Hey, if you’re in a hurry to jumpstart your outdoor and travel pictures, I’ve put together my top photo tips just for you. So what are we waiting for–let’s jump right in!
Avoid Noisy Pictures
For pictures with the most detail, set your camera to the lowest practical ISO setting. As the ISO increases, so will the digital noise (grain) in your pictures. Pro digital cameras have less noise at higher ISO settings than lower end consumer cameras at the same ISO setting—which is why this shot of an owl taken with my EOS 1Ds has no noticeable digital noise even though it was shot at ISO 800. The same applies to film cameras—lower ISO films such as ISO 100 provide less grain and generally better color saturation. However, for handheld shooting, especially with long lenses, ISO 400 film provides a good combination of speed and image quality, and lets you shoot at faster shutter speeds.
Autofocus Cameras Aren’t Mind Readers
Just because our cameras can automatically focus, that does not mean that the camera knows where to focus. Use your camera’s Autofocus Lock to lock in the specific area of scene, say a subject’s eyes, you want in sharp focus. For this photo, I locked in on my son’s face.
Backup On Location
When you are out in the field for several days or weeks shooting digital, be back up the pictures each night on your laptop and then burn a CD or DVD for safe keeping. A portable hard drive is a handy backup solution if you don’t want to take your laptop with you, but a CD or DVD is even more secure.
Beware of the Background
The background can make or break a photograph. Use the background to enhance a subject and not detract from it. In some cases, the background can be as important as the main subject. You can emphasize the background by shooting at a small aperture, and de-emphasize it by shooting at a larger aperture. This method is especially effective when shooting at the telephoto settings of your zoom lens. For this shot, I used the background (church) to add interest to the main subject (the statue).
Choose Your Exposure Mode Carefully
Sure it’s easy to leave your camera on Program and let the camera make shutter speed and aperture decisions for you. But for more creative control, use Time Value (Shutter Priority), Aperture Value (Aperture Priority) or Manual exposure control. You’ll find that the few seconds it takes to set your custom exposure is well worth it. Shooting at slow shutter speeds and panning the camera in the direction of the motion is a classic technique for capturing the feel of fast-moving subjects. For this shot of a holy man in Kathmandu, Nepal, I set my camera on Manual exposure control to fine-tune my exposure.
Image Quality Setting is Important
One of the most important camera settings is Image Quality. For the best possible digital file, set your camera to the RAW (or TIFF or NEF) mode. High/JPEG is a good second choice. If you only want to take snapshots to send as attachments to e-mail or to post on web sites, Low/JPEG is okay. For this shot of two butterflies mating (from which I made a 20×24-inch print) I set my Canon EOS 1Ds to RAW.
Keep it Clean
If you shoot with an SLR, keeping the image sensor clean is important. Even a tiny speck of dust on the image sensor can look like a big blob in a picture, especially if the dust speck shows up in the sky area of a picture. So, change lenses only in relatively dust-free areas, such as in your vehicle with the windows closed. I was super careful when changing lenses in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, which is why you don’t see and blobs in the sky in this picture.
Know Your Camera
This one drives me crazy on my photo workshops. Students often show up and don’t know how to get the most out of their camera, because they have not read the instruction manual that came with it. So, as the newsboys used to shout, “read all about it” before you set out on your very first photo shoot. Also, keep your camera manual with you when you go on location, just in case you forget how to set a particular camera function.
Name of the Game is Fill the Frame
When composing a picture, crop out the “dead space”(open sky, blank walls, sandy beach with no detail, etc.) that doesn’t add any interest to the image. In other words, fill the frame with the main subject and eliminate details to create more visual impact. I followed this advice for this picture of a butterfly orchid.
Remember to Reset
One of the benefits of digital photography is that we can change the ISO, Image Quality and White Balance setting from exposure to exposure. It’s easy, and I say this from sad experience, to forget to reset your camera when you move on to a new shooting situation. So, to avoid a too grainy, too pixilated and/or off-color picture, check your camera settings from time to time. The same applies to film cameras. Remember to switch back to standard settings and modes if you’ve made a custom setting or exposure compensation and you’ll avoid unpleasant surprises. For this shot of a lighthouse in Maine, I set my White Balance manually.
Thank Flashy Outdoors Pictures
Use a flash for outdoor portraits to brighten up the subject’s face and to add a nice “catch light” to his or her eyes. Without a flash, this sloth, photographed in Costa Rica, would have been backlit and underexposed, and the eyes wouldn’t have sparkled.
The Camera Sees Both Ways
When photographing a person, remember that your subject will reflect the image you project. Project a happy feeling, and your subject will feel and look happy. Project a serious feeling, and your subject will look more serious. What attitude do you think I projected when I took this picture of a young Cuban woman?
Think Before You Delete
A picture that does not look great on your camera’s LCD monitor can often be fixed in the digital darkroom. So, don’t delete too quickly. Keep in mind that many pictures can be saved or enhanced in the digital darkroom. This picture was a bit dull until I boosted the saturation in Photoshop.
Watch Your White Balance
In most cases, you’ll get the most accurate color rendition of a subject when you set the White Balance manually: daylight for sunny days, cloudy for overcast days and so on. In mixed lighting conditions, say when you are shooting indoors and have a mix of daylight and artificial light, Auto White Balance may be the best choice.
You Snooze, You Lose
Professional outdoors and travel photographers shoot in the early morning and late afternoon to capture the beautiful light of the “golden hours,” when we see and can record deeper shades of red, orange and yellow. If you sleep in or take a nap in the afternoon, you’ll miss this beautiful warm light that can enhance many an outdoor scene.
Rick Sammon is the author of The Complete Guide to Digital Photography, published by W.W. Norton. He also recently completed an interactive CD, Photoshop for the Outdoor and Travel Photographer, distributed by Software Cinema. For information, see www.ricksammon.com.
