own panorama, here are a couple of tips:

a) Always shoot from left to right (or from right to left). The point is to do the shots in sequence, so that when you upload the photographs, they upload in the proper sequence.

b) Find (or make) a horizon, and keep it constant as you take the shots. If you can use a tripod, that’s ideal, but obviously, you don’t always have a tripod available. Just try to keep the horizon as straight and horizontal as possible as you take your series of shots.

c) Overlap the shots by almost 33% each time you squeeze the shutter. It will make stitching them easier once you upload them to your computer.

As mentioned, Photoshop has a great “stitching” program for creating panoramic shots, but if you don’t have Photoshop (or any other type of photo editing software), gimp.org has free photo editing software that apparently does a great job of “stitching.”

And finally, since we’re on the subject, a word about Photoshop: I find that even more than portraits, landscape and seascape shots can often do with a bit of photo editing. Landscape shots straight out of the camera can sometimes feel a bit flat, compared to your memory of the scene at the time. Don’t be afraid to bump up the contrast or sharpen an image to make the final result a more accurate representation of what you experienced (how I edit images can be found here).

Hopefully this has given you a couple of new ideas for your landscape shots! If you have any questions or comments, as always, please leave them below, or e-mail me directly at karen DOT walrond AT weblogsinc DOT com. I’ll be happy to address them in upcoming 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: taking a great portrait

by Karen Walrond on

In a recent post, I described the types of photographs that I like to take while I’m traveling. I thought for upcoming posts, we could talk some specifics about each one of them, starting with taking portraits.

Now, obviously, taking portraits isn’t necessarily an intrepid-traveler thing; however, in my experience, nothing adds more colour and interest to a travel album than the images of the faces you encountered — either your travel companions, or the locals doing their thing. And so, the following is a short guide on how to take a good portrait. If you’re not currently traveling (or don’t have any immediate trips planned), then feel free to try them out on accommodating friends and family so you’re prepared for when you do take off for faraway lands.
For posed shots:

Get in close. One of the biggest mistakes I see when trying to take a portrait is that the photographer takes the image from too far away. Remember, you’re taking a portrait — this isn’t the time to figure out how to get the entire Grand Canyon, or the complete Statue of Liberty into the frame. The point of the portrait should be to capture the essence of the person you’re capturing on film.

So remember that the ideal lens focal length for taking a portrait is around 100-120mm (and that your point-and-shoot, if that’s what you’re using, probably has the capability to do this). And then make sure that your subject’s face and neck take up a majority of the frame. If your goal is to capture an image which will ensure that the viewer’s attention is on the person you’re shooting, then don’t leave any room for doubt.



Find the right place to shoot. In my opinion, natural light is always the most … well, natural lighting to use when shooting a portrait — the trick is to find the right kind of light. Too little light, and your pictures may not result in very sharp images; too much light, and your run the risk of having odd shadows annoyingly appear — or worse, the dreaded Squint Face. The truth is that overcast skies, while disappointing when making your day’s plans, often create ideal conditions for taking portraits, providing sufficient light without shadows. Regardless, whether you choose a shaded area, or a spot next to a sunny window, once you’ve picked a location, don’t forget to adjust your ISO settings accordingly — remember, the brighter the area, the lower the ISO setting (i.e., the fewer the number of “light catchers”) that you’ll need, and vice versa.



Make sure your subject feels comfortable. I don’t know about you, but more often than not, when I’m about to take a photograph of someone, the response is, “oh no! don’t take a picture of me!” or “I look horrible in photos!” or just a general “AUUUUGH!” I find that often getting the subject to cooperate is the hardest part of taking a photograph!

In my experience, the best thing that you can do to help your subject to feel comfortable, is to actually refrain from forcing him to pose. If he wants to make a face, let them — you may end up loving the resulting shot. Joke and talk with him, and when he laughs in response, quickly snap the image — the result will likely be a natural photograph. And finally, If he’s just woken up, his hair is disheveled, there’s sleep in his eyes, and he vociferously protests, then respect his wishes and don’t take the picture. By showing deference to his concerns, you’ll likely get more cooperation from him later, when he’s feeling more photogenic.



Once the subject is in place, before you take the shot, check out what you see. Take a look through the camera, and see if anything looks wrong. If there’s a weird shadow, then adjust your subject to minimize accordingly. If there’s something weird in the background, ditto. Look for stray hairs, lint, spaghetti stains — whatever you think might ruin the shot.

Understand, of course, that sometimes imperfections actually enhance the image. For example, taking the shot of my mother-in-law, above, with her hair in her face, sort of defies convention — but I thought her windblown hair (and her wry smile through the strands) beautifully capture the feeling of that cold, windy November day on that beach in Cornwall. It remains one of my favourite portraits from that trip.

Don’t be afraid of putting the subject off-center in your shot. This is called the “Rule of Thirds” — it’s sort of technical, but basically, it means that your eye finds images that are slightly off-center a bit more interesting. There’s obviously nothing wrong with perfectly centered image, but just to add a bit of visual interest, experiment with placing your subject just slightly left or slightly right.

Take lots and lots and lots of shots. I’m not talking about posing your subject over and over again — I’m saying once you’ve taken one shot, take many immediately after. In my experience, some of the best shots happen after the subject relaxes.

Here’s what I mean: say, for example, you’ve asked your daughter and her friend to sit together and smile for a shot. They do — that strained, clenched smile of young children being forced to pose. You take the shot, they hear the shutter release, and they figure the shot is over. KEEP THE CAMERA AIMED AT THEIR FACES. Invariably, one of them will say something that cracks the other up — she’ll say “booger” or “poop” or some other 4-year-old witticism, causing the two of them to collapse in giggles. That’s when you click that shutter like your life depends on it. I guarantee you’ll love one of the follow-up shots (and it’s astounding how well this technique works on adults, too).

For candid shots, images of locals (who you don’t know), and so on:

For candid shots of friends and family members while on vacation, pretty much all the rules above apply — the trick, of course, is tapping into your inner photojournalist. You’re still want to get in close, but now you’re probably going to want that 200 mm lens (or max out the zoom on your point-and-shoot) so as not to interrupt the action that is going on. You’ll still want to check out the light conditions, etc., to adjust your ISO; however if there are weird shadows in th
e way, it’s probably going to be hard for you to adjust the subject, so you may have to forego the shot (or take it anyway, and hope for the best). But now, more than ever, you’re really going to want to take lots of shots, so click away — that way you’ll have tons of images from which to choose the very best.

And finally, one word about shooting strangers: in general, the safest thing you can do is to politely ask the subject if you can take her photograph, before taking the shot. While in the United States, if you’re out in a public place and take the photograph, you’re probably fine, privacy laws vary from country to country, so your safest bet is to ask for permission first.

If you’re not brave enough to ask a total stranger to take his photograph, then do what I do — take the photographs of buskers or other street performers. Usually it’s a great way to capture local flavour, and you can pay for the privilege for taking the photograph for a nominal fee. I’ve been able to snag some of my favourite vacation shots this way as a result.

Hopefully the tips in this post will help you improve your portraiture skills — as I said at the top, keep practicing with amenable friends and family, and I guarantee you’ll see improvement. And as always, if you have any questions, please send them directly to karen DOT walrond AT weblogsinc DOT com, and I’ll address them in upcoming posts!

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

Through the Gadling Lens: 5 great New Year’s resolutions for amateur travel photographers

by Karen Walrond on

Well, ’tis the season for coming up with New Year’s resolutions — and frankly, I think “lose weight” and “be a better person” are just a bit too cliche, don’t you? Still, it’s good to have goals, and since we’re all about travel and photography up here at Through the Gadling Lens, I thought I’d through a little megapixel inspiration your way, with a few suggestions for improving your travel photography for 2009. The following are resolutions I’ve either made in the past, or are seriously considering making for the coming year — and of course, I’m always looking for additional suggestions, so feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

So, without further ado, five great resolutions:

1. Shoot daily. When I bought my very first single-lens reflex camera back in the mid-nineties, I took a professional photographer-friend with me to make my choice. I remember, after spending $501 on the second-hand Nikon FE-series camera (in my mind, a fortune), I stood there looking at him, the camera in my shaking hands. “Now what?” I said.

“Now, you shoot,” he calmly responded. “And shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and shoot.”

“Shouldn’t I take a class first?” I asked.

“You can,” he said, carefully, “but the truth is that the way to become a photographer is to shoot and shoot. And shoot some more. And compare. And contrast. And adjust. You will learn more doing that than from any class you could take.”

Years later, I have to agree: the best way to become a photographer is to be a photographer. So even if you’re not traveling, go ahead and pick up your camera daily, aim it at something, and squeeze the trigger. Take pictures of your breakfast. Your unmade bed. Your partner. Your reflection in a store window. A flower. A blade of grass. Whatever. The point is to train your eye to frame shots naturally, and to hone your own photographic style. Once you do, taking photographs when you are traveling will become a piece of cake.



2. Join a new Flickr Group. Naturally, if you’re a Gadling reader and you take photographs when you travel, you’ve already joined the Gadling Flickr group (you have joined, haven’t you?). But since you’re going to be taking these daily photographs, consider joining other groups for inspiration and encouragement. Want to get better at portraits? There’s a group for that. Landscape photography more your thing? There’s a group for that, too. If you’re planning vacations to the beach for 2009, then maybe this pool will provide some inspiration. The point is, joining a community which challenges you and constructively criticizes your images will only help you enhance your skill. And the best part? It costs you nothing to join.



3. Start a photoblog. Several years ago, I made the “I’m going to take a photograph every day” New Year’s resolution — but knowing that I would be horrible at keeping it, I decided to put a little skin in the game: I started photoblogging. I figured that if I had an audience, then I would be pushed to publish only my really good shots; which, in turn, forced me to be a bit circumspect of the images that I chose to capture daily. Now, obviously, you don’t have to make your photoblog public — you can just as easily make it private and for your eyes only, until you’re brave enough to let the world see your work. Either way, the great upside to doing this is that you will naturally see the progression of your skills over the year, because by sticking to it, you’ll undoubtedly see improvement from the shots you take at the beginning of January 2009 and the ones you take at the end of December 2009. Besides, if you do take your photoblog public and allow people to comment on your images, the encouragement from your audience can be priceless.

If you decide to start a photoblog, here are a couple of tips:

  • There are several blogging platforms out there which will allow you upload your photographs and thus create a photoblog: Blogger is one such platform and Typepad is another; but there are several more (check out WordPress and my personal favourite, Squarespace, to name a few). Some of them have levels which are free, and still others you have to pay a monthly fee (but they often have a free trial period). In general, you don’t have to be a whizbang website developer or coder to use these — if you’re comfortable with using standard word processing software, you should be able to figure out how to use a blogging platform. Just check them out, email some of your favourite bloggers to ask them what they recommend, and just jump in.
  • When it comes to designing your blog, remember, less is more: the point is to focus on your images that you’ll be uploading each day. Therefore, very busy blog designs will compete with your images, and sort of defeat the purpose. A clean design often works best.
  • For inspiration, check out some recent favourite photobloggers from around the globe: Bloom, Grow, Love; Modern Day Gilligan; momster.; One day files.

4. Plan at least one trip specifically for the purpose of practicing your photography. This could be a trip anyplace, anywhere. It could be for three straight weeks, or simply a day trip to a neighbouring town. The point is to force yourself into a change of scenery, and then capture its beauty. It is, of course, more exciting to plan a dream vacation to an exotic locale for an extended period of time, but if you don’t have the time or the money to do so, then by all means, pick a town on a map within a ninety minute drive (or commuter train ride, or whatever), and then research it. Find out what it’s known for, and what makes it special. And then, armed with your research (and keeping in mind the kinds of shots you’d like to take), take off one Saturday, and snap away. It’s great practice for honing your travel photography skills, and who knows — you might create some cool memories while you’re at it.

5. Plan a trip to take an on-location photography workshop. Think of it: you take your long-wished-for trip to the Grand Canyon, in the company of a professional photographer, who not only shows you the best parts of the canyon park to shoot, but also shows you the best light, and how to set your camera to maximize the beauty of the images you take. Or perhaps a photography excursion to the French Wine Country, where you spend your days taking photographs of the amazing countryside under the tutelage of a local photographer, and your evenings sipping the products of the local vineyards.

Photo excursions like these are a mere Google search away, and if you’re willing to spend the cash, they can result in a trip to remember — with the images to prove it. Check out the websites of some of the big-name camera manufacturers to start (right now, this one from Nikon has caught my eye … it’s been way too long since I went scuba diving, man …), and then go from there. The possibilities are too fantastic to contemplate.

So, those suggestions should get you started — no need to do them all, obviously, but if you’d really like to improve your photography skills, considering doing one or two of them. And if you have any other suggestions, please do leave them in the comments section — I’m coming up with my own list as I type.

In the meantime, Happy New Year, everyone. We’ll continue with more travel photography tips and resources in 2009!

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: capturing your visit home for the holidays

by Karen Walrond on

Well, it’s the countdown to the holidays, folks — and whether or not this is your favourite time of the year, or you don’t celebrate any year-end holiday at all, chances are you’re about to get a few days off. Chances are also pretty good that you’re going to be traveling back home for the days to come; or, in the alternative, family is coming to visit you. So rather than dread the tension created by being around your family for an extended period, here’s how to capture some of the best of being back home for the holidays.
1. Snap a shot of the greeting. If you’re picking people up at the airport (or are being picked up), or are just doing the standard road-trip to the old homestead, have your camera ready to capture the hugs, the slaps on the backs, the “Wow, you’re looking great!” moments that happen as soon as you see loved ones. The greetings are often my favourite parts of trips — it’s when all the baggage tends to fall away, and the fleeting moment everyone expresses their genuine happiness to see each other. While, obviously, it would great to ensure that you’ve covered every technical aspect necessary to make a crisp perfect shot, this actually isn’t the time for posed images, or re-shots: so what if the resulting image is blurry, or slightly out-of-focus? The point is to capture the emotion of the greetings as best as you can — and even if the shots aren’t technically perfect, chances are you’ll cherish the images in years to come all the same.

2. Get portraits of the kids. If this is like most of our family gatherings, this might be the first time in a while that all the kids (i.e., all the little cousins) actually get together to play together. Let them go to it, and then, while they’re not paying attention to you, grab some shots of them enjoying each other. And grab some shots of them looking right at you as well. Not only will this capture some great holiday memories for you, but it will also mark their milestones as they grow (you’ll be able to remember when you took the picture because of the holiday associated), and likely become cherished images for them when they’re adults.

3. Capture some images of the everyday chores. Most family gatherings end up revolving around one main room in the house: the kitchen. Not only should you grab some snapshots of people hanging around the kitchen or sitting around the table, but go ahead and capture some images of Aunt Pearl making her world renowned pecan pie. Or the ingredients that are sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be turned into Cousin Brad’s famous blueberry pancakes. Or the flour-covered hands of the kids as they roll out the cookie dough. Or your dad lighting the fireplace on the first night. Even though these images might not be posed, they will capture the atmosphere of everyone as they relax into the daily routine of being family.

And if you are celebrating a holiday, be sure to capture some shots of some of the tasks related to the day: children’s hands hanging Christmas ornaments or lighting candles of the menorah, say. These shots will add some holiday meaning to your collection of images.

4. Rediscover your home town. If you’re returning to your childhood home, take some time to take a walk down memory lane: slip away from everyone, and go walk through your city’s streets, visit your favourite old haunts, marvel at how much things have changed (or how much they’ve stayed the same), and grab a few shots. There’s no reason to stick with your family 24/7 while you’re on your visit, and chances are you’re going to want some alone time. Take it — but take your camera along, as well.

5. Snap the iconic shots. If you and your family are celebrating a holiday, be sure to capture the iconic shots: the visit to Santa, the midnight wrapping of the Christmas gifts, the lit menorah or tree, whatever. It’s the holidays, after all! It’s important to capture the meaning behind why you are all getting together. And incidentally, if you’re the time that likes to send out greeting cards, as you take these iconic shots, think about which ones might make great greeting card images for next year’s holidays. That way, you won’t find yourself scrambling looking for holiday-themed images come November 30th, when you start panicking about what your cards should look like.

6. Grab a shot of everyone together. I know, I know — it’s cheesy, but this is one of those shots where it’s difficult to gather everyone together to do it at any time during the rest of the year, and besides — as silly as it seems now, these images are the ones you’re going to love 20 years from now. To make the whole experience less painful, here are a couple of tips:

a) If you use a tripod to take the shot, where you get everyone standing or sitting in place, and then you set the timer on your camera to give you time to run back into the shot and smile, then take two shots: one, where everyone is posed, and smiling and sweet, and then one where they’re not: where they all take a group family hug, or make a face, or turn their backs to the camera, or strike a ballerina pose, or a runway pose, or a whatever pose — something that will make you all laugh at the outcome.

b) To get some wonderfully natural shots, use a big mirror, situate everyone in front of it, and then snap away at your reflection as you all relate to each other in the mirror. This is actually how my husband, daughter and I take our holiday shots every year (this year’s shown above), and I’ve never failed to love the resulting shot.

Good luck getting all your great holiday shots! As always, if you have any questions on how to improve your travel photographs, don’t hesitate to e-mail me directly at karen.walrond@weblogsinc.com — I’m happy to address them in upcoming posts. In the meantime, happy holidays, everyone, and safe travels!

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