The essence of traveling is new emotions and experiences, the search for the common and unique. That’s what your photos should convey! A collection of selfies against the backdrop of landmarks will tell the viewer nothing about your true impressions of your trip. To convey the mood, the atmosphere of another city or country that you’ve captured, it’s worth taking pictures of people. We’ll talk about how to do that today!
Random portraits
The most expressive shots are obtained when people don’t know they are being photographed. At this moment, the camera captures natural facial expressions, relaxed poses, sincere emotional reactions, and everyday activities. If desired, the photo can be improved later with the photo retouch app RetouchMe, but the mood itself is important to capture “here and now”.
To capture people from different professions and walks of life, you should always have a camera with you. Keeping the moment natural will help you to be inconspicuous — it’s unlikely that anyone will continue to go about their daily business with a camera in front of their face. A long zoom lens will help you with this. You can shoot both locals and tourists.
Staged portraits
In many countries, it is considered unseemly to photograph people without their consent, even in public places. In addition, staged portraits often offer a glimpse into a different worldview. Thus, you will learn how people position themselves and their culture, what they consider beautiful, and whether they are proud of their work, achievements, etc.
To take such a portrait, approach the person you are interested in, introduce yourself, if appropriate, and exchange a few phrases. After that, you can ask to take a photo as a souvenir or a few shots at work (if you approach a street vendor, artisan, or worker).
Be polite and smiling, learn at least a few phrases in the language of the country where you came — it instantly disposes of people. For such portraits, a wide-angle lens is perfect, which will show not only the person but also his surroundings. Adjust the aperture to ensure that the background is detailed and covers all the plans of the frame or, on the contrary, to emphasize interesting facial features, the model’s outfit.
Shooting events
Beautiful atmospheric photos can be taken when visiting various festivals, parties, carnivals, rituals, and sports competitions. Not only the main characters (participants of the procession, players, dancers, ministers, artists) but also the spectators are worthy of attention — usually they are overwhelmed with emotions. It is advisable to come to the events in advance to pick the best points for shooting before the crowd gathers.
Since festivals are usually very crowded, it is important to take care of the integrity of your equipment: protect it from accidental damage and theft. Attending events often involves capturing movement. To capture the beauty of the moment, to avoid “shaky”, you should set a short shutter speed (1/500 or 1/1000). If possible, you should bring a compact tripod or monopod. It is also sometimes appropriate to use wiring, for example, to show the dynamics of movement. To do this, set a slower shutter speed and rotate the camera to follow the moving object.
Using the environment
Shooting outside the studio often involves non-ideal conditions. But unusual light or an unconventional background can be additional tools to make a shot stand out. Travel photographers recommend avoiding black-and-white images — if you want, you can easily do this effect in a graphic editor. Color can be called an extra dimension, which makes shots as close to human perception as possible, adds accents and allows you to convey a kind of aesthetics of the environment on the trip.
Use natural dramatic and diffused backlighting to give your shots a special mood. Spotlights (from the sun, signs, traffic lights, streetlights) can also be a beautiful accent. To take more interesting photos, don’t forget to stop and simply contemplate your surroundings — the lack of rush will reward you with original subjects.
