Shoot Great Digital Photos While on Vacation

 

Digital Photography Tips

Holiday Guide Complementary

 

 

Digital photography is so versatile, it takes you to the next dimension …  beyond the conventional scrapbook, and electronically you can share and download photos with friends and family, use software to create slide shows, sharing your whole holiday experience.  Here are a few digital photography tips to help you capture a host of ideas while on your vacation …

 

Before you set off

 

Make sure you have plenty of memory cards, spare batteries, plus a lead for charging if you have rechargeable batteries (you may also require an adaptor plug bearing in mind different countries have different electrical sockets).   Don’t forget your camera’s case for protection when not in use!

 

Create a Story - Start Before your Holiday Begins

 

This is so much fun as you can go wild with your digital camera!  Let’s begin. Before I visited Florida, a friend drove myself and my husband to the airport before the holiday even began, I took my digital camera with me to snap off a few shots of the tri-star jets landing and taking off whilst at the airport … this was a buzzing build-up to our holiday as I knew very shortly we would be flying in one of those jets!  

 

Then the evening before … ahh packing! Yes I took some shots of my husband sitting on the lid of our large suitcase, in the hope he could zip it up!  

 

Morning of departure … all cases at hand and another couple of shots showing thumbs up and tickets in our hands ready to go!  

 

Airport destination awaiting flight, I took some more shots … wanting to capture the feeling along the way!  

 

Boarding and finding our seats on the plane … plane takes off … and we’re now above a blanket of fluffy clouds … some great shots to capture here … the clouds looked like cotton wool floating in the air… I could go on here, but I’m sure you get the picture (pardon the pun!) … capturing as many photos as you can will make your holiday a great photographic story!  Here is the jet we boarded and a shot of flying over the clouds ...

 

 

 

 

Arrival and Duration

 

Once you arrive take some fun shots of the local cabby or coach, road signs associated with your journey to your hotel destination.  Get shots too of the locals along the way, as this is part of your holiday story.   

 

After you arrive at your hotel, then go ahead and do the obvious … take shots in and around the hotel, and when out on vacation … the obvious posing pictures, for example, standing in front of a well-known building or landmark (just to say you were there!).  

 

As well as taking shots of the typical scenes, try to capture other ideas … humour, what’s going on around you, whether it involves you or your family or someone else, festivity or event.  Get to know what’s going on locally - you never know - you might be in for a treat!

 

You may find a favourite restaurant … again capturing shots here of you and your family with the chef … you will be bringing back with you some great memories.  

 

I can remember the morning after we had arrived in Orlando, we had arranged a fly-drive, and we managed to drive to our next destination at Sarasota, but we had a blow-out on the way and needed to change the tyre.  Well, the size of the spare looked like a toy wheel, and although we were hesitant at the time, taking a shot of that spare, adds humour to our holiday now we look back!  Here’s that shot of the Oldsmobile we rented with the spare!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Departure

 

Don’t be afraid to take any emotional snaps, say if your kids are sad to leave, as its all part of your holiday story.  Take some shots of your family if they have fallen asleep on the way back and your mode of transport too.  If you’re flying back, get a shot of your travelling buddies.  There’s no limit only your own limit to how far you want to snap away, but snap away and be surprised!

 

Fun for Kids

 

Kids can have great fun too taking digital photos, and it will keep them entertained in doing so, as well as creating their own special memories.  While travelling, there’s the ‘alphabet’ game … Take a picture of an object beginning with ‘A’ and continue through each letter of the alphabet, for example, or ‘I spy’: Update an old traditional by having your child guess your answer by taking pictures. You start the game off saying: "I spy with my little eye can you snap something green" and watch your child go crazy with the digital camera.

 

Composing your Shots – Let’s not forget!

 

While having fun, remember to LOOK TWICE, SHOOT ONCE… ask yourself is there anything in your frame that distracts my picture? (such as background objects,  reflections from glass windows? lamp posts?), if so, then move slightly one way to improve your photo.  

 

Always make sure when you’re taking a photo that the sun is behind YOU.

If the sun is too strong move your subject to a more shady area to avoid too deep shadows around the face ... then snap away!

 

If it’s a building or stationary train, for example, don’t worry about not getting the whole thing in your frame – I have seen shots of trains, taken at an angle but only showing part of the train which gives some impact in the shot.  Here’s an example taken of a model train ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re taking a shot of a tall tower, don’t try looking up with your camera to try and capture the whole thing before shooting … you will get what’s called a ‘converging vertical’ … in other words your tower will look distorted.  Remedy:  either take a closer shot of part of the tower or stand further away and maybe use your zoom to capture a better-looking shot.  An example of a converging vertical, and a remedy shot as follows ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun, and I hope these digital photography tips prove useful.  A couple of shots of me having fun ... They say if you can’t fight then wear a big hat! Don’t forget to have a great holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Shooting!

 

 

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Converging Vertical

Taken Correctly