Tips For Shooting Good Scenics
by William Lulow
Here is a short, direct number of tips you can use right now to improve your photographs of places you visit on vacation or just in your travels.
First, you need to decide that you want to make photographs, not just take snap shots and plan your trip accordingly. Be prepared to pull the family car over and concentrate on making a good photograph.
Plan trips with making photographs in mind.
• Think about early morning
• Think about evening shots as some lights are coming on
• Look for interesting subject matter
• Find a "lead in" angle
• Look for interesting lightings
• Look for interesting shapes
• Shoot a popular site from a different angle
• Frame monuments with something in the foreground
• Use small lens openings to increase depth-of-field and sharpness
• Focus on things in the foreground
• Find angles that lead the viewer's eye INTO the image
• Use filters for certain effects (Darken sky, star for night scenes, etc.)
• Try to keep people out of scenes
• Do a portrait in front of a famous place, but only show just a hint of the place
• Think about waiting for the right moment, don't just snap a picture because you're there
• Set up as many scenes as you can
• Use a small tripod whenever you can
• Travel as "light" as you can. Wear a photographer's vest or jacket with big pockets so you don't have to carry a bag
• Wide angle lenses provide greater depth-of-field
• Telephoto lenses bring you closer
• Use wide-angle lenses mostly
• Shoot slowly - until you feel you have exhausted the image-making possibilities of a place
• Try to decide what you want to say about a particular place