If your photography interests lie in taking outdoor and travel photographs, you have come to the right place. I’ll share my best photo tips and techniques, from A to Z.
Aerials
When shooting from an airplane, you’ll most likely be shooting through Plexiglas. For sharper shots, ask for the door to be removed when you’re shooting from a small plane. To avoid reflections on the Plexiglas, cup your hand around your lens and hold it near the window, or use a rubber lens hood. Wearing a black shirt will also help reduce reflections. Conversely, wearing a white shirt will create bright reflections that can ruin your shots.
When taking pictures from an airplane, especially a small one, you don’t want any part of your upper body to touch the window,or any part of the interior of the plane for that matter. If your upper body does come in contact with, say, an armrest, the vibration from the plane can be transferred to your camera, causing camera shake, which, in turn, can cause blurry pictures. To reduce the effects of camera shake, use an ISO setting that gives you a shutter speed of at least 1/250 of a second. I usually set my ISO to 200 on a sunny day. When it comes to lenses, use a medium wide-angle setting for sweeping views and a medium telephoto for tighter shots. (Palau, Micronesia)
Behind-The-Scenes Shots
We all love to zoom in on our subjects to get pictures with impact. But if we take behind-the-scenes shots, we add a personal touch to our slide shows and photo albums, giving the viewer the feeling of being there. (On safari in a South African National Park)
Caribbean Carnivals
Caribbean carnivals are great fun and offer great photo opportunities. You’ll find hundreds of people dressed in colorful costumes. The key to getting good photos is to actually get into the slow-moving parades that pass through the streets. To reduce harsh shadows caused by direct sunlight, use a flash for daylight fill-in flash photography. If you don’t have a flash that offers variable flash output (needed for daylight fill-in flash pictures), or don’t want to use a flash, wait until the end of the parade (or get there early) and ask your subjects to move into the shade. (Performer, Carnival, St. Martin)
Deserts
Deserts, as well as beaches, offer two major challenges for photographers–dealing with bright sunlight and lots of sand. When direct sunlight falls on the front element of a lens, it causes lens flare. At its worst, lens flare looks like a bright, glowing point in a scene that is distracting at best. At its worst, it can adversely affect contrast, making the overall picture look soft. To help avoid lens flare, use a lens hood or shade your lens with your hand or a hat.
As far as dealing with sand, which can get into the focusing and zooming rings of lenses, avoid sand exposure at all cost. Never placing your camera bag down in the sand will help keep your gear sand free.
When changing lenses in the desert or at the beach, try to select a location that is protected from the wind. The last thing you want is getting even a single grain of sand on your camera’s image sensor (only possible with digital SLRs), which will look like a large blob in all your pictures. Also, change lenses very carefully. I was teaching a workshop on the beach not long ago when one of my students, while changing lenses, actually dropped one of his lenses in the sand! This is really asking for trouble. (Sunset, Rajasthan, India)
Exploring a Location
Part of the fun of taking pictures outdoors is exploring a location. On your explorations, being prepared to capture unexpected sites is a key element in getting the best shot. On a trip to Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam, I packed a variety of lenses and accessories, including my flash. Without myflash,and fresh batteries, I would have missed capturing this quite unexpected view–a massive cavern inside the island that was discovered accidentally by a fisherman a few years before my trip. (Cavern, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam)
Fun Shots
It’s easy to get caught up with taking the best possible pictures when you’re on location. However, if you try too hard, and don’t have any fun, you may not get the best pictures, or even get a high percentage of good pictures. So, my advice is to have fun! And when you are having fun, record the moment. In later years, your fun shots may mean more to you than your serious photographs. A flash was used to lighten my face in shot at right. (Author and photographer Rick Sammon, on a mule ride in the Grand Canyon – before the saddle sores).
Glare on Glass and Water
The #1 filter you need for outdoors and travel photography is a polarizing filter. A polarizing filter can reduce or even eliminate reflections on glass and water. It can also make outdoor pictures look sharper,because it can reduce reflections in atmospheric haze. Polarizing filters are most effective when the sun is at a 90?? angle to the subject. Warming polarizers (which provide a warming effect as well as polarization) are also available. Nik multimedia, Inc. offers a polarizing filter in its Photoshop Plug-in, Color Efex Pro 2.0. (Colorado River, Mobah, UT)
Heat and Humidity
Digital cameras don’t like heat and humidity. When an image sensor heats up, the colors it records may not be accurate. And when it comes to humidity, if you have a digital SLR, don’t change lenses when you go from an air-conditioned area into a humid environment. If you do change lenses under these conditions, condensation can build up on the image sensor (actually on the filter over the image sensor) and fog your pictures. (Taj Mahal, Agra, India)
Indoor
Whenever possible, try not to use a flash for indoor shooting. The harsh light from a direct flash will often make your pictures look (you guessed it!) harsh. If you do have to use a flash, bounce the flash off the ceiling. For that technique, you’ll need a flash with a tilt head. Bouncing the light will spread and soften the light for a more even and flattering effect. This barbershop photograph is a flash shot, taken with bounce flash lighting.
For indoor, natural light photography, a tripod is necessary when shooting at slow shutter speeds (usually below 1/30). For hand-held pictures, you’ll need to use a high ISO setting (maybe 400, 800, or even higher).
To help steady your indoor shots, try using an image stabilization (IS) or vibration reduction (VR) lens. These lenses, because they reduce the effect of camera shake, let you shoot at slower shutter speeds than are usually possible for handheld photography. The general rule for hand holding a lens is this: Don’t use a shutter speed slower than one over the focal length of the lens. For example, when using a 28mm lens, don’t use a shutter speed below 1/30. With the IS lens, you can handhold a 28mm lens at 1/15 sec, maybe even 1/8 sec, and still get a sharp shot. (Keif’sBarbershop, near Camden, Maine)
Jungles
Deep in the jungles (or the rain forest) you have to deal with really dim lighting conditions. When you go, be prepared to shoot at relatively high ISO settings, maybe even as high as ISO 800. (Survival Camp, Ariau Towers, Amazonas, Brazil)
Kids
When photographing kids while traveling, keep in mind this saying: “Silence is deadly.” During an impromptu photo shoot, keep taking to the kids, even if you are using a guide/translator. Also keep in mind the saying: “The camera looks both ways; in picturing the subject, we are also picturing a part of ourselves.”
In other words, the feeling and attitude you project will be reflected in your subject. Another tip is to “see eye to eye,” that is, get down to the child’s level when you take your picture, rather than standing up and looking down at the child. (Boy with cat makeup, Tampa, Florida)
Mind Your Manners
Nighttime Shooting
Cities come alive with lights after the sun goes down. To capture the lights, I recommend setting your DSLR to ISO 400 and the White Balance to Automatic (due to the different light sources). ISO 400-or-faster color negative film also provides better color tracking with mixed or unusual light sources.
To add drama to nighttime city photographs, use a slow shutter speed (perhaps as long as 30 seconds) to get tail lights streaking through a picture. Those long shutter speeds will require a tripod. Check your camera’s LCD monitor to make sure that bright lights are not overexposed. If they are, use your camera’s +/- exposure compensation control and reduce the exposure accordingly. Finally, remember what your mother told you: Wear white at night for safety. (South Miami Beach, Florida)
Owls and Other Birds
For close-up shots like this in the wild, you’ll need a telephoto lens. As a basic “bird lens,” I’d recommend a 100-400mm zoom. To get even tighter shots of a far-away bird, use a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter, which effectively increases the focal length of the lens by 1.4 times and 2 times, respectively.
To light subjects in the shade and to add a catch light to a subject’s eyes, use a flash with a flash (a device that fits over the flash head and increases the flash-to-subject distance range). (Screech Owl, Anna Maria Island, Florida)
Practice
When you go on location, you often see photo opportunities that can be gone in the blink of an eye. If you have to fumble around with camera settings, you’ll miss the shot. I’ve seen that all too often in my workshops.
If you practice before a trip, to the point where making camera adjustments becomes second nature, you’ll get a higher percentage of “keepers” when you travel. Practicing, however, goes beyond technical camera adjustments. If you have not photographed strangers for a while, photograph your family,friends, and neighbors.
If your travels will be taking you to a foreign city, make a trip to your local big city and shoot throughout the day. If close-up nature photography is your passion, spend time experimenting with lighting to see how best to light your subjects. Taking pictures on location is like jazz piano improvisation; knowing what to do n becomes almost automatic. (Rick Sammon photographing in the field)
Quality Control
Novice digital photographers often think that getting a camera with the highest number of megapixels and shooting in the RAW mode will give them the highest quality image. Well, those factors do affect image quality. However, they are not the only things to consider when it comes to this crucial factor.
The quality of the lens not only affects the sharpness of an image,but can also affect how much light reaches the corners of the image sensor or film frame. When light is reduced in the corners, the image will look darker in those areas. How a digital file is processed in camera also affects the quality. Usually, more expensive cameras have higher-quality image processors than relatively inexpensive cameras.
In addition, how you process an image in your image-editing program impacts image quality. For best results, save and work on your pictures as TIFF files, which is a lossless way to save pictures. If your imaging program can open 16-bit files,go for it. You’ll get less “banding” in shadow areas and you’ll have a file with maximum color depth. Finally, when sharpening an image, always sharpen as a final step. (Crowned pigeon, San Diego Zoo, California)
Rainy Days
To protect your gear when shooting in the rain, travel with a camera bag with a water repellent, foldout cover. For in-the-rain shooting, use large sandwich bags with openings cut out for your lens and viewfinder. For the ultimate in waterproof protection, check out the waterproof plastic housings from EWA marine. Be careful that your camera does not get wet! Digital cameras don’t like moisture. (Roadside restaurant, Anganguero, Mexico)
Shadows
Shadows add depth and dimension to pictures. Without shadows, pictures look flat. Overcast days and scenes before sunrise and after sunset have few if any shadows. Sunny days produce strong shadows, with the most dramatic and flattering shadows occurring in the early morning and late afternoon. For the most dramatic outdoors pictures, shoot during these hours, when the light is warm and shadows add contrast to your pictures. (Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah)
Twilight
Twilight is a wonderful time to photograph city scapes. The mix of soft skylight and city lights produces pictures that seem to glow. When you arrive in a foreign city, ask the hotel manager when the sun sets and where most people go to photograph the sunset. Get there early, set up your tripod and compose your picture. Underexposing your pictures a bit will give you slightly more saturated colors. Set your white balance on Auto due to the mixed light sources. If you shoot film, try daylight-balanced film, which will result in pictures with warmer colors. To help prevent camera shake, use a cable or electronic release, or set your camera’s self-timer for “hands-off” shooting (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Underwater Photography
Many books have been written on underwater photography–I’ve produced five of them myself! Shooting beneath the waves requires waterproof cameras or waterproof housings for topside digital cameras. Adorama carries a line of underwater housings and cameras (see “shop related items” on this page). Wide-angle lenses are ideal for beneath-the-waves seascapes because the refractive index of water increases the effective focal length of your lens. Lenses longer than 50mm are relatively useless for underwater shooting. However, to capture the wonders of the close-up world, you’ll need a macro lens. To bring out the colors of marine creatures, you’ll also need a flash (or two), because water filters out color selectively. The deeper you dive, the more colors you lose. (Chain moray eel, Maldives)
Vertical Shots
How you hold your camera, vertically or horizontally, and how you compose your pictures in each position, greatly affects the impact of a picture. What’s more, if you are a travel photographer who hopes to get your work published, having both a vertical and horizontal picture of the same subject increase your chances of getting into print. When you’re out shooting, make it a habit to take both vertical and horizontal photographs of the same subject. Even if publication is not your goal, you’ll be glad to have the choice when preparing an album or show. (Note: These two pictures were taken of different sections of the glacier at different angles and from different distances.) (Hubbard Glacier, Alaska)
Waterfalls
Three technical factors to consider when photographing waterfalls are exposure, filtering and shutter speed. Because water reflects light, you’ll often see “hot spots” in waterfall scenes. To avoid these areas being washed out, slightly underexpose your picture, perhaps by a stop under the meter reading. By using your digital image-editing program, you can usually “pull” data from shadow areas, but it’s often impossible to bring back washed out highlights.
To reduce reflections in camera, use a polarizing filter. The digital polarizing filters in plug-in programs like Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 can darken a blue sky after you take the shot, but they really can’t reduce harsh reflections like an optical polarizer can. When it comes to choosing a shutter speed, use a slow shutter speed (from 1/30 sec. to several seconds) to blur the movement of the water. Obviously, the longer the shutter speed you use, the more the water will be blurred. (Waterfall, Croton-on-Hudson, New York)
X Marks the Spot
“Being there” is one of the key ingredients for good travel pictures. So, travel as much as you can and you’ll be inspired to take great pictures as often as possible. Also, sometimes moving just a few feet to the left or right can make the difference between a great shot and a snapshot. When looking through your camera’s viewfinder, think about the best possible spot from which to take the picture, and shoot from several different vantage points to give yourself a selection later on. (Rainbow, Mohab, Utah)
You Snooze, You Lose
Simply put, get up early and stay out late when traveling. In the early morning and late afternoon hours you’ll get “golden light” in your pictures, that is, you’ll get deeper shades of red, yellow, and orange.
What’s more, long shadows will add a sense of depth and dimension to your photographs. Likewise, pictures taken around midday often look cool and flat. If you really want to get an unusual photograph, shoot an hour or so before the sun rises or after it sets. You’ll need a tripod and you’ll have to use long shutter speeds. This requires a cable release, or the use of the camera’s self-timer, to prevent camera shake.
In the soft light of pre-dawn and post-sunset, you’ll get soft, moody pictures. Long shutter speeds often result in an increase in noise in digital pictures (it looks similar to excessive grain in film pictures). Some cameras offer a noise reduction feature, which you activate manually.
Noise reduction does work, but in the noise reduction process, the lag time between shots is increased, and you may miss an opportunity. Because you can also reduce noise in the digital darkroom (using a noise reduction filter or a blur filter), I think it’s best not to use the camera’s noise reduction feature, especially when shooting active subjects. (Sunrise, Danxia Mountain, China)
Zoos and Wildlife Parks
There’s a saying about professional photographers: All pros started out as amateurs. It’s true. I’m one of them. As amateurs, you can practice your wildlife photography skills at zoos and wildlife parks. When taking pictures, try to imagine what it would be like to shoot in the field. Get to know what your camera and lenses can do, so when you do shoot animals in the wild, making camera adjustments will have become second nature. Telephoto lenses will help you isolate subjects from distracting background elements, especially if you shoot at wide apertures. (Proboscis Monkeys, Bronx Zoo, Bronx, New York)
Canon Explorer of Light and award-winning photographer Rick Sammon loves his day job. A tireless, prolific and inspirational image-maker, Rick, called by some “The Godfather of Photography,” is one of the most active photographers on the planet – dividing his time between creating images, leading photo workshops, and making personal appearances. Rick’s enthusiasm for digital imaging is contagious. He is a man on a mission – a mission to make digital photography fun, creative, exciting and rewarding for others.
Rick’s latest book (April 2015) is Creative Visualization for Photographers.
While Rick describes himself as “evolving,” he hesitates to categorize his work. “I’m an A-to-Z type of photographer. I do it all – and I enjoy the freedom of not specializing.”
With nearly 40 years of experience, this self-taught photographer has many accomplishments –and many more anticipated for the road ahead. As Rick suggests, “When you are through changing, you are through.”
Visit with Rick at www.ricksammon.com. Rick can be contacted at ricksammon@me.com.
