Tips for vacation photography

Recently, my oldest sister was married on the beach in beautiful Mexico. It was so gorgeous! Before I left, I wanted to look up some tips on vacation photography. There are multiple sights where you can get some good information. I have compiled what I think to be the best pieces of advice.

1. Make sure your batteries are always charged. There's nothing worse than a dead battery when a great photo-op arrives.

2. Pack enough memory to take a TON of pictures. I brought my laptop to upload pictures when I was getting low on memory space.

3. Shoot with the sun behind you in order to not overexpose.

4. Know your shutter speed. Use a fast shutter speed to stop action or a slow shutter speed to create a pleasing blur when shooting a waterfall.

5. Compose carefully.
-make the main subject BIG "assume your audience has the attention span of a 3-year-old"
-more often than not, avoid placing your main subject dead center
-look for natural frames like a church spire framed by the arches of a cloister
-when shooting landscapes, decide which is pictorially more important: land, water, or sky (take multiple and decide later)
-look for lines in the scene -a road or foosteps in the sand- and try to frame the picture so the lines lead the eye from the left toward your main subject

6. Try to look below the surface when photographing your travels. Look for shots that capture something of the local ambience and culture.

7. Add stunning photo effects
-cropping can change an average photo into a dramatic one
-before editing, save an extra copy of the original in case you don't like your edits so that you can start over
-silhouettes, old buildings, and landscapes can always be converted to black and white
-combine black and white and color
-panorama

8. Organize and share what you shoot

9. Don't forget the faces. It's worth missing something to get the face of your loved one as it happens.

10. Get the details -flowers, bugs, weave of the hammock on the beach, the grain in the bamboo flooring in your bungalow, and the tiniest bubbles in the wake of the tide


11. Watch for wildlife

12. Learn to shoot in the dark. If you've got the room, pack the tripod. If not, look for a nice flat surface to set your camera down.

13. Make sure everyone has a camera! Even people (such as children) that take terrible pictures usually, can surprise you sometimes. Besides, it's always nice to have a picture or 2 of yourself in the mix.

14. Be creative with poses -jump, funny facial expressions

15. Take candids. Try to capture what is happening around you without being noticed.

(This is my mom and my aunt)


16. Find interesting angles. Don't hesitate to lie on the ground and to try some ants eye view shots to make things look gigantic.

17. Always have your camera at hand. You never know when something interesting might happen.

18. Don't be the regular tourist. Try to take pictures of famous monuments and places in early morning or around sunset.

19. When photographing a landscape, make the foreground interesting -a rock, tree, statue, a fisherman tending his nets, a cowboy on horseback, even a tourist taking a picture.

20. Get as close as you can to your subject to avoid using the camera's zoom in low-light situations.

21. Check the edges of the frame as you compose a shot. Train yourself to look for objects you don't want in the picture. I once took a picture of my sister's backyard thinking it looked gorgeous. When I went to review it later, I noticed at the very edge their dog pooping. Thank goodness for cropping!