February 2019 – To Travel Hopefully

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou [Encore Publication]: How to make great portraits while traveling or near home

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou

I have long believed that travel equates to growth; that we cannot know our place in the world until we have experienced the lives of people in many different places. Of all the joys of travel photography, to me the greatest is having the chance to meet people from very different backgrounds, to get to know them for a few minutes or for much longer, and to collaborate with them to make memorable images.

A recurring theme in this forum will be how to use our cameras as a bridge to learn about and to share insights into other cultures. But the emphasis of this particular post is on the technical elements of creating portraits. These techniques apply as well to shooting portraits across the street from our home as to making great people images halfway around the world.

Most portraits that we see published in magazines or photography books were made in the studio, where the photographer has complete control over the lighting and background, and often is working with a professional model. But when we’re traveling, there’s often only a moment after getting to know a person and receiving their permission to photograph them, during which to set up our gear and shoot. We have to live with whatever lighting is available and often must make do with a cluttered background. To make this portrait of a woman enjoying a coffee break at a carpet-weaving collective in Turkey, I wanted to give the image a soft, flattering look and to bring out the rich, saturated colors of her clothing. I chose a smaller than usual aperture to provide greater depth-of-field, so that the old house itself became part of the environment. To accommodate the soft and dim natural indoor lighting, I used a higher ISO setting and a slower shutter speed.

This portrait set in a weaving collective in Turkey evokes a sense of place and a mood of quiet repose. Buy this photo

While trekking in Nepal, we stopped to rest at a teahouse where these two sisters were also taking a break along their journey. I wished them “Namaste,” or well wishes, and they responded with a traditional hand gesture of greeting. This image was made long before the digital era on a film camera with a normal lens and natural lighting only (had I had a flash unit handy, it would have helped to bring out the girls’ hair against the dark background). I love the warmth of the girls’ expressions and the simple but bright colors of their dresses set off against the black background of the teahouse’s interior.

A friendly welcome from these two young sisters at a rural teahouse in Nepal. Buy this photo

Sometimes we want to tell the viewer more about our subject than what is possible in a simple close-up portrait. An environmental portrait allows us to include more than just the subject by zooming out and bringing in other elements. I photographed this maker of traditional Turkish instruments in his workshop while he tested a nearly-completed Bağlama, surrounded by other partially made instruments. To my eye, the resulting portrait is more compelling than a close-up because it shows the subject in his environment. To make this portrait, I used a wider focal-length and a narrower aperture so as to have more of the environmental elements in the frame and in focus.

An environmental portrait of a maker of traditional Turkish musical instruments. Buy this photo

A portrait doesn’t have to portray a stock-still person posing for the camera. Some of my favorite portraits evoke a strong sense of motion. I made this portrait of a samba dancer during the Carnaval San Francisco annual parade by getting in close and shooting with a medium-length telephoto lens set to a small aperture to soften the background. I used a fast shutter speed to freeze the action (although sometimes a slower shutter speed can be used to create a nice blurred effect). In post-processing, I cropped the image to further isolate the dancer and emphasize the grace of the motion.

This dancer in a Brazilian Samba krewe was captured in a tight composition that was further cropped in post-processing to give a strong sense of motion. Buy this photo

Keep an eye on the total composition when framing a portrait. It’s more than just a matter of framing the subject within the image: other considerations include the background and the overall flow of the viewer’s eye across the image. In this portrait of the proprietor of Maria’s Cafe in rural Cuba, I composed the image to use the brightly colored door, balcony, staircase, and tree to frame the subject herself.

Composing a portrait involves thinking about the background and the viewer’s overall experience in looking across the image. Buy this photo

A really good portrait should tell a story about the subject. Here, Cuban tobacco farmer Benito relaxes in his drying barn with a cigar he just rolled from his tobacco harvest. I got in close and used the natural light of his cigar lighter and the diffused sunlight within the barn, with no flash added.

This portrait of a Cuban tobacco farmer tells a story about who he is and what he does. Buy this photo

Consider the angle from which you shoot a portrait, as it has a strong influence on the emotional response of the viewer. Most of the time we want to shoot a head shot or head-and-shoulders shot from a height midway between the top and bottom of the image, but to make this portrait of sisters on the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania, I chose to shoot from slightly above. It’s a fine line between giving a sense of vulnerability and causing the image to seem condescending, but I like this photo in part because I feel the unusual vantage point evokes a strong sense of emotion.

An unusual shooting angle can enhance a portrait, but be careful not to overdo this effect. Buy this photo

Another rule meant to be broken is freezing the action of a portrait’s subject. During a fitness photoshoot with my friend Crystal, I shot mostly with a fast shutter speed to freeze her while she worked out. But for this image, we wanted a blurred effect to create a sense of her forward motion while running, so I used a slower shutter speed.

A slower shutter speed can be used to give more sense of motion to a rapidly moving subject. Buy this photo

Sometimes a perspective change can work wonders for a portrait. In this image of the chief of a remote village in Swaziland, I got down low and shot with a wide-angle lens to portray her in the context of the hut behind her and the gourds she holds in her hands. A wide view in a portrait can lead to less-flattering likenesses, so this effect should be used sparingly.

A wide-angle lens and unusual perspective shooting from low to the ground lend this portrait of a Swaziland village leader a sense of connection to the place. Buy this photo

A note on gear: My go-to portrait lens is the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens. This is a classic portrait lens and provides a flattering perspective and great image quality when your subject is a human. I use it for nearly all of my portrait work these days. But this lens also shines for nature and action photography where you don’t need a really long focal length. It renders really lovely “bokeh,” or the soft quality of the out-of-focus parts of the image.

Which of your portraits do you find most memorable, and why? How did you create them? Please share your thoughts here.

Please read this post for my essential tips on how to photograph people while traveling: Post on Travel Portraiture.

Post-Processing without Post-Traumatic Stress [Encore Publication]: A pro’s case study on quick and simple workflow for large batches of images

As a working professional photographer, I wouldn’t trade my job for any other in the world. I get to travel the world while capturing images of the diversity of cultures, landscapes, foods, events, and wildlife it has to offer. And when I’m not traveling, I have the opportunity to document so many wonderful people and events in my own San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood. Every job, not matter how wonderful, has its challenges. In this digital age, we photographers are often faced with workflow challenges: how do we cull 10,000 images from a big shoot down to a manageable number, post-process the best ones so that they’ll look their best, and distribute them quickly to the client? Today’s post offers one professional’s take on a quick and simple workflow that meets these challenges, delivering wonderful images to the client in a short period of time while (hopefully) preserving the sanity of the photographer.

I recently had the opportunity to capture two dress rehearsals and two performances of Dance Identity’s annual Spotlight production, showcasing 250 students and company dancers in 22 numbers. I shot nearly 10,000 images, culled them down to about 700, post-processed, and delivered a gallery to the client, all within 24 hours of the final show. Here’s how.

To illustrate the workflow, we’ll use as a case study the annual Spotlight production of local dance school and company Dance Identity. To document their 250 dancers in 22 dance numbers, I shot both dress rehearsals and both performances, as well as capturing dancers backstage and during candid moments. I captured some group shots of all the performers, instructors, and crew. And to get the big picture, I even shot from the catwalks at the top of the theater down onto the stage. In all, I shot nearly 10,000 images, which I culled to about 700 of the best photos, each of which required individual attention in post-processing. I delivered a gallery with these top images to the client within 24 hours of the end of the final show. Needless to say, without an efficient workflow this challenge would have been crushing. Here’s how I did it. The process I share here will be helpful for enthusiast photographers as well as pros. It doesn’t matter whether you’re delivering your images to a paying client or to your friends and family. When it’s crunch time and you have to turn around thousands of images from a shoot very quickly, this is a workflow that gets results.

Every image is different, but for large-scale shoots it is important to have a workflow that is streamlined so much of the processing can be done in an automated fashion.

Step 1: Culling Your Images

After each shoot, if there’s time before the next one starts, I review and begin to cull my images. There are some advantages to culling on a bigger screen, but to save time during big events like Dance Identity’s Spotlight production, I cull right on my camera’s LCD screen. Sure, some excellent images will be discarded using this approach, but with 10,000 images to get through quickly, it’s impractical to upload all of them to a PC and rank them all in a tool like Lightroom. I zoom in on the images when required in order to get a closer look at focus, facial expressions, etc., and I use the camera’s histogram to check exposure. I delete liberally as I go, keeping only the best images for a second review on the laptop. In the case of the Dance Identity shoots, I culled in-camera from 10,000 down to about 1500 images.

With so many similar images to choose from, the culling process needs to be quick and dirty. I do it using my camera’s LCD screen, transferring only the best images to the laptop for further culling and processing.

Step 2: Post-Processing

After culling down to a manageable number of images, but ensuring that the selected photos still represent all the dance numbers and all the performers, as well as a range of styles (group shots, motion shots, closeups, etc.), it’s time to post-process. I use Lightroom nearly exclusively as the tool for this job when it’s a large-scale shoot. Lightroom is optimized for the professional photographer’s workflow, and its presets, synchronization tools, and intuitive layout allow photographers to get the job done quickly and properly.

First, I import the selected images into Lightroom, using a preset to automatically adjust white balance, exposure, and noise reduction to the subject, in this case a fast-moving dance performance shot in an indoor theater. For example, I use the import preset and/or synchronization capability in the Develop module to quickly apply noise reduction for all the shots made at high ISO settings (1600 and above).

Next, I turn off synchronization and go through each image individually in the Develop module, fine-tuning the settings for that specific image. With many hundreds of images to fine-tune, I can only spend about thirty seconds on each one, so the workflow has to be very straightforward. Typically I use the crop tool first, as this will be required for nearly every image. I use the straightening tool within the crop toolset, selecting a line (such as a line on the stage or the bottom of the theater’s curtain) that I want to align with the top and bottom of the image. Then I crop the image to highlight the subject in the most powerful way. Sometimes I turn off the aspect ratio lock and set the image’s proportions manually, but most of the time I try to work with the aspect ratio as shot in the camera. After straightening and cropping the image, I do some fine adjustments on the exposure and color settings, and then apply any needed effects such as post-crop vignetting or conversion to black-and-white. Rarely, I may have to apply some selective adjustments such as brightening just one part of the image or removing a distracting background, but this slows down the workflow and should only be used when required.

Each image should be quickly straightened and cropped, then color and exposure settings (like the black point in the image above) can be applied to show the subject most effectively.

Step 3: Delivering the Final Images

Once all the selected images have been processed, it’s time to deliver them to the client. It can save time and simplify the workflow to use Lightroom’s Publish module to send your images directly to the platform you plan to use to deliver them. My website is powered by SmugMug, which integrates well with Lightroom. However, in the case of the Dance Identity shoots, I exported the top images to my PC’s hard drive, then uploaded the files from there to a new gallery on my website. It’s your call as to which method you like to use. In either case, once your final image files have been uploaded to your platform, it’s a good idea to apply security settings such as watermarking, right-click protection, and passwords to protect the images from misuse. This is also the time to apply keywording so that you, your clients, and the public can find the images now and in the future. Finally, communicate the availability of the final images, the access method, and the pricing to your client.

Delivering your images to a high quality platform quickly is a requirement to meet client needs in today’s world of fast-paced digital media.

So, there you have it: A quick but effective workflow to go from many thousands of raw images down to a few dozen or a few hundred beautifully processed photos, delivered to the client quickly and professionally. And the best part is that you, the photographer, can retain at least some of your sanity in the process. Of course, if you’re preparing fine art images for a major competition or exhibition, you’ll want to labor painstakingly over each one, hand-crafting every element of the image until you get it perfect. But when you’ve got many, many raw images that need to be delivered promptly, this process is a workmanlike way to get the job done!

Take a bow! You’ve married art with process engineering to deliver high-quality images to your client in a minimum amount of time.

Whether you’re a pro shooting for a paying client or an enthusiast shooting for family and friends, this basic workflow will get your images looking great and in the hands of those who want to see them in the shortest possible time.

What tips and tricks do your use when processing very large batches of images? Please share your suggestions here!

Want to see more posts about image post-processing? Find them all here: Posts about post-processing.

Focus on Tahiti Dance Fete [Encore Publication]: A case study in shooting under challenging circumstances

The travel photographer must be prepared to shoot under challenging circumstances, because often we have little control over the conditions in the field. We may plan our travel years in advance to observe and photograph a total solar eclipse, only to wake up on the morning of the eclipse to find the sky is totally overcast. Or we could make arrangements months ahead to be at a major cultural festival, but learn upon arrival that the area we’re shooting from is hundreds of yards from the action. These things happen, but the professional photographer still needs to get her shot. So, what can be done to persevere and increase our odds of getting usable images under adversity? The answer, of course, depends on the specific circumstances of each shoot, but there are some general tips I can offer. Today’s post presents a case study based on my recent shoot of the solo dance competition at the Tahiti Fete in San Jose, California.

The dancers made lovely subjects, but the shooting conditions were very challenging. Read on to learn how to make the best of a difficult situation. Buy this photo

Upon arrival at the dance competition, I realized immediately that this shoot would be challenging. It was held in a cramped hotel convention room with a makeshift stage, rows of folding chairs for spectators, insufficient lighting of poor color quality, and a bank of judges blocking most of the view of the stage. To make matters worse, the room was packed with people, many of whom stood up to cheer on their friends, and the only available seats were near the far end of the room. An extra challenge was thrown into the mix by the cluttered and unattractive background behind the performers on the stage.

Cluttered backgrounds are a significant obstacle, but good images can still be made in these situations. Buy this photo

What can be done to mitigate against a cluttered background? I shot plenty of images of each dancer to increase the likelihood that I could eliminate some of the more distracting background elements while still capturing the excitement, grace, and colors of the dancing. This image was the best I could capture of this particular dancer, so I committed to it in post-processing. I cropped the image to avoid the most distracting elements, adjusted the exposure curves, contrast, and sharpness of the background to de-emphasize it, and applied some post-crop vignetting to ensure the dancer would be highlighted.

When using a very high ISO, some noise will result. This doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. Buy this photo

The lighting was very dim at this venue. Because I was shooting from far away, I needed to use a long telephoto lens, which limited me to a small aperture and no possibility of using flash. Nonetheless, a fast shutter speed was required in order to freeze the fast action of the Polynesian dancing. This combination (low lighting, small aperture, and fast shutter speed) leaves no option other than a very high ISO setting. I shot the above image at ISO 6400. Even with an excellent professional camera sensor, such a high ISO will generate some noise in the image. Noise can often be reduced to acceptable levels during post-processing. But for this particular image, I was aiming for a soft, painterly feel. The visual effect of high contrast, soft colors, and a bit of visual noise here gives the feel of an impressionistic rendering. For this expressive Tahitian subject, I was very happy to have a Gauguin-esque style shine through in the final image.

Cut out elements that don’t work. Buy this photo

To make the above image, I cropped out distracting portions such as the judges’ heads in the foreground and an ugly door and wall in the background. The resulting aspect ratio is non-standard, but works well for this image. I desaturated the background and used post-crop vignetting to focus attention on the dancer.

Black-and-white renderings can be more forgiving when color quality is low. Buy this photo

This image portrays a lovely subject but the lighting was especially poor. Realizing I couldn’t do much to mitigate the strange color cast resulting from the artificial lights, I converted the image to monochrome, boosted the contrast, and adjusted the color channel mix to render a pleasing and elegant final image. Check out this post to learn how black-and-white conversion can be used to save the day when color temperatures or image noise are problems: Post on B&W conversion to save strangely colored images.

Bringing it all together: This image works nicely in spite of all the challenges present at the shoot, including foreground obstacles, dim and low quality lighting, a far-away vantage point, and a cluttered background. Buy this photo

In spite of multiple significant technical issues, I was able to make some striking images of the lovely dancers at this Tahitian festival. Hopefully, the tips presented here will help when you next are faced with a challenging shoot. The most important thing is to keep shooting as best you can while in the field. There are multiple methods you can use in post-processing to mitigate against the shooting challenges and end up with images you will be proud of.

What techniques do you use when faced with difficult shooting conditions? Please share your thoughts here.

Want to read more posts about photographic techniques? Find them all here: Posts on Techniques.

Focus on Amsterdam, Bruges, and Copenhagen [Encore Publication]: Canal cities of Northern Europe

On a recent independent driving trip through Northern Europe, my wife and I covered a lot of kilometers in our new Volvo, from the factory in Sweden through Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In this post, I hone in on the ABC’s of European canal cities: Amsterdam, Bruges, and Copenhagen, three of the most photogenic places you’re ever likely to visit. I share some highlights in the order we visited these cities, beginning with Copenhagen, Denmark; then on to Bruges, Belgium; and ending up in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Familiar sights, such as Christiansborg Palace, seat of the Danish Parliament, can transform by night. To make this image, I set up a tripod on a bridge crossing the canal and framed the shot to capture the building along with its reflection. Buy this photo

Our hotel in Copenhagen was right on the harbor, or Nyhaven. This was the view from our window. Buy this photo

When photographing iconic subjects, like Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, try to avoid the postcard image clichés. Here, I framed the statue from an unusual perspective and used a very wide aperture to throw the less attractive background into soft focus. While the subject is still recognizable, to my eye it’s more contemplative and serene than in conventional photos. Buy this photo

Bruges is a gloriously beautiful city, and at its most lovely by night. This image was shot from a bridge over a small canal, with the camera on a tripod and a fairly wide focal length to capture the reflection in the water. I converted the image to black-and-white using Lightroom in post-processing. Buy this photo

Instead of just shooting up at the famous Belfort tower in Markt square, turn the tables and shoot down on the square from the top of the tower. I love the colorful façades of the old houses on the square in this tight crop looking down. Buy this photo

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t forget to capture some shots of yourself wherever you travel. It’s easy to get lost in the splendor of a city like Bruges, and to return home with hundreds or thousands of images of lovely medieval buildings, but you want to have a few that include your traveling companions. Ask another competent photographer to compose the shot for you (after setting up your camera exactly the way you want), or set up the camera on a tripod and shoot with a remote release or self-timer. Buy this photo

Amsterdam is another canal city filled with gorgeous subjects for photography. And like Bruges and Copenhagen, Amsterdam is at its most lovely by night. I captured this impressionistic night scene of Amsterdam’s Westerkerk (West Church) reflected in the waters of the Prinsengracht Canal. Buy this photo

Museum art makes a great photographic subject. Just be sure to understand the museum’s policy on photography and never use flash. I love Jan Steen’s painting, “The Merry Family”, because it reminds me of dinnertime in my household. In Holland, unruly families are still referred to as “Steen families.” I consider it a compliment. Buy this photo

Amsterdam’s most visited sight remains the so-called “Red Light District,” which actually features some of the city’s most beautiful old canal houses. The working women in this area do not take kindly to being photographed through the windows, so don’t try this unless you want your camera to end up at the bottom of the canal. Instead, set up a tripod on a bridge and shoot the bustling crowds as they wander the stately old neighborhood. Buy this photo

These three atmospheric old cities, with their beautiful canals, lovely architecture, and iconic sights, offer remarkable photographic opportunities. Visit, get lost along the ancient waterways, and keep on shooting!

Have you visited Amsterdam, Bruges, Copenhagen, or any of Europe’s other great canal cities such as Venice? What were your favorite experiences and images from the trip? Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Want to read about more travel photography destinations? Find all of the destination posts here: http://www.to-travel-hopefully.com/category/destinations/.

Baggage Claim: A photographer’s guide to how to pack for a trip

Special trips often require specialized gear. To photograph the total solar eclipse in Svalbard in 2015, I had to pack a heavy professional tripod, 500mm super-telephoto lens, a remote release capable of functioning in extreme cold, and a custom-made solar filter. Thankfully, most trips are easier to pack for. Buy this photo

Packing is never the most fun part of a trip, and the special challenges we travel photographers face can be particularly vexing. But with a few guidelines and some common sense, we can easily bring along just what photo gear we’re likely to need and still be able to make room for some socks and underwear. Here is my very opinionated guide to how to pack for any length and type of trip.

1. What type of trip are you taking?
  - If it’s a driving trip directly from your home, you can bring all the gear your heart desires. Just be sure not to leave valuables in plain sight in the car when you step away for more than a moment (thieves love camera gear), and make sure you have a shoulder bag or backpack to carry just what you need for car-free excursions.
  - If you’re flying (unless you have your own private jet, in which case you also need to make room for me on your next trip), you’re going to have to reduce the gear you carry to just the essentials. It is possible to customize the foam insert in a hard-sided case to hold your photography gear, and then you can check this bag in the hold of the aircraft, but this requires some effort to prepare the case for your specific gear and then you will likely find the case quite heavy to lug around for the land portion of your trip. And woe to you if your bag is misrouted, lost, or stolen. I recommend packing a carry-on item that meets your carrier’s size requirements and filling it with just the most essential gear you’ll need on your trip. More on that topic in a moment.
  - For most purposes, a backpack is a good packing solution. There are many styles available for photo gear, but my favorites are these two:
    1. For those times when you need to bring most or all of your gear on a trip, I like the Tamrac 5586 Expedition 6x Backpack. It carries a lot of gear snugly and flexibly, and it doesn’t look like a camera bag so it’s less likely to invite the wrong kind of attention. It is almost always accepted as carry-on, but it is a bit bulky and heavy for all-day, everyday use while traveling. I’ll often use this bag to get all my gear to my first destination, then pack a day bag for just the gear I’ll need for each day of the trip.
    2. My current favorite bag for day use for nearly any shooting situation near home or while traveling is the Manfrotto MB MA-BP-TRV Advanced Travel Backpack. It can fit a reasonable amount of gear while leaving room for non-photography items like a jacket or a water bottle (yes, even photographers occasionally have to drink or stay warm). It disguises your gear pretty well, has good rain protection, and even sports a special sleeve for carrying the Manfrotto Be-Free Travel Tripod.
2. What types of shooting will you be doing on the trip?
  - Will wildlife or astrophotography be involved? If so, you’re going to have to strain your back, anger the airline staff, and enlist your travel partner to help, because there’s really no substitute for a long and heavy super-telephoto lens in this situation. When I’m on safari or chasing a solar eclipse, I pack my massive 500mm lens into the larger of my two backpacks and accept my fate. You’ll realize it was worth the effort when you get home and are able to share your amazing photos of a leopard in a tree or the sun’s corona on full display during a total solar eclipse.
  - For most other types of trips, you won’t need to pack a really long lens. My general rule is to pack a range of zoom lenses that covers from fairly wide (about 16mm) through fairly long (about 300mm), including a couple of fast prime lenses for when the light is low and/or the very best optical quality is required.
3. How much redundancy do you need on the trip?
  - Always bring a backup battery (or several) and a backup battery charger. Murphy’s Rule as applied to travel photography guarantees that batteries will die just as you frame the shot of a lifetime. Bring at least one extra. And chargers are left in hotel rooms or in tented camps on the Serengeti with some regularity, and they tend to get fried when plugged into unusual power grids, so bring an extra one with you.
  - Don’t forget the little things. Pack several power adapters of the type used in the countries where you’ll be traveling. These get lost easily and can be hard to replace while traveling. Bring twice as many memory cards as you think you’ll require; it’s easy to fill them up when you get to shooting a mountain gorilla or carnaval dancers. If you plan to back up to a laptop or external hard drive, bring extra connecting cables. While traveling, I back up to a second type of memory card using my camera’s second card slot, so I bring quite a few memory cards of both types with me.
  - Lenses are heavy and expensive, but they sometimes stop working, so if you’re on a particularly important trip you may want to bring several lenses in overlapping focal lengths. That is, you could bring a wide-angle zoom lens and a wide-angle prime lens, plus a walkaround zoom lens and a “normal” prime lens (about 50mm for a full size sensor or about 35mm for a crop sensor), plus a telephoto zoom lens and a telephoto prime lens or two telephoto zooms with overlapping ranges.
  - If it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build your portfolio with very special and irreplaceable images, I recommend bringing a backup camera in addition to your primary camera. For a recent safari trip in East Africa, I brought two DSLR bodies as well as quite a few lenses so that I’d have a backup solution to any single point of failure. The more exotic your destination, the more likely that dust, wind, salt, extreme heat or cold, and heavy shocks or drops will damage your gear, so for those amazing one-of-a-kind trips I suggest biting the bullet and carrying backups for any gear that could fail.
4. What accessories do you need to accompany the rest of your gear?
  - Attach a UV filter to each of your lenses before you leave and keep it on to protect the front element of the lens throughout your trip.
  - Carry a polarizing filter and a range of neutral density filters in the correct diameters to fit at least your wide-angle lens and your walkaround lens.
  - For more on filters, read this post: Post on Filters
  - A flash unit is helpful to have on most trips, unless you’re sure there will be ample natural light or you’re willing to use your camera’s built-in flash.
  - A good lightweight travel tripod with a head and mounting plate that suit your needs is essential gear on many trips.
  - Don’t forget any special-purpose gear that you need for just this type of trip. When I travel to see a solar eclipse, for example, I need to be sure I bring my solar filter that attaches to my super-telephoto lens. I also need to bring my heavy-duty professional tripod instead of the lightweight one I typically carry on trips.
5. How will you be shooting from day to day during the trip?
  - If you’ll have constant vehicle support or won’t be going far from your hotel, you may be able to make do with just the bag you brought on the plane. Or you can bring along a small shoulder bag to carry just a few items for the day’s shoot.
  - Most of my trips involve considerable hiking and public transportation from day to day, so I either carry everything in my smaller backpack or bring it along in checked baggage during the flight. Then I can transfer just the gear I need for each day’s shoot into the smaller pack, which makes life easier when hiking 10 or so miles per day.

For a safari you will need a long lens to capture small or distant wildlife. I recommend bringing a beanbag for camera support instead of a tripod, as the latter cannot be used in a safari vehicle. Be sure to bring an extra camera and lenses, and carry more batteries and memory cards than you think you’ll need. Buy this photo

Of course, if you use a mirrorless camera with only a couple of compact lenses or an advanced point-and-shoot camera, you do not have to worry about many of these items, but still be sure to review the list above to ensure you bring all required accessories.

With an overall strategy tailored to your itinerary and shooting style, and careful attention to execution to ensure you don’t forget anything, it’s really not that difficult to pack just what gear you’ll need in a way that will allow you to enjoy your trip when you’re not shooting. After all, travel is about gaining experiences, and not all of those experiences can or should be photographed. Pack for your photography, but also for your overall travel enjoyment.

What are your hacks for packing your photo gear for a trip? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments box here.

Calibration Time, Come On! [Encore Publication]: Why you should color-calibrate your display devices and how to do it

We tend to take for granted that the colors we perceive when we look at a scene will be captured faithfully by our camera’s sensor and the lens in front of it, and then rendered accurately in every stage of processing thereafter, from the memory card to the computer and to all our displays including laptops, tablets, smartphones, TVs, projectors, and even on these same types of displays owned by our friends with whom we share our images. (We also expect prints made from our images to faithfully reproduce the colors from our camera’s sensor, but that is a story for another day.)

As photographers, we want to ensure the colors in our final images reflect as best we can the original colors we perceived when first framing the scene. With proper color-calibration of the display screens we use to process our images, we can keep the colors as true and accurate as possible. Buy this photo

The reality is that every step of the process of capturing, processing, and sharing an image leads to changes in the rendition of the colors. No device can fully represent every intensity of every color that the human eye can see. Camera manufacturers go to great lengths to ensure the colors captured by the camera’s sensor are as accurate as possible when you attach a lens made by the same company. And when you use software such as Lightroom or Photoshop to post-process your images, you may take great pains to ensure the colors you see on your screen look very close to what you remember you saw when you shot the image in the first place. But without careful attention, the final image we see later on our various display screens can look very different from device to device. That’s because every type of display, and even every individual screen, has a unique way of representing every color. So your PC’s monitor will display any given color just a bit differently than your phone’s screen will show that color. And your friend’s phone’s screen will look a bit different, still (even if it’s the exact same brand and model as yours).

Fortunately, there is a simple and quite affordable way to standardize the representation of colors across all your devices. It’s called color calibration, and for less than the cost of a good polarizing filter, say about $100, you can purchase a little doodad that can calibrate all your displays. I use the X-Rite ColorMunki, which can be had for about $110 at retail.

To use a color calibration device, you install some software on your display(s) and then place the device on your display screen. The software cycles the screen through displaying a wide range of colors, which are read and recorded by the calibration device. Finally, the needed adjustments to bring your screen’s settings into line so they render colors as accurately as possible are saved in a special file. From this point on, whenever your display device is started up, it reads the configuration information in that file and renders colors as closely to their actual appearance as it is physically capable of doing.

Because our eyes perceive colors differently in different ambient light conditions, you’ll want to have your calibration device take an ambient light reading for the typical lighting conditions that will be present while you’re using each display. For example, if you use your laptop PC mostly when bright daylight is streaming into your kitchen, you’ll want to calibrate when those conditions are present. You can even save different versions of the configuration file for different lighting conditions.

And because display devices do change over time, it’s a good idea to re-calibrate each device every few weeks to control for that.

If you’re serious about your photography, you want your images to look great not only on your own display screen(s), but also when viewed by other people on other types of devices or on the printed page. Using a reliable color-calibration device helps ensure the colors in your images remain as accurate as possible through all the stages of processing and sharing until they leave your personal control. This is a good practice that all photographers should employ.

How do you control for color accuracy in your images? Please share your methods here!

Want to see other posts about post-processing your images? Find them all here: Posts on Post-Processing.

Filtered Down to the Essentials [Encore Publication]: Why you should always have these filters in your bag

Filters are the Rodney Dangerfield of photographic gear: They don’t get enough respect. Most photographers will begin to salivate when talking about the latest camera bodies or lenses and even plates or heads for our tripods, but we tend to think of filters as pedestrian items, if we think about them at all. I nearly always make room in my bag for several filters, and I believe that using them properly is more important than what camera or even which lens I choose. Let’s look into why these affordable little accessories are so important.

Three kinds of filters are essential gear for most photographers. I’ll cover each type here. Note that you must use a filter that is the correct size to attach to your lens.

It’s a good idea to keep a UV filter (also known as a haze filter) attached to your lenses at all times, as this helps protect the front element of the lens from fingerprints, moisture, and even scratches. In addition to offering some physical protection for your lens, a good UV filter can also improve image quality when there is atmospheric haze or moisture in the air. Use a good quality filter, though, as some can adversely affect your image quality. I would recommend removing the UV filter when shooting with certain other combinations of filters, as the edges of the image can be cut off (vignetting) with too thick a stack of filters on the end of the lens. In most cases, use of a UV filter does not affect the exposure more than about half a stop, so they can be used in most lighting conditions. I’ve had good luck with Hoya UV filters. Always be sure to look at the specifications for your lens before buying any screw-on filter, because the diameter of the filter thread must match the size of the lens.

The second must-have type of filter is the circular polarizer. A polarizing filter can reduce glaring reflections and can darken skies and enhance natural colors. This little gadget is almost a secret weapon for making images that really pop. Again, I like the Hoya products, which are thin, well made, and perform as they should.

It takes a bit of practice to learn to use a polarizing filter properly. While looking through your camera’s viewfinder or LCD screen, turn the outer part of the filter slowly to see the effect. The greater the angle between the light source (typically the sun) and the shooting direction, the bigger the effect of turning the outer ring of the filter. You will observe as you rotate the outer ring of the filter that the sky, clouds, and any bodies of water will transform quite dramatically. When you see the effect you like best, overshoot a little bit and then rotate the outer ring back to where you want it. In most cases, I recommend not using the maximum amount of polarizing effect when there are reflections from water or glass, because you usually want some of these reflections to be visible in your final image, but this is art, not science, so you get to choose the effect you want. Note that using a polarizing filter will cost you about 2-3 stops of exposure. You will have to use a slower shutter speed and/or faster ISO or wider aperture, so use a steady tripod if the lighting conditions are dim.

Here’s an example of a shooting situation in which a polarizing filter can really make an image pop. For this shot of the imposing peaks in Southern Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park, I rotated the polarizer to about 2/3 of its maximum effect to darken the sky, make the clouds more dramatic, and bring out the bright sheer faces of the granite peaks.

A circular polarizing filter makes a big difference when shooting mountains, skies, and/or bodies of water. Buy this photo

The final essential filter is the neutral density (ND) filter. These reduce the amount of light that reaches the camera’s sensor, so you can use slower shutter speeds to blur motion, or so you can use a wider aperture to get a shallow depth-of-field, even in bright sunlight. ND filters come in different strengths as designated by the number in the filter’s specifications. For example, an ND2 filter blocks 1/2 the light for a one-stop reduction in exposure, while an ND8 filter blocks 7/8 of the light for a three-stop reduction in exposure. It’s a good idea to carry a range of ND filters for each lens you plan to use in the field. A newer type of ND filter even allows for variable adjustment of the strength of the ND effect with just one filter, but these tend to be expensive.

A classic example of a situation in which you’d want to use an ND filter is when shooting moving water in bright lighting conditions. You may want to use a longer shutter speed to blur the water, but even at your camera’s lowest ISO setting and your lens’ smallest aperture there could still be too much light for a slow shutter speed. Mounting an ND8 filter to your lens will allow you to use a shutter speed eight times longer than without the filter, so for example you could move from shooting at 1/30 of a second to 1/4 of a second.

Here’s a photo of my younger daughter by a waterfall in Yosemite National Park. The image was made in the early afternoon under very bright sunlight, bright enough that even using my camera’s slowest native ISO sensitivity and my lens’s most narrow aperture, I would still have had to use a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second, which would have frozen the water in the falls. Using an ND8 filter, however, I was able to slow down the shutter speed to 1/8 of a second, long enough to impart a nice blur to the falling water.

Use of a neutral density filter allowed me to blur the falling water even under very bright lighting conditions. Buy this photo

I recommend carrying a kit containing several ND filters of different strengths for each lens you plan to use for landscape images. Once again, make sure the diameter of the filter matches the diameter of the lens you intend to fit it to.

Note that there’s another type of ND filter called the “graduated ND filter,” and this filter varies the light-blocking effect from one end of the filter to the other end. I used to use this type of filter quite often, but in this digital era I find it usually works just as well to simulate the effect of a graduated ND filter using post-processing software later.

Armed with these three types of filters, you will be prepared to create the images you have in your mind, even under challenging shooting conditions. Happily, filters are small, light, and not terribly expensive, making them one of the better values we photographers can find.

Which filters do you always carry, and when have you found them most useful? Any tips or tricks on how to use filters for the best results? Please leave a comment in the box after this post to share your thoughts.

Want to see more posts about photography gear? Find them all here: Posts on Gear.

Beyond the Auto Mode [Encore Publication]: Take control of your images by learning to manually set exposure, focus, and more

Travel photography is so exciting and satisfying in part because it requires us to capture every kind of image in all kinds of shooting environments. You could be heading out to shoot landscapes when suddenly a rare sighting of an animal transforms your activity into a wildlife shoot. Or you may be on the road for your next destination when you stumble upon a colorful local festival, and now you’re shooting portraits of the revelers. This rich diversity of subjects also creates one of the biggest challenges for travel photographers: how to be prepared for anything that comes our way. For beginning photographers there is some comfort in using the Auto mode that nearly every camera offers. After all, we’re more likely to get an acceptable shot this way, when the subject turns quickly from fast action to landscapes to the low light of evening, or to an indoor performance. But in most cases, your camera’s Auto mode, which attempts to make its best guesses as to what settings to use given existing conditions, will yield only acceptable photos and not the striking and memorable images we’re after.

There is a better way. Take control of your images by learning how to manually set your exposure, focus, and other aspects of your photo. All advanced point-and-shoot cameras and all mirrorless and DSLR cameras allow you to set most functions manually. Even some basic point-and-shoot models have a way to go manual, but often this will involve options buried deep in a menu somewhere. And there are apps available for both iOS and Android smart phones that allow you to take manual control over your phone’s camera. I use an iPhone 6S, and I’ve found the “ProCam 4” app to work very nicely for providing control over the phone’s camera setting for exposure, focus, and flash. You can find it for less than $5 on the Apple App Store: ProCam 4 App. Even without using an app, most smart phone cameras do allow you to override the automatic settings by clicking on the part of the image you want to be in focus and used for the exposure setting; usually you can also set the exposure based on a different area of the image from the area that you want to be in focus. But the dedicated apps will give you greater control, as they allow you to choose the shutter speed, aperture (when not fixed), and ISO for each shot.

For this image of a whirling dervish in Goreme, Turkey, I wanted to blur the dancer so as to give a sense of the continual turning motion in the ceremony, so I used my camera’s shutter-priority exposure mode and selected a slower shutter speed. Buy this photo

The key to successfully using your camera’s manual settings is to learn how they work and to practice at home, long before you actually take a trip. Like anything else, selecting the settings we want on a camera takes practice. In this digital era, it’s easier to learn because you can see the results of each setting immediately on your camera’s screen. So dig out that camera user guide, or find it online, or search for a good tutorial. But do learn how to adjust the key settings manually.

The first manual setting every photographer should learn is how to turn off your camera’s flash. This sounds very basic, but I’m always amazed to see so many flashes going off in inappropriate places: museums that don’t allow flash photography, cultural performances, sports stadiums where the subject is thousands of feet away from the camera (the flash will only provide acceptable lighting for a few dozen feet, at most), and even the shy octopus exhibit at our local aquarium. Believe me, you do not want to flash the octopus. So learn how to turn your flash off, and be sure you actually do turn it off when you’re in a venue where flash is inappropriate or won’t help your image be better exposed. Remember that glass reflects light, so you don’t want your flash on when shooting through windows of a vehicle or the glass windows of animal enclosures at zoos or aquariums.

Next, learn how to set your camera’s exposure manually. The light meters built into today’s cameras are very smart, but they are also easily fooled by tricky lighting conditions. The most common problem is backlighting. If your subject is lit from behind, as many outdoor subjects are, your camera’s auto mode will likely expose for the brighter background and will leave your main subject underexposed. You can adjust for this is several ways. It may be good enough to just use your camera’s exposure compensation button to dial in, say, one extra stop of exposure. Use your camera’s LCD screen and (if it has one) the histogram, to see how the subject is exposed with varying levels of compensation. In some cases (if your main subject is quite close to the camera), you can use fill flash to fix backlighting problems. To do so, manually turn on your camera’s flash, or attach a separate flash unit, and choose the setting for “fill flash” or “balanced TTL” (through the lens) flash mode. Again, check exposure using your camera’s screen and histogram. I find I usually get good results in tricky lighting conditions by using my camera’s spot metering mode, which tells the camera’s meter to use only the very center (or whatever area I select) of the image when choosing the exposure.

Other than allowing you to properly expose your main subject, manually setting the exposure also gives you control over what combination of shutter speed (how long the exposure lasts), aperture (how wide the lens is open), and ISO (how sensitive the camera is to light) you want for each shot. If you’re shooting fast moving action like sports or wildlife, you will likely want to choose a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion (unless you want a blur effect as an artistic choice). If you’re photographing a waterfall or sky and want to get some nice blurring of the water and/or clouds, you will probably want to choose a slower shutter speed. Many times you want only certain parts of the image to be in focus. A wide aperture (low F-stop number such as f/1.8) will give you a shallow depth-of-field, allowing only one part of the image to be in focus and blurring the other parts. Conversely, a narrow aperture (high F-stop number such as f/16) will allow all parts of the photo to be in focus. The final element determining exposure is the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor, measured by an ISO number. Select a higher ISO (such as 1600 or above) only when you really need the extra sensitivity for very low-light subjects when a longer shutter speed or wider aperture is not suitable. When you use very high ISO settings, the image will tend to have a lot of noise. Today’s cameras are getting better at limiting noise at high ISO settings, and there are ways to reduce some of the effects of the noise using post-processing software, so my approach is to use as high an ISO as is required after considering the range of available shutter speeds and apertures.

To capture these professional beach volleyball players in sharp focus and to freeze the moment, I selected single-focus-point focus mode and chose the exact spot in the viewfinder where the players would be positioned, and also used my camera’s shutter-priority exposure mode to select a very fast shutter speed. Buy this photo

The other major type of manual setting that you need to know how to use is focus. Most cameras today do a pretty good job of choosing the right part of the image to focus on, but they often need some help from the photographer. From simple smart phone cameras through professional DSLRs, the autofocus function almost always lets the photographer select what part of the image they want to be in focus. If you keep your camera in fully autofocus mode and don’t help by selecting where your main subject is, it may very well guess incorrectly and put another part of the image as the center of focus. So, learn how to select the focus point even while letting your camera’s autofocus mechanism actually choose the focus distance. Sometimes a camera’s autofocus capability may not work for the conditions under which you’re shooting, and in these cases you need to turn off autofocus completely, and focus in manual mode. Some instances when this is necessary are when shooting in very low light conditions, or when shooting in poor contrast environments (for example, your subject’s texture looks a lot like that of its background, or you’re shooting into the bright sun). In these cases, turn off the autofocus function and adjust focus manually until the subject looks sharp.

It’s still fine to walk around during your travels with your camera set in fully Auto mode, just in case something very unexpected comes up. But do know how to set the main functions manually so you’ll get the best possible images in the 95% of the shooting situations when you do have time to set up first.

Want to read other posts about photographic techniques? Find them all here: http://www.to-travel-hopefully.com/category/techniques/

Do you have tips and tricks you can share on manually adjusting the camera’s settings to get great shots? How about a time you kept the camera on Auto mode and got disappointing results? Please share your thoughts using the comment box at the end of this post.

Twenty Years of World-Class Hip Hop Dance [Encore Publication]: Capturing the groundbreaking SF International Hip Hop Dance Fest

I’m honored to be a photographer for the twentieth anniversary production of the world-class SF International Hip Hop Dance Fest. If you think hip hop dance is just about b-boys and b-girls, this festival will broaden your horizons to the diverse array of hip hop, from jaw-dropping acrobatics to artistic and subtly activist choreography.

As a photographer specializing in travel and cultural documentation, I love having the opportunity to capture images from a wide range of nations and cultural styles, so each year I’m eager to shoot the diverse participants in this show who come from all over the world and represent many different faces of hip hop dance.

Today’s post consists of a photo essay of a few favorite performance images from this year’s festival. Note that all of the images appearing in this post and many more can be viewed and purchased in this gallery.

First, a few notes about the making of these images:

During dress rehearsals the photographer is free to roam about the theater, often including the backstage area, apron and wings, and even onstage with the performers. This mobility is not possible during live performances. As a result, there are more creative possibilities during the rehearsals, so that’s when I seek out the most exciting and dramatic shooting concepts. Unfortunately, this year I was traveling on assignment in Panama during the festival’s dress rehearsal dates, so I was able only to capture images from the live performances.
When shooting fast-moving performances in very low light situations, I like to use mostly fast prime lenses coupled with a high ISO setting to allow a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion. In the case of these particular performances, I also needed to use a long telephoto zoom lens due to being assigned seats quite far from the stage.
Theatrical productions often use mixed temperature lighting that can be challenging for photography because of the strange and complicated color casts that often result. Sometimes this can be fixed in post-processing, but often I choose to convert to monochrome to avoid unpleasant and unnatural color casts.
The difference between adequate dance photography and excellent dance photography is all about the dramatic purpose. I try to adapt my shooting and post-processing style to suit the dramatic intent of each moment during the show.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sampling of images from the remarkable SF International Hip Hop Dance Fest. It’s a challenge and a genuine joy to have the opportunity to make images of important large-scale dance productions such as this one. Thank you for reading, and please share your thoughts and questions about today’s post here.

Note that all of the images appearing in this post and many more can be viewed and purchased in this gallery.

Sneak Preview [Encore Publication]: Behind the scenes on my ongoing Human/Machine Dance Project

How does the human body move when interacting with artificial intelligence technologies? This is the question that my collaborator Carly Lave embarks on a year-long Fulbright grant to research. A talented dancer, choreographer, and scholar, Carly will present her research findings in visual form via a self-choreographed dance solo performance. I approached her to collaborate on a photography series informed by her research goals and artistry as a dancer. We explored several visual themes, each related to the timely question of how we humans will be transformed by increasing immersion into advanced technologies, including virtual reality, robotics, and interconnectivity. To complete this ongoing project, we will continue to collaborate across two continents during Carly’s research fellowship. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’d like to share a few early images from this work-in-process along with some words about how they were made. It can be tricky to imagine a visual concept and realize it via photography, and all the more challenging when the concept is abstract like the ones Carly and I selected. I’ll present four of our initial concepts, each illustrated with an image and a description of the techniques required to execute it.

Virtual Reality Motion Study: Virtual meets reality as Carly’s body floats through the physical world while her motion is informed by her interactions with the virtual world playing inside her headset.This concept sounds simple but is quite difficult to execute photographically. We wanted to capture Carly’s physical motion in the real world as she reacts to the experience of the VR world. Images like these require a long time exposure (here about 15 seconds), which in turn necessitates shooting in a darkened photography studio. I used a black backdrop and continuous LED lighting to illuminate Carly as she moved across the studio, with a single studio strobe light at the front right part of the set to capture her final pose at the end of the exposure. The strobe was set to trigger as the camera’s shutter closed at the end of each shot (“rear curtain sync”). Using this technique, Carly’s motion can be traced during the whole exposure but the vivid exposure is what we see last. Considerable post-processing is then required to clean up the scene.
Interconnectivity: Carly shared, “I found myself visualizing my body wrapped in cables coiled around my limbs and torso. I was thinking about the body in relation to embedded systems here, and how now all of our world is connected through cables either in the air or sea.”To shoot this visual concept, we used a dance studio with a mirrored wall. Using different angles to obtain a variety of perspectives, I shot both Carly and her reflection as she improvised motion along the wall. The technique conveys the impression of the interconnectedness between a human and a similar being across a network. Post-processing was required to remove clutter and render the background as white.
Human (de-)Evolution Series: A whimsical re-imagining of the classic ape-to-human evolution series, this montage asks us to consider whether technology contributes to or detracts from human evolution.This striking montage is actually quite straightforward to execute. In a photography studio against a black backdrop, I shot images of Carly in each stage of the evolution series and then combined them using layers in Photoshop.
Robotic Motion: Machines often perform the same tasks traditionally undertaken by humans, but the robot’s motion is constrained by its programming. How might the human dancer’s motion become similarly constrained if her movement is choreographed by programming instructions?For this concept, my job was fairly easy and Carly had to do the heavy lifting. She choreographed movement indicative of robotic motion while I captured a series of images using a studio strobe light and a black fabric backdrop.

I hope this behind-the-scenes peek at my ongoing passion project will help inspire your own creative process. It’s important to be personally and deeply invested in a project before you begin. Select your partner(s) carefully and plan thoroughly. Then the process becomes joyful and exhilarating as you begin to bring your concept to life!

Have you carried out a photography project? Please share your key learnings–positive and otherwise–here!

Want to read more posts about what to photography while traveling or near home? Find them all here: Posts about What to Shoot.

Architecture in Ireland and Scotland [Encore Publication]: From Neolithic to today, Ireland has remarkable buildings; here’s how to capture them

During our recent travels in Dublin, hiking across southwestern Ireland, and visiting Edinburgh, we encountered fascinating architecture at every turn. From ruined farmhouses to stately manor houses, and from Neolithic-era “beehive huts” made of stone to modern fishing shacks, there is a wealth of diversity in the buildings in this region. Here I present some images of the architecture we saw during our rambles, along with a few words about each.

Dublin’s Trinity College is one of the oldest universities in the world. Famous as the home of the ancient Book of Kells, the college also boasts the Long Room, quite possibly the grandest study hall in the world. This image was made with a wide-angle lens using only available light. I used a relatively high ISO setting so that I could choose a small aperture for greater depth-of-field while still using a fast enough shutter speed to handhold the camera. Buy this photo

Another perspective on the Long Room, this image captures only the upper gallery, emphasizing the repeating patterns of the ladders, arches, and shelves. During post-processing I decided to render the photo in black-and-white to bring out the texture and pattern. Buy this photo

An architectural photo doesn’t have to isolate the building from its surroundings. I combined a shot of Dublin’s famous Olympia Theatre with a street scene by framing the theater and waiting for an interesting cast of characters to walk by. Buy this photo

Dublin Castle was built during the Anglo-Norman period and has witnessed nearly the entire history of the city. It is an austere but not particularly pretty building. To capture this image I shot with a wide-angle lens and a polarizing filter to bring out the texture of the stonework and to attempt to enhance a rather undramatic grey sky. Buy this photo

The interior of Dublin Castle is prettier than its exterior. This shot was handheld, as tripods are not allowed inside. I used a fast normal lens, but even with a high ISO setting the light was sufficiently low that I had to use a large aperture, resulting in a shallow depth-of-field. Although the foreground objects are not in sharp focus, I think this scene works rather well to capture a sense of the place. Buy this photo

In the remote and beautiful Gougane Barra Forest Park lie the ruins of a Sixth Century abbey founded by St. Finbarr. To make this image, I shot from inside one of the cells where the monks lived, looking outward toward the ruins of the abbey walls and altar. From this perspective the viewer gets a sense of what it would have been like to live a mostly solitary and austere life here many centuries ago. Buy this photo

On the same tiny island where the ruined abbey is located on Gougane Barra, there is a more modern but quite lovely church. We spent some time getting to know the American bride and groom who were celebrating their wedding here, and I shot them in front of the little chapel looking across the lake from the mainland. Including people in the context of the building makes architectural photography more relatable and compelling. Buy this photo

Hiking along the remote Sheep’s Head Way, we came across this old farmhouse. I framed the image with an extreme wide-angle lens to lend it an interesting perspective, and I used a circular polarizing filter to saturate the colors of the building and to enhance the sky and lawn. Buy this photo

The stately Bantry House lies at the end of the Sheep’s Head Way and has been owned by the same family since 1750. This photo was made from the top of the hundred steps leading through the gardens and up a hill behind the house. It’s a lovely vantage point from which to photograph the mansion, its gardens, and the gorgeous harbor and mountains in the background. A polarizing filter was used to add drama to the sky and to saturate the colors of the water and gardens. Buy this photo

This old farmhouse is now an interpretive center and shop open to the public to give a sense of what rural Irish life was like a century ago. The front of the house is especially charming when framed to include the rustic surroundings. Buy this photo

We started our walk in Killarney National Park at the lovely Derrycunnihy Church. I framed this scene from a low angle looking slightly upward at the church and using a wide-angle lens. The perspective gives a sense of the stark isolation of the church in this very remote wilderness setting. As always when shooting upward with a wide-angle lens, one must take care not to distort the lines of the image too severely. Buy this photo

Along the Gap of Dunloe we hiked past this bucolic scene around a ruined farmhouse. I framed the image to include the horse carts and the rutted pathway. Buy this photo

The Wild Atlantic Way showcases some of the most scenic views in all of Ireland as it winds through rolling hills toward the remote Blasket Islands. Along the way the observant hiker will see dozens of strangely shaped stone enclosures called beehive huts, some of which date back to the Neolithic Period. This image was shot with a telephoto lens to highlight the beehive huts and to compress the distance between the huts and the Blasket Islands dotting the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Buy this photo

The quaint seaside village of Dingle is chock full of charming stone houses with brightly painted doors and windows. Because it was pouring rain all day and I was recovering from an illness, I brought only my phone’s camera. Even so, I was able to make some nice images of the houses by using the Manual app to take control of the phone’s camera. Buy this photo

Edinburgh, Scotland has a tremendous variety of architecture, which could be the subject of a separate post. For today, I’ll close with this image of the ruins of the ancient abbey at Holyroodhouse at the end of the Royal Mile. I shot with a wide-angle lens using a small aperture to maximize the depth-of-field and taking care to keep the horizon level so as not to distort the lines of the archways any more than necessary. Buy this photo

For a refresher on architecture photography, check out this post: Post on Architecture Photography.

What are your favorite destinations for architecture? Please share your thoughts in the comment box.

Capturing a Sense of Place [Encore Publication]: A case study on how to integrate the natural surroundings into a creative photo shoot

Whether halfway around the world or in my own backyard, I strive to capture a strong sense of place in my work. Most often we associate “sense of place” with images of indigenous people living close to the land, but this sensibility can be extended to incorporate the local natural surroundings into any creative images. As I collaborate with local people close to my home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’m always seeking ways to integrate the intense beauty of our landscapes into my work. Today’s post is a case study on this theme based on a recent shoot I did with a favorite movement practitioner, mia.

mia is an amazingly intuitive artist who improvises her movement by sensing the energy of the space around her, so we chose a glorious and deserted stretch of the central California coastline near sunset for our shoot. We built in plenty of time, more than two hours, and I gave mia lots of space to move with very little direction on my part. I had all my gear ready and was wearing beach attire myself so I could just let her create her art while following her and capturing her expressive movement using my own creative approach.

In the following images, presented as a photo essay with just brief captions explaining how they were made, I share the results of this collaboration. You can view or purchase all of these images and many more in this gallery: mia beach shoot photo gallery.

My gear was simple: two camera bodies, one with a fast prime normal lens (and occasionally with a fast prime portrait lens), the other with a wide-angle zoom lens. Obviously, these optics were selected so that I could alternate between capturing mia up close and documenting her motion within the broader environment. All images were made with natural light only and were handheld. A general piece of advice is to shoot lots of frames to ensure capturing your model during the moments when they express just the right sensibility, gesture, or emotion. Memory card storage space is cheap and abundant, so always shoot more images than you think you need.

Using the wide-angle lens, I captured images of mia interacting with the space around her. This “environmental portrait” technique helps create a strong sense of place.

Even with the glorious color palette of a California coastline near sunset, there were times I chose to render the images in black-and-white to achieve a timeless graphics art look.

Environmental portraits, full-body shots, and head shots are not the only options when shooting creative portraits. Here I chose to capture only mia’s legs as she traced a circle in the wet sand. Sometimes the part can be more interesting than the whole.

Shooting from a low angle just above the water, I captured a powerful vision of mia interacting with the ocean. Obviously one has to be careful of one’s gear when choosing to shoot so close to salt water, but I love the resulting image made from this perspective.

Not every image needs to be tack sharp. I like to create a sense of motion by using a slow shutter speed to blur the movement. Here I was able to achieve a slow enough shutter speed by using my camera’s slowest native ISO setting along with a very small aperture setting, but sometimes in very bright light a neutral density filter has to be used.

Note that when shooting a backlit subject it is crucial to choose an exposure based on the light coming from the model rather than allowing your camera’s meter to choose the exposure for you (unless you are trying to create a silhouette). Two techniques suitable for this situation are spot-metering on your subject’s body or dialing in at least two stops of exposure compensation.

As sunset approached, I shot a series of images using both wide-angle and closeup perspectives. This shot nicely captures mia from a medium distance, close enough to see some detail in her expression while far enough away to include some sense of place.

The setting sun can evoke very powerful emotions. It can be risky to include the sun in your images, so tread carefully. Careless shooting into the sun can cause permanent damage to both the photographer’s eyes and the camera’s sensor. This image was made moments before sunset under conditions I assessed to be safe, but if in doubt do not ever shoot into the sun.

A wide-angle capture suggests mia’s celebratory motion as the sun sets, but she appears relatively small within this awe-inspiring natural environment.

At the moment of sunset, a parting shot is made where mia bids farewell to the day. I chose an exposure partway between silhouette and spot-metering on mia’s body so as to show some detail on her expression while allowing the ocean and sky to shine.

I hope you’ve found these images to be inspiring and the associated tips to be helpful. Now go out in your own neck of the woods make some images that integrate a sense of place into your favorite subjects!

Do you have techniques you use to infuse your local images with a strong sense of place? Please share them here.

Want to read more posts about what to shoot while near home or traveling? Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.

Happiness Quite Unshared [Encore Publication]: You’re back home from your trip and you’ve got your images looking great: Now what?

With the holidays approaching, I thought readers of To Travel Hopefully might enjoy seeing an encore of this early, pre-launch post with ideas about how to share your favorite images with friends and family.

Sometimes you just get that feeling. You know as soon as you depress the shutter button that you’ve just captured an incredible travel image. Over the course of your trip, you will hopefully amass quite a few of these images that you will be eager to share with friends and family. After the often laborious effort to cull your images and post-process the chosen few, it’s time to share these best photos with the world.

In olden times (pre-digital), there were fewer choices about how to share one’s travel photos. Many of us shot with color transparency (slide) film, sent all the rolls off to a lab for processing, picked out the top slides by hand, and stored them in a slide tray or carousel for future viewing. In the excitement just after a trip, we would likely invite a bunch of friends over, get them slightly inebriated, and subject them to a slide show using a projector and portable screen. This almost literally captive audience would feign enjoyment over, or perhaps even genuinely enjoy, viewing the large projected images and hearing our stories about the recent adventure. Then the guests would leave, and the slide trays would go back on a bookshelf to sit for months or years before anyone would look again.

In this brave new digital era, we have many more and better options for sharing our best travel photos. This being the Internet, I’ll offer up a Top Ten list of favorite ways to get my travel images in front of key audiences (Number 7 will amaze you!):

Social Media: While most social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are image-intensive, it turns out that they aren’t particularly good at sharing fine art photography. That said, these are important and obvious outlets for getting our favorite travel photos out to our friends promptly. Some even post while traveling, but I do not recommend this approach unless you are completely certain your home is secure while you’re away. Because these platforms encourage sharing, using them will allow your friends to pass them along to their friends, too.
Online Photography Sites: Specialized photography platforms, such as SmugMug, Flickr, PhotoShelter, and 500px, are tailor-made for sharing (and even selling) your best images. I use SmugMug to power my own professional photography website, but I also spend quite a bit of time browsing friends’ and even strangers’ photo galleries on the other platforms I mention here.
The New Home Slideshow: Who needs the clunky white folding screens and finicky slide projectors of yesteryear? Today most folks have a bright, high-definition display right in their living rooms, and it’s called a TV. Photos on a PC or tablet can easily be shared on a smart TV via WiFi or specialized connecting cables.
Your Phone: Today’s smart phones, whether iOS or Android, have easy ways to sync photos from your PC or tablet to the phone. Once on your phone, your photos are ready to show to anyone from your mom to a random stranger on a train. Not the biggest screen in the world, but it’s always with you and can store thousands of high resolution photos.
Send them the files: It’s sometimes desirable to send some of your original image files to a few trusted friends. Among the numerous methods for doing so are good ol’ trusty email (though attachment sizes are usually limited), Dropbox, and the download capability found in certain photography sites such as SmugMug.
Albums and Books: Yes, the photo album is still alive and well, and it’s never been easier to create one. Or you can go the extra mile and publish your own custom photography book. Many photo sharing sites allow you to create your own albums and books featuring your images.
Prints: The demise of the hardcopy print has been greatly exaggerated. There’s something special and timeless about the look and feel of a well-printed photograph on real paper. Do it yourself on a good home printer with high quality paper and ink, or send it to a professional lab, but a framed print on your wall or gifted to a friend to put up on their wall is a lovely way to share your very best images.
Cards: Greeting cards, birthday cards, holiday cards–these days it’s easy to customize them with your own images and send them to friends and family.
Calendars: Every year, I create a calendar with a photo from each month of the year just ended, and send copies to a few family members. I also proudly display this calendar in my home and office. What could be better than knowing you and your friends are viewing your photos every day of the year?
Keepsakes: Novelty gifts from pencil holders to jigsaw puzzles, to clothing items can be easily and inexpensively made using your favorite photos. We even have a cat food bowl sporting the likeness of our kitty. My younger daughter enjoys specialty socks, so I’m looking into ways of putting some of our images onto hosiery. Get creative!

Whatever methods you use to share your images with friends and family, I would encourage you to consider watermarking your photos. A watermark is a pattern or image placed across a portion of the photograph to identify it as the work of a particular photographer. While watermarks can be distracting to the viewer, they can be made quite discreet and they offer some protection against your image being stolen and passed off or even sold as the work of others. Many photo editing software packages and photo sharing sites offer the capability of attaching watermarks to your photos.

How do you share your travel images? Got a great idea for sharing that you’d like to add to the discussion? Please leave a comment in the box at the end of this post.

Focus on Hong Kong [Encore Publication]: This iconic Asian crossroads city offers remarkable photographic opportunities

On our way back home after a few weeks of travel through Myanmar, my wife and I added a two-day stopover in Hong Kong. While I’ve been to this iconic city many times, this was the first visit in more than 30 years during which I had some time to really explore and make some nice images. Read on to sample a few of my favorite images.

My wife Mary poses along the lovely Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront Promenade in Hong Kong. There are so many images of this stretch of harborside land that it’s a good idea to differentiate yours by including a person, object, or activity in the foreground. Here, I metered off Mary’s jacket and used a touch of balanced fill-in flash so that both she and the skyline would be properly exposed.

Hong Kong’s take on the Hollywood Walk of Stars features a mix of western and Chinese movie stars. This piece of street photography includes a live human cleaning the mural between the images of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.

Nearly every visitor to Hong Kong takes the Peak Tram railway to the top of Victoria Peak. But almost all of them spend their entire time atop this hill in the well-known shopping center, the Peak Tower. We chose instead to hike the 3-mile Peak Loop around the entire summit of Victoria Peak, where we were treated to some jaw-dropping views of the city. This image was made with a wide-angle lens fitted with a polarizing filter and using a narrow aperture and moderately fast shutter speed. The circular polarizer should first be rotated to provide its maximum effect, then dialed back a bit to allow some of the beautiful reflections to be included.

Hong Kong is a beautiful city that is at its most gorgeous at night. To capture this nighttime cityscape without a tripod, I rested my arms on a fence to steady the camera, used a high ISO sensitivity setting to allow for a relatively fast shutter speed, and employed the lens’ built-in vibration reduction feature to reduce camera shake.

On our second day in Hong Kong, we traveled to Lantau Island to gain a different perspective on the city’s past and present. A highlight of the day was our visit to a traditional fishing village, with houses built on stilts.

Hong Kong has had a severe housing shortage for centuries. In a modern attempt to alleviate the crunch, city planners have been building huge housing developments in the New Territories, like this complex on Lantau Island. I shot the housing complex from a cable car from the Giant Buddha statue in the mountains down to the harbor. I used a long telephoto lens to frame the structure in such a perspective as to show its interesting textures and patterns. In post-processing, I converted the image to black-and-white for a graphic arts look that emphasized the recurring patterns, increased the contrast, and adjusted the color curves to make the image pop.

Hong Kong is a world-class dining destination. On our last night there, we dined at the two-Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Yan Toh Heen. In my food photography, I like to include complementary or contrasting elements, so in this composition I included both the crispy barbecued duck and the house signature cocktail, complete with gold leaf adornment. The color palette is similar between the two elements, but the textures are very different. I prefer not to light food images with flash because the color balance imparted by the flash unit is often unappetizing, so this image was made using available light only, with a fairly wide aperture setting to soften the background and a medium shutter speed to allow hand-holding. To learn more about my approach to food photography, see this post: Post on Food Photography.

All of these images and many more are available to view and perhaps purchase on my website. Simply click on any image here to visit the full photo gallery.

Have you photographed in Hong Kong? Please share your stories and tips here!

Want to see more posts about wonderful travel photography destinations? Find them all here: Posts about destinations.

How Do I Shoot Thee? Let Me Count the Ways! [Encore Publication]: Professional tips for capturing couples

A special re-post for Valentine’s Day. Enjoy!

One of my favorite photographic genres is capturing images of couples. Whether it’s a pre-wedding shoot to make images for use in the couple’s wedding invitations or a holiday or anniversary shoot for use in cards and social media, these assignments are great fun because each is as unique as the couple themselves. Today’s post is a case study of couples portraiture based on a recent pre-wedding shoot I did for Gayathri and her fiance Abhishek.

Many photographers make the mistake of assuming they need a lot of cumbersome and expensive gear to make professional images of couples. In fact, in most of my couples photo sessions I use only two DSLR bodies, each fitted with a different fast prime lens (in this case, a 50mm f/1.4 and an 85mm f/1.8), and a set of inexpensive reflectors and diffusers. A speedlight or two can also be helpful, but for on-location couples shoots there is rarely any need for studio lighting. Keep it light and simple, and stay open to the special moments that truly show the couple’s distinctive style and love for each other.

Gayatrhi and Abhishek were great fun to shoot because of their distinctive, dynamic, and theatrical style. With the rental of a tandem bicycle and the addition of a simple floral bouquet prop, we were ready to capture amazing images of the two of them interacting. A fast prime lens allows quick and easy shooting, the choice of a wide range of apertures to control depth-of-field, and the option to freeze action with a fast shutter speed.

Not all couples shots have to be posed and static. I love capturing the couple in motion to get a sense of the thrill and excitement they feel by being together. Here I panned the camera while they rode past to keep sharp focus on the couple while blurring the background. The sense of motion and tight crop lend this image a dynamic feel.

Get creative during post-processing to lend your images a distinctive look. Here I retained richly saturated colors for the couple on their tandem bike, while rendering the background in black-and-white. This juxtaposition gives a magical, Wizard of Oz-like feel to the image. Gayathri and Abhishek are riding into their future together, bringing all the colors of the world with them.

During all my photoshoots, I like to capture multiple locations (and preferably multiple outfits) in order to give my clients a varied portfolio of images spanning different moods and backgrounds. Finding a miniature pumpkin patch by the shores of a sailing lake gave us a playful prop for a new series of images.

An 85mm portrait lens set to a moderately shallow depth-of-field allowed me to capture this playful scene. I wanted the couple to be pin-sharp while the background was slightly soft but still recognizable as a lakeside setting. Just remember when shooting groups of people that you need a deep enough depth-of-field to ensure sharp focus on all of their faces; for that reason, I don’t usually recommend shooting wider than about f/2.8 for couples or about f/4 for larger groups.

While I may suggest a few poses or ideas to my clients, I’m not a fan of staged poses. Instead, I like to let the couple interact as they naturally do. This priceless moment captures their sense of fun and their flair for the dramatic. A wide aperture allows for sharp focus on the couple while softening the background to keep the emphasis on them.

I always ask my clients to bring a few props with them that represent something they love to do together or reflect their interests. Because Abhishek is a huge cricket fan, he and Gayathri posed with bats and balls while wearing shirts emblazoned with his name and number. These kinds of shots emphasize what is unique about the couple.

Remember to shoot from all angles: above, below, front, back, left, and right. Sometimes the best images are not shot from the conventional perspectives.

If possible, try to include time for the couple to change outfits at least once during the shoot. This allows for more styles and moods, and provides images that can be used for more purposes.

The grounds of a lovely Victorian mansion provided a great backdrop for another shooting locale after an outfit change. Both Gayathri and Abhishek have dance experience, so it was natural they would want to perform for the camera. Whenever the action is fast-paced, be sure to shoot with a fast shutter speed and the appropriate focus settings, and keep shooting continuously to ensure you catch just the right moments.

I often try to schedule shoots for just before sunset when the “golden hour” lighting is soft, flattering, and evocative. My favorite technique for portraits is to shoot with the sun behind the couple. This provides lovely lighting on the hair, a beautiful saturated background, and a relaxed squinting-free pose. To make this technique work, I meter off the subjects’ faces to avoid their becoming silhouetted, and I often use a reflector to shine some of the sunlight back onto their faces and fill in the shadows. An assistant can be very helpful for holding the reflector.

Parting shot: This lovely capture was made by spot-metering off the couple’s skin and having my assistant aim a gold reflector onto their faces.

Do you have tips and techniques for shooting couples? Please share them here.

Want to read more posts about photographic techniques? Find them all here: Posts about techniques.

Note: These private client images are not available for purchase.

Panama’s “First Cry of Independence” Celebrations: Serendipitous timing allowed me to capture images of a rarely seen festival

Departing Panama City for the historic and folkloric region of the Azuero Peninsula, we were very fortunate to arrive in the little town of Chitre on the day they celebrate Panama’s “First Cry of Independence”. The push for independence from Spain began here, then spread to the rest of the country. Whether halfway around the world or right in my home town, I’m always thrilled to have the chance to capture the special energy and tradition of a festival or celebration. The excitement is even greater when the festival, like this one, is off the tourist track and seen by very few people other than locals. In today’s post I share some favorite images from the first two days of this festival, along with some notes about how they were made. Click on any of the images to visit my Panama photo gallery, where you can browse and purchase many more images from this remarkable country.

It’s a good idea to grab some “establishing shots” when photographing any festival or other large event. These images are made from a longer distance and/or with a wider lens than the close-up images that constitute the bulk of most portfolios. The establishing shots give a sense of scale so the viewer can understand the context for the other images. Here I used a slightly wide-angle lens to frame some of the parade participants against the lovely colonial church in the town’s main square.

Because festivals are very busy events, it’s important to look for clean backgrounds insofar as possible. To make this portrait of two young Panamanians dressed in the national costume known as the pollera, I composed so as to minimize clutter in the background and also used a wide aperture (small f-stop number) to render the background in soft focus. Too often photographers compose based only on the main subject, but a clean background is at least as important to the success of the image than an interesting foreground subject.

Not all portraits need to include the subject’s full face. I shot this colorfully attired marcher in profile so as to give a sense of color and motion, while revealing only one side of her face.

This young participant shows off her traditional Panamanian costume called a pollera. A wide aperture sets her off from the other participants in the background, while a fast shutter speed freezes the motion of her swirling pollera.

In this image I captured the whole contingent of young women in their variously colored polleras. The lighting conditions were harsh, so I set the exposure manually be metering on the fabric of their costumes. In post-processing I had to adjust the highlights and shadows to ensure the subjects were evenly illuminated.

The second day of independence festivities are celebrated in the small town of Villa de los Santos. I asked this parade participant to pose for a portrait in a spot with a clean background and lovely soft lighting, then got in close with a fast prime portrait lens set to a wide aperture (small f-stop number) to throw the background out of focus. Soft lighting (which can be obtained by shooting near sunrise or sunset, or by moving the subject into a shaded area) makes vivid colors truly pop and flatters the subject of your portrait.

To make this portrait of a participant wearing a fanciful mask, I asked him to pose in a somewhat less cluttered spot, then made the image using a very shallow depth-of-field to emphasize the mask and throw the background into very soft focus.

The “First Cry of Independence” festivities last well into the night. The extremely low-light conditions offer a photographer’s dilemma: either continue to shoot using only available light (and accept the added visual noise and motion blur) or switch to using flash (and live with its short coverage distance, artificial color cast, and distraction to the subjects). I chose to work with just available light, boosting my camera’s ISO sensitivity setting to as high as I could get away with and using a fast prime lens at a very wide aperture to gather as much light as possible, which in turn allowed the use of a reasonably fast shutter speed. The results are lovely: sharp dancers in the foreground with just a touch of motion blur, soft focus on the dancers and buildings in the background, and a soft and painterly feel for the scene that to me feels quintessentially Panamanian.

Sometimes it can be effective to embrace rather than avoid a cluttered background and to include it as part of the overall mood of the scene. That was my approach in making this image. I got in relatively close to the dancers in the foreground, using a moderate aperture setting to render the background crowds of spectators in soft focus, but still easy to discern. This gives the viewer a sense of being a part of the bigger celebration even while observing this intimate scene featuring the young couple.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photo essay on the first days of Panama’s independence celebrations. Have you experienced a little known local festival or celebration? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment here.

Nikon’s New Mirrorless Cameras [Encore Publication]: Impressive new technology catches and beats Sony, but issues remain

Update from 9/6/18: Canon joins Nikon in announcing its first full-frame mirrorless camera system. Read more about Canon’s new EOS R system here: The Verge article on Canon EOS R. Canon’s initial launch will include a more extensive and useful lens lineup than Nikon’s, but both manufacturers have a lot of work to do in order to catch up with Sony’s portfolio of lenses. Canon’s initial feature set seems less advanced than that of Nikon’s high-end Z7 camera. It’s unclear at this time whether either Canon or Nikon will have an edge in usability over Sony’s design, but, frankly, Sony has set the bar very low with a complicated menu system and a poor set of controls. It is becoming increasingly clear that mirrorless is the future of professional and enthusiast photography, but for the next few years DSLR technology will retain some key advantages. Read on to see my original post from a few weeks ago when the Nikon launch was announced.

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After months of teasing, Nikon has finally announced the details of their first-ever mirrorless camera launch. The Nikon Z Series, with its first two models, the Z6 and Z7, represents the venerable company’s most ambitious new product launch in years. Not surprisingly, the new full-frame Nikon models take aim squarely at Sony’s popular A7 III and A7R III models, with similar pricing and specs, respectively. The Nikon Z6 will be priced at $1995.95 (body only) and the Z7 at $3399.95 (body only). Initially only a 24-70mm f/4 “kit lens” and fast 35mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.8 prime lenses will be available, with more Z-mount lenses to launch in the future. An adapter will also be available at additional cost to allow use of many existing F-mount lenses on the new Z Series bodies.

Details of the new cameras can be found on Nikon’s website: Nikon’s new mirrorless cameras.

While these new cameras offer very impressive technology and catch–and in many ways leapfrog–Sony’s mirrorless offerings, there are some disappointments specific to this Nikon launch as well as plenty of issues facing mirrorless cameras in general.

Regarding the shortfalls specific to the new Nikon Z6 and Z7, here are a few of my observations for how they fall short of my expectation:

They lack a second memory card slot. For pro shooters, this is a showstopper.
The initial lens lineup will be very sparse, with only three lenses. Over the next couple of years, Nikon will be rolling out additional lenses, but compared to the venerable F-mount glass lineup, the new Z-mount offerings will remain thin.
The lens converter to enable use of existing F-mount lenses will have a considerable additional cost, won’t allow full auto focus and exposure on many existing lenses, and will likely cause the autofocus to perform slowly.

Mirrorless camera technology in general suffers relative to DSLR technology in substantial ways:

They’re really not all that small and light relative to pro-level full-frame DSLR bodies. And after the weight and bulk of the many lenses required by serious shooters are factored in, the mirrorless kit ends up almost as heavy and bulky as a comparable DSRL system. A related issue is that many shooters find the smaller mirrorless bodies to be unbalanced when fitted with a heavy and large professional lens.
The electronic viewfinders (EVF) on mirrorless cameras have evolved quite a bit in recent years, but they remain difficult to use, in my opinion. They suffer from flicker and slow refresh rates, and they just don’t provide a realistic view of the scene. It’s like looking at the world through a miniature TV screen vs. seeing it through your own eyes.
Replacing not only our existing camera bodies but also all of our lenses to make a full move to native mirrorless technology is a very expensive prospect.
With no mirror to protect the sensor, it’s very easy to get dust and dirt on the sensor when changing lenses.
The Sony A-series suffers from poor usability (most functionality is relegated to sub-menus that are difficult to navigate) and from scant weather sealing that doesn’t meet the needs of most professional travel photographers. I’ll have to get the new Nikon Z-series in my hands to assess whether Nikon has resolved these issues for their new offering.

With Nikon now joining Sony in the pro-level full-frame mirrorless game, and with Canon gearing up to announce its own mirrorless offering, there is increasing evidence that mirrorless technology represents the future of photography. That said, as of today there are plenty of good reasons to continue using DSRL technology for its robustness, better viewfinders, much fuller lens lineups, and investment protection. I’ll be much quicker to upgrade my Nikon D810 bodies by buying a pair of Nikon D850 bodies than by purchasing Nikon’s Z6 or Z7 bodies. Your mileage may vary, and I’m eager to hear feedback from “To Travel Hopefully” readers.

Please share your thoughts about the new Nikon Z-series and about mirrorless vs. DSLR technology in general!

Want to read more posts about travel photography gear? Find them all here: Posts about Gear.

I Feel Like a Kid in a Candy Store [Encore Publication]: Capturing the spectacular SF Movement Arts Festival

As an official photographer once again for this year’s SF Movement Arts Festival, last Friday I had the privilege and pleasure of capturing images of most of the more than 300 talented and diverse performers who participated in this year’s amazing event. If you live in the SF Bay Area and missed it, this year there will also be a summer version, presented in July.

This epic event of breathtaking beauty and scope brings together many of my favorite choreographers and dancers–those with whom I collaborate throughout the year, their younger students, and some who I’ve never met before–representing a tremendous range of movement practices and dance styles, and throws them all into the grand interior spaces of San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral. My assignment, truly a labor of love, is to stay all day and all night: for the rehearsals, side photo shoots, and the performance, in an effort to capture images of nearly every performer in the festival. Truly, I feel like a kid in a candy store, having the opportunity to make images with so many amazing movement practitioners in this ethereal space, all in one day.

Today’s post, presented as a simple photo essay, shares some of my favorite images from this mind-boggling event. All I will add in the way of technical notes are a few points my regular readers will already know to expect from me:

When shooting fast-moving action in a relatively dark space, use as fast a lens as you can given your focal length needs, boost your camera’s ISO sensitivity setting to as high as you can get away with, and choose an aperture as wide as possible given the depth-of-field you seek
Choose a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze the performers’ movement, unless you’re intending to create an artistic motion blur
Watch your backgrounds: what’s behind your main subject is as or more important than your subject itself, so try to choose a pleasing or less distracting background whenever possible, and keep your horizons level
Compose your images with an eye toward putting your viewer within the performance to experience the beauty, athleticism, and grace first-hand
Shoot lots of images because the performers’ body postures, gestures, and facial expressions will change in an instant and you want to be sure to capture a few frames that bring out their very best.

You can view and purchase all of the images in this post, and many more, by visiting my web gallery here: SFMAF Photo Gallery .

I hope you’ve enjoyed this small sampler of images from the incredible SF Movement Arts Festival. You can view and purchase all of these and many more by visiting my web gallery here: SFMAF Photo Gallery .

Do you have a favorite festival or cultural event that inspires and excites you so thoroughly that you feel you could photograph it every day? What are your go-to techniques for capturing images at these events? Please share your thoughts here!

Join Me on a Photography Tour of Morocco: Capture unique images of breathtaking desert scenery, fabled cities, and fascinating cultural encounters

Dear Readers,

Please join me on a one-of-a-kind photography adventure through Morocco from October 24 to November 8, 2019. This is a small group tour and is likely to fill quickly.

Join our small group of photography enthusiasts and experience the thrill of capturing the full range of Morocco’s spectacular beauty. Morocco is a dream destination for travel photographers, offering breathtaking desert scenery, fabled cities, and fascinating cultural encounters. We’ve planned this itinerary to provide ample opportunities to capture unforgettable images that you won’t find in travel brochures and on postcards. Depending on the season’s agricultural conditions, we may even have the chance to photograph the annual Erfoud Date Harvest Festival, a distinctive cultural event that is rarely seen by foreign travelers. Award-winning professional travel photographer Kyle Adler will be shooting alongside tour participants and will provide personalized in-the-field instruction. During our optional informal workshops, we’ll review our recent images, plan our shot list for upcoming locations, and cover techniques to make the best images possible. Topics will be tailored to the group’s interests and may cover any aspects of travel photography from shot planning to capture technique, and on to post-processing and image sharing. Unlike most photography tours, we will place a special emphasis on learning to use the camera as a bridge to enhanced understanding of the land and people we visit. Photographers of any level will see their images improve, and non-photographer friends and family are also most welcome to join this tour. You can make memorable images using whatever camera gear you wish to bring; it is not necessary to invest in specialized gear.

Visit the Overseas Adventure Travel web page to learn more about this photography adventure: Photography Adventure in Morocco.

Call Overseas Adventure Travel toll-free at 1-800-353-6262 and press 2 for more details. Refer to Group Booking Code (G9-28085).

Telling a Story about Storytelling [Encore Publication]: Capturing the epic contemporary hula production by Na Lei Hulu

I’m honored to be the photographer for the incomparable Na Lei Hulu’s annual show, “Hula in Unusual Places”. If you live anywhere near the SF Bay Area, you should get to this show. The combination of preservation of traditional Hawaiian cultural dance with contemporary artistic sensibility makes for an unforgettable experience. Event info here: Na Lei Hulu event info.

As a photographer specializing in travel and cultural documentation, I love having the opportunity to tell a story about cultures different from my own, and because hula is the ancient Hawaiian art of telling stories using gestures, this assignment was especially appealing: telling a story about storytelling.

Today’s post consists of a photo essay of a few favorite dress rehearsal and performance images to whet your appetite. Note that all of the images appearing in this post and many more can be viewed and purchased in this gallery.

First, a few notes about the making of these images:

During dress rehearsals the photographer is free to roam about the theater, often including the backstage area, apron and wings, and even onstage with the performers. This mobility is not possible during live performances. As a result, there are more creative possibilities during the rehearsals, so that’s when I seek out the most exciting and dramatic shooting concepts.
When shooting fast-moving performances in very low light situations, I like to use mostly fast prime lenses coupled with a high ISO setting to allow a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion.
Theatrical productions often use mixed temperature lighting that can be challenging for photography because of the strange and complicated color casts that often result. Sometimes this can be fixed in post-processing, but often I choose to convert to monochrome to avoid unpleasant and unnatural color casts.
The difference between adequate dance photography and excellent dance photography is all about the dramatic purpose. I try to adapt my shooting and post-processing style to suit the dramatic intent of each moment during the show.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sampling of images from the epic modern hula production by Na Hei Hulu in San Francisco. It’s a challenge and a genuine joy to have the opportunity to make images of important large-scale ethnic dance productions such as this one. Mahalo for reading, and if you’re able, do try to catch one of the remaining shows in the run.

Note that all of the images appearing in this post and many more can be viewed and purchased in this gallery.

Focus on the Embera People [Encore Publication]: Capturing enchanting images of an ancient traditional way of life

During our recent travels in Panama, my wife and I navigated up the Chagres River via dugout canoe to meet the Embera indigenous people. This fascinating in-depth encounter offered a window into an ancient culture that has mostly disappeared from Central America as indigenous groups have been forced to resettle on national parklands where their traditional fishing and hunting practices are not permitted. Our Embera hosts are able to continue to live in the traditional manner by sharing their culture with visitors like us. Our lovely day spent with the Embera villagers included preparing and enjoying a traditional meal, visiting the two-room schoolhouse (supported by Grand Circle Foundation), exploring the village, learning about their government and way of life, and observing and participating in traditional singing and dancing. We will never forget this experience. In the spirit of sharing, today’s post is a photo essay featuring images from this special day. Click on any of the images to visit the Panama photo gallery on my website, where many more photos are available to view or possibly to purchase.

Traveling up the Chagres River via dugout canoe to meet the Embera indigenous people.

This lovely Embera mom and daughter greet us on arrival at their village.

The Embera people lead us up the hill from the river to their village.

To make this portrait of a young Embera woman, I asked her to move a few feet to an area with pleasant lighting and an uncluttered background, then shot using a fast prime portrait lens (85mm f/1.8) at a wide aperture to throw the background into soft focus.

Showing us how the midday meal is prepared.

We enjoyed a wonderful visit to the two-room schoolhouse in the Embera village. As we shared songs and dances with the schoolkids, I made this portrait using only available light, intentionally blurring the girl’s hands to impart a sense of motion.

One of our group brought along simple dolls to hand out to the Embera children. Group portraits can be tricky in general, but are very challenging when the subjects are young children. My advice is to capture plenty of shots over a period of several minutes, interacting with the kids all the while. This allows the children to relax around the photographer, and maximizes the likelihood of getting a few really good images.

I’m never happier than when I can experience and photography traditional cultural performances (singing, dancing, theater, puppetry, etc.). Our new Embera friends were kind enough to show us some of their tradition of song and dance. I find that the preparations for these performances are often as or more fascinating than the performances themselves. Here, a young boy practices his drumming for the upcoming show.

In preparation for the singing and dancing performance, this Embera teen prepares her younger brother and sister by applying tattoos using the juice of the jagua plant.

I got to know this Embera teen as she helped prepare her sisters and brother for the traditional dance ceremony. We chatted and I captured photos of her preparations as she applied tattoos to her siblings using the juice of the jagua plant. It’s always a good practice to get to know your subject before making a portrait. Doing so will help put them at ease and allow you the opportunity to capture their true personality. To make the portrait, I asked the girl to move outside of the hut to a spot with open shade and a pleasing background, then captured the moment using a fast portrait lens and a wide aperture (small f-stop number) to get that lovely “bokeh” (artistic quality in the out-of-focus background areas).

This little one is all tuckered out even before the dance celebration begins. To make portraits more intimate and personal, try to isolate the subject using narrow depth-of-field and a simple, non-distracting background.

An impromptu soccer match in the green open area of the village.

View of the Embera village from the top of a nearby hill.

An Embera family pose for a portrait.

At the conclusion of our day in the Embera village, all the people of the village came out to demonstrate traditional singing and dancing for us. For large group portraits, it’s often best to work with a slightly wide-angle lens, but not so wide as to cause distortion. I chose a narrow aperture (high f-stop number) so that all of the people and the surrounding village landscape would be in sharp focus. Shooting from the same level as your subject has the effect of seeming to place your viewer within the scene rather than (literally) looking down on the action.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photographic tour of our day spent with the Embera people in their small village located far up the Chagres River from Panama’s main city.

Do you have a memorable experience of meeting a group of people willing to share their traditional culture? Please share your experience by leaving a comment here!

Want to read more posts about what to shoot while traveling? Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.

Dispatches Magazine Story: My article on travel photography in Panama is published by a leading travel magazine

Dear Readers,

As a travel photographer and writer, I strive to place my stories and images in magazines, newspapers, and websites for travel companies. My piece on travel photography in Panama was just published in Dispatches Magazine. Dispatches is the quarterly glossy print magazine from Overseas Adventure Travel, one of the largest travel companies in the USA.

I also appreciate the introduction from Overseas Adventure Travel’s Vice Chairman and travel industry leader, Harriet Lewis: “Panama is so much more than the canal–which is why I love the brilliant photography that Kyle Adler brings us on page 42. My favorite photos beautifully capture the people and their vibrant, colorful culture.”

Please take a look! And thanks, as always, for your great support.

Read Kyle’s article in Dispatches Magazine

Warm Regards,

Kyle

Focus on Balaknama [Encore Publication]: Making portraits that go beyond documentation to help Delhi’s street kids

During a recent trip through the north of India, I had the opportunity to meet with the advisors and some of the young staff at the Balaknama Newspaper, a project to empower the street kids of New Delhi. I’ve long been interested in the plight of the street kids who live in Delhi’s sprawling slums and have historically been terribly mistreated at the hands of exploitative child labor bosses, a corrupt police force, and often their own abusive families, so this visit was important to me personally. In this post I share some of the images I made of the kids who risk their own safety to expose the abuses against the young people in their community, and I also discuss how to go beyond the purely documentary function of portrait photography to give your portraits more power.

The images I share here are published with permission from Balaknama’s editor and the NGO who supports the project. However, I will not share the location of the offices nor the real names of the kids who work there, in order to protect their identities.

The power of a portrait to advocate for social change depends primarily on its ability to go beyond simple documentation and to reveal the personality, background, and/or motivation of the subject. For this shoot, I wanted to convey the passion and bravery of the young reporters. I shot with available light only (no flash) in order to capture the intimate and urgent mood of the work the kids are doing. I used several lenses for different perspectives, but most of the images were made using a fast prime portrait lens. My shooting perspective was from a low angle so as not to give the appearance of looking down on the subjects. People appear more empowered when the camera observes them from the perspective of their peers–it should appear as though the viewer is a part of the conversation.

This 17-year-old reporter is also the primary organizer of more than 10,000 of Delhi’s street kids. I wanted to capture her intensity and focus in this portrait, so I got in close with a medium-length portrait lens and shot from the perspective of a participant in the conversation. A wide aperture (low F-stop number) is helpful to isolate the subject from the background. Buy this photo

The “decisive moment.” I shot several frames of this young reporter as he described the horrific abuses of his peers in the slums of New Delhi, in order to maximize the chances of capturing just the right instant. I love this image, which to me appears to emulate the drama and body language of Francisco Goya’s famous painting, “The Executions of the Third of May, 1808”.

This powerful portrait has a painterly feel and freezes the tension and drama of the harrowing stories retold by the young reporter. Buy this photo

The interaction between the students at the newspaper is an important theme. Here I worked to capture the girls’ engagement with each other and with the overall discussion. Buy this photo

Language barriers are less important than many photographers believe them to be. A simple “thumbs-up” gesture evoked a playful response from these young Balaknama staffers, providing a light moment during the intensity of our conversation. Buy this photo

As I’ve often written in To Travel Hopefully, it’s important to remember to include your own group in some of your images. While I most likely won’t publish this image in my stories about Balaknama, I am happy to have this documentation of my fellow travelers as we interacted with the students and staff at the newspaper.

For large group shots in tight spaces, use a wide-angle lens. This was shot with a Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens at its widest setting, giving the viewer a sense of the setting as well as the people there. Buy this photo

I wanted to capture a final portrait of the two primary student organizers as we left the newspaper’s offices, so I asked them to pose together during our walk through the neighborhood. This gives a sense of the environment in which they live and work. I got in close using a wide aperture to soften the background, but I also chose a background that would inform the viewer about the kids’ environment. Buy this photo

Do you have techniques for making powerful portraits that go beyond pure documentation to advocate for the people and causes in the images? Please share your thoughts here!

Want to read more posts about what and how to shoot while traveling? Find them all here: Posts on What to Shoot.

Focus on How Weird Street Faire [Encore Publication]: A case study on simple techniques to capture winning images of festivals

As a professional travel photographer, I shoot regularly in nearly all genres of photography. A typical day on the road might include shooting landscapes, wildlife, cityscapes, portraits, action (sports, dance, performance), and nighttime photography. While I enjoy all types of shooting, my great joy as a photographer is capturing portraits of the people I meet. Whether close to home or halfway around the world, getting to know the people and learning about their culture through making portraits of them is a wonderful experience. And there’s no better way to capture images of many amazing people in a short time than by attending local festivals. People tend to be their best selves at special celebrations like festivals and street fairs. They dress exuberantly, dance with abandon, make new friends quickly, and (nearly always) are overjoyed to pose for photos.

I shoot about a hundred festivals and other special events every year, so I’ve learned a few tips about how to make the best images during these occasions. In today’s post I share some simple but effective techniques for capturing great portraits at festivals and other gatherings, using San Francisco’s recent How Weird Street Faire as a case study. How Weird is a vibrant and colorful, only-in-SF, annual celebration of individuality, tolerance, music, art, and hula hoops. Read on to see some of my favorite images from this year’s festival, presented along with some discussion of how they were made. To view more of my images, or to buy some, check out this gallery: How Weird photo gallery.

I see a lot of fellow photographers at events like How Weird shooting with huge telephotos and even tripods, like they’re after images of wildlife on a Kenyan safari. In my opinion, they are missing the point. We’re making portraits of people here, so use a normal or moderate telephoto portrait lens, preferably a fast prime lens, ditch the tripod and monopod at home, and get in close to chat with and get to know the people you’re photographing. When you interact with people, you get a sense of what makes them special, allowing both you and them to capture that special trait in your photos. Random sniping from far away with a long telephoto will yield far more bland and generic photos. All of my images at How Weird Street Faire were made with a single camera body and one lens, my trusty 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens. Sometimes simple is better, especially when it comes to capturing people at fast-moving events.

Larger groups can be challenging to capture in portraits, particularly in bustling spaces like those of a festival. When they couple I was chatting with suddenly ran into a friend and they had a group hug, I quickly stepped back a few paces and made this expressive and engaging portrait. It’s okay to break the rules sometimes–here, one of the subject’s faces is completely obscured and another’s is partially obscured, yet the portrait works because it captures the energy and affection of the moment.

When photographers argue that the “street photography” approach (candidly sneaking images of people who aren’t aware they’re present) is the best for capturing people’s true essence, I show them images like this one. This wholly genuine and unguarded moment of the girl dancing was made with her full knowledge and permission. The trick is to chat with the subject and get their permission for photography first, then to lay back for a while and let them go back to what they were doing. After a few minutes, they’ll nearly forget you’re there and they will reveal their true selves. But unlike shots you sneak without permission, now you have a subject happy to have you photographing them, and you can take your time and not have to rush your work in order to hide your shooting from them.

Often we see only the most obvious subjects at crowded, chaotic events like festivals. It’s easy to spend all our time shooting people dancing, partying, and displaying their costumes, but I try always to look for the more hidden people and infrastructure that support the event. This DJ was partially hidden atop the big dance stage and behind the banks of speakers, but she made a fun subject for this portrait.

Don’t be afraid to get in close. This portrait really pops because the tight composition allows us to focus our attention on the symmetry and color of the subject’s hair and costume.

The interactions between people are at least as much fun to observe and capture as the individuals themselves. I had chatted with and photographed a group of people for a few minutes when I observed this fun interaction, so I stepped back and framed some shots of the two young people together.

While post-processing my images after the shoot, I decided to render this one in monochrome to achieve a gritty urban street scene sort of feel. Often color can distract from the power of an image, so always consider which of your images could benefit from conversion to black-and-white.

In ordinary daily life, I find that perhaps two-thirds of people are willing to have their portrait made if the photographer spends some time getting to know them first and then asks politely. But at a festival, nearly everyone is excited about posing for portraits. The trick is to capture scenes where they show you their underlying personalities a bit, rather than just striking a cliched pose for the camera. To achieve that here, I spent a few minutes shooting, asking the couple to pose in different styles and have fun with it.

Putting it all together. Here’s a summary of the basic techniques I use when shooting portraits at festivals: 1) Use a fast prime normal or portrait lens. 2) Set your camera for a fast shutter speed (1/500 second or faster is good for dancing and other fast action), wide aperture (f/2.5 or wider is ideal except for large groups) to isolate the subject, and an ISO appropriate to the lighting of the scene (I used ISO 100 the whole day due to the bright outdoor light). 3) Get to know your subject before shooting, let them relax, and capture them during an authentic moment. 4) Try to compose the portrait with as uncluttered a background as possible; of course, this is often difficult at crowded festivals. 5) During post-processing, crop to clean up the scene and then vignette just a touch to further clean up busy backgrounds.

I hope this discussion of techniques to capture portraits during festivals has been helpful. The best way to learn these techniques and to find your own style is to shoot and shoot some more!

Please leave a comment with your own thoughts and tips about how to make great images of people at celebrations.

Want to read more posts about photographic techniques? Find them all here: Posts about techniques.

The Camera Eats First [Encore Publication]: How to make delicious images of local food specialties

A big part of the joy of travel is learning about the local food and drink. For the travel photographer, local culinary specialties represent a cornucopia of image possibilities. In this post, we’ll look at some food images and discuss a few tips and tricks to make delectable photos of the victuals we meet while traveling. Warning: Do not read this post while hungry.

When photographing plated food, it’s best to get in close. Shoot straight down or at a slightly oblique angle, and always check your background to ensure it is as uncluttered as possible. Be aware of your focal point and depth of field (how much of the image is in focus) so that the most important part(s) of your image are sharp.

For this photo of a cheese plate in Burgundy, France, I got in close to the subject and chose a small aperture to ensure all the different cheeses were sharply in focus. Buy this photo

Don’t forget that specialty drinks are also a big part of local culture. For example, in Argentina the deep love of mate (pronounced MAH-tay), a local infusion, becomes almost a religious practice. This image of the mate service engages all the senses with its bright colors, contrasting textures, and suggestion of the smell and taste of the drink. To capture a sense of the Argentinian obsession with mate, I shot this image of the serving of the drink with all its components. I wanted to include some of the environment around the mate tray as well. The scene was lit with natural light, which further saturated the bright colors.

Argentina’s national obsession, mate. Buy this photo

Always be on the lookout for local dishes that are unusual or exotic to our own sensibilities. This image of the local Peruvian specialty cuy, or guinea pig, has sold well on American and European stock photography sites because the main ingredient is so unfamiliar to our palettes. I love the saturated colors and the humor inherent in the guinea pigs holding peppers in their mouths. The ocher wall makes a lovely background to offset the colors of the dish. To capture this image of Peruvian cuy served during a home-hosted lunch, I got in close as the hostess held up her dish, ensuring that the ocher wall behind was all that was visible in the background. I chose a wide aperture to slightly blur one of the guinea pigs and the wall. I used natural lighting with just a kiss of off-camera flash to accentuate the highlights.

Cuy (guinea pig) is a Peruvian delicacy. Buy this photo

Sometimes it is the ingredients rather than the final dish that are most interesting. While on a shore excursion on the Greek island of Rhodes, my family saw these beautiful octopuses hanging to dry in the sun. After photographing them, we ordered a plate of grilled octopus. We very nearly missed the sailing of our ship, as the taverna’s cook took her time to grill the dish, but it was absolutely worth it!

Obviously, natural light was the way to go with this image. I wanted to get in close, but not too tight, so that the lovely Rhodes scenery would be partly visible behind the drying octopus. I used a medium-wide aperture to slightly soften the background. Buy this photo

What’s even better than food images? Portraits of local people making or serving the food! Here’s a shot of a server holding up a tray of Istanbul’s best baklava. The background is a bit cluttered, but I like this image for its blending of the beautiful dessert tray with the pride of the man serving it.

Often a street vendor, cook, or restaurant server will be reluctant to have their portrait made but will be happy to pose with their wares. For this portrait of an Istanbul baklava server, I chose a wide-angle lens and got in very close to the food tray to emphasize the baklava while including the server in the composition. Just natural light and balanced fill flash were used as lighting. Buy this photo

Street markets are a wonderful source of travel images. They tend to be bright, colorful, exotic, and characteristic of the location. Be aware that some vendors will expect you to buy something if you want to photograph their wares.

I like the contrasting colors in this shot of Istanbul’s ancient Spice Market. Buy this photo

Nearly every culture around the world has its own version of barbecue, and in my broad and diverse travel experience, it’s all good. Here’s a photo of whole branzino (Mediterranean sea bass) fish being grilled topside by the captain of our small wooden sailing ship on the Turquoise Coast of Turkey. It was nearly completely dark, so I lit this image using light from the burning coals and a touch of flash. A relatively high ISO was required to balance the low natural light with the need for a small enough aperture to keep the whole subject in focus.

Whole fish on the grill aboard a gulet yacht in Turkey. Buy this photo

Sometimes a local cuisine is all about diversity, such as the Dutch-Indonesian specialty rijsttafel (rice table). Some presentations of rijsttafel in Amsterdam involve over a hundred different tiny plates, each containing a different food preparation. To capture this tapestry of tastes, I stood on the bench and shot obliquely onto the table top, including as much of the spread as I could.

Indonesian rijsttafel served in Amsterdam. Note that in restaurants at night we have little or no control over the artificial lighting, which can sometimes lead to an unnatural color cast on the food. Shoot in RAW format so you can adjust the color balance during post-processing when you get home. Buy this photo

I grew up in New England, and after traveling to more than 100 countries around the world I can say with authority that few meals can beat a good old-fashioned New England clambake with lobster. To capture this iconic image, I shot up close and directly toward the lobster, using a normal lens with a medium aperture. This allowed most of the meal to be sharply focused, but with some falloff in sharpness toward the edges in order to emphasize the Maine event. The contrasting colors between lobster, clams, and corn make for a pleasing composition.

A lobster clambake in Maine showcases the contrasting colors and textures of this delicious meal. Buy this photo

As a parting shot, I’ll leave you with this image of French haute cuisine. The gloriously prepared and plated fish course at Paul Bocuse’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant made a fun subject because it is whimsical and artistic at the same time. The available lighting was soft and subdued for artificial light, so no flash was needed. I shot some closer compositions of just the plate, but preferred this one with some of the table setting included.

Bon appétit! Buy this photo

What are your favorite food photos? Do you have tips on how to make food images really pop? Please share your comments.

Want to read more posts about what to shoot while traveling or at home? Find them all here: Posts on What to Shoot.

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