Take beautiful pictures when you go away this year
Despite the bleak economic outlook and reports of belts tightening around the country, recent research has found that Brits won’t be giving up their summer holidays any time soon.
Instead, we save up all year, looking forward to a few days in the sun with family and friends. Whether your ideal holiday involves relaxing or adventuring, at home or abroad, capture memories to keep forever.
Professional photographer Drew Gardner, who has photographed the likes of Guy Ritchie and Jamie Oliver, has compiled 10 photography tips to create stunning memorable photographs this summer.
1. New camera: If you plan to take family photos with that camera bought especially for the holiday, make sure you get plenty of experience with it before you go. An unfamiliar camera can take time to master.
2. Packing your gear: When packing for your holiday, remember that less camera gear can be more. A great lightweight travel tripod like Manfrotto’s COMPACT photo kit is the most important piece of kit in my luggage. A quality travel tripod will give you great stability for action, night or landscape shots while only adding 1.5kg to your baggage weight. A quality tripod also gives you the chance to get in shots yourself
3. Theft prevention: Consider adding some artificial damage to your camera to make it less appealing to thieves. You can do so by just adding a strip of gaffer tape to the exterior of the camera and scratching the surface of the tape with a key.
4. Child action shots: Our favourite shots are often the most spontaneous. To capture great photographs of your kids in action during your time away, carry a camera around before your holiday to get them accustomed to it. Learn to anticipate your kids’ actions, and make it fun.
5. Photographing friends and family: People often position friends and family very distant in shots with a beautiful landscape. If you want a great group photo, make sure to put everyone in the foreground, shooting from the waist up or higher. Don’t have them a long way off in the scene; they’ll get lost!
6. Bright sunlight: Make sure the bright sunlight at the beach doesn’t confuse your camera’s auto-exposure setting. If it does, you might end up with your photographs underexposed.
7. Photographing the ocean: If you’re keen to get some great shots of the ocean on your getaway, consider investing in a polarizing filter. That can help cut through the glare on the water and let the rich blues and greens show through.
8. Night cityscapes: If you’re going on a city break, you can capture spectacular night time photographs by using the twilight mode on your digital camera. Keep in mind, the twilight mode isn’t a replacement for the stability provided by a good tripod.
9. Photographing locals: If you would like to get a shot of the locals at your holiday destination, do approach them and strike up a conversation. Ask if you can photograph them. Chances are they’ll say yes if you meet them as a human first and a photographer second.
10. Remember to have fun: As much fun as photography is, try not to miss out on the fun yourself, it’s easy to become a slave to the camera.
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