Travel Photography
Alan Lichtenstein | Published on 11/17/2023
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
By Alan R. Lichtenstein
When both my wife and I retired a few years ago, we both had finally felt that now would be the time to pursue what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it as we embarked on the next stage of our lives. For me, that was fishing until my eyes prevented further engagement in that sport and I took up photography as an alternative; for my wife it meant travel. Travel was easy enough for me to sign-on to and we’ve been doing a bunch of it, spending our retirement on doing that.
Having taken up photography, it was only natural to keep a photographic record of what we had seen. Between both of us, on the average, we took thousands of pictures for each trip (yes, around 3,000/trip) from which we selected around 300 to print and make into albums which we could pull off the shelf and look at, which we do periodically, and sometimes show to others. It may be old-fashioned, but we get far more joy out of that than keeping the pictures on our phones that we rarely look at , or have difficulty finding (which we frequently don’t) if we do decide to look at them or try to show them to others, because the library functions on a phone have a great deal to be desired.
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Travel photography has its own somewhat unique challenges and I hope this article presents some of them for any prospective traveler who want to keep a photographic record of what they have experienced.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
This may not seem like a big deal, but as the photos above and below demonstrate, where you are going dictates the kind of images you’re going to photograph, and in a fundamental way, suggests the type of equipment and techniques you may need. A corollary to that is the conditions you’re likely to face and as such the photographic challenges of those conditions should also be planned for.
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HOW ARE YOU TRAVELING?
There are many modes of travel each with its own particular advantages and disadvantages. I’ve tried to summarize a few general ways.
INDEPENDENT TRAVEL – If you’re looking for a unique and individual experience, this is the way to go. You plan your itinerary, you decide on what to see, how long to stay there, where you stay, where and when you dine, how you get to where you’re going, and in general, everything is exactly what you want and the way you want it to be. This type of travel requires significant advance planning, considerable study as to what is available where you’re going, and in making your own arrangements, which include the above, plus a guide and admission fees and such. It can be daunting if you are a do-it-yourself individual, but you can get the necessary planning help using a travel professional or, (less desirable) one of the travel sites. This is also the most expensive way to go. It’s the way every photographer whose images you see in National Geographic and other publications travel, but they have something you don’t: A tax write-off of their expenses. But you’ll get exactly the trip you want, and if you’ve done your homework, your trip will be spectacular.
GROUP TRAVEL – This mode of travel can be as much as 50% less than the cost of independent travel. Here, you’re usually spared the daunting and time-consuming task of booking all your arrangements. Group travel usually includes the cost of lodging, most meals, local transportation, local guides, and where appropriate any admission fees. In many instances, also is included is air transportation from the U.S. to where you’re going and return. You generally get to see everything you should see, but your stay at each venue is dictated by the group itinerary, as well as what you see. In general, you’ll see all the major attractions, but you may not see all the secondary ones. But life is a compromise, so you’re compromising by not necessarily seeing everything listed in a guidebook but by saving a ton of money. So, it pays to check the itinerary. Pros: All the organization is done for you and the cost is as low as it can be. Cons: Obviously, they can’t take you to everything, and you’re living out of a suitcase. Much of the savings come if you book a trip through a direct marketer that originates the trip, which saves you money because there’s no travel agent to take their 8 ½% commission off the top (which you pay for in the trip cost). Here are a few direct marketers you should consider:
Overseas Adventure Travel - Escorted land and small ship travel to virtually every place in the world. Group size is limited to no more than 16. A personalized experience and in some instances, there is no single supplement. www.oatravel.com
Odysseys Unlimited - Escorted land trips to many places in the world. Group size is no more than 24. www.odysses-unlimited.com
Quark Expeditions – Want to go to the Arctic or Antarctic? This is the only company to book with. They have opportunities on both expedition and semi-luxury ships that take you to both places. www.quarkexpeditions.com
Gate 1 Travel – Land trips to most places in the world, but group size can be as large as 35. Also offered are river cruises. www.gate1travel.com
Collette Travel -a budget-conscious direct marketer with trips to most places in the world. Group size can be as large as 40. Will have the lowest or close to the lowest price tag. www.collette.com
Trafalgar – Not a trip originator, but a direct marketer. A bit pricier than the others on the list, but still a good itinerary. www.trafalger.com
Wilderness Travel – Want to see snow leopards, tigers in their natural habitat, lemurs in Madagascar? This is the company to book your trip for exotic locations. www.wildernesstravel.com
Tauck Tours – Escorted group, river, and small ship cruises. Here everything, is included. You’ll not only see the major attractions, but pretty much of everything you would want to see. You’ll stay at luxury hotels. This company is the Cadillac of escorted tours, and it has price tags to match. It is the most expensive escorted group tour you can buy, but you do get what you pay for. www.tauck.com
This is not an exhaustive list. There are other companies. This list is just some of the better known tour originators or tour resellers available.
CRUISING – This falls into three general categories: large luxury ships, small ships, and river cruises.
Large Cruise ships- Here, you essentially pay for the cruise ship experience. Non-stop eating, evening entertainment, lounging by the pool on sea days, and you get to go ashore for a day and essentially have a cup of coffee and see very little of what the country has to offer. But cruising on large ships is the cheapest vacation you can buy, but is it really a trip or simply a floating luxury hotel?
River cruises – many companies offer such cruises, cruising along a river stopping at quaint and scenic little villages and in some cases large cities. Usually, your excursions ashore are included in the cost of the trip, and these are guided. Viking made a name for itself with its river cruises by copying those who were early to the market, and overwhelming the competition with tons of advertising ( the trip originators tend not to advertise, as most of their clientele is referrals ) but other companies, such as Grand Circle Cruises, Avalon Waterways, AMC offer smaller river boats, with comparable amenities that can get into places Viking’s longships can’t at a lot less money (as much as 25% less) than Viking (someone has to pay for Viking’s advertising, and it isn’t its shareholders).
Small ship cruises – Many countries are situated on large bodies of water, such as the Adriatic and Baltic coasts, and these ships offer opportunities to see what’s there and in effect are land trips where the mode of transportation is water instead of bus. As such you unpack once so you avoid the con of living out of a suitcase as in land trips, and all shore excursions are included. Overseas Adventure Travel pioneered this mode of travel and still offers the widest variety of trips of this type.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO PHOTOGRAPH?
Animals, events, historical places, people, and landscapes pose different problems, and require some advance planning as to how you’re going to set your camera, particularly if you’re in a group that’s moving from place to place.
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Photographing animals, such as the above, pose different challenges from photographing historical landmarks that don’t move. It’s easier to photograph historical places, because they stay still and don’t move, and we can leisurely compose the image.
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Although we have in Kings Park one of the best sites in the bluffs for photographing landscapes, particularly at sunrise or sunset, there are other places, but if we’re proficient in photographing those at the bluffs, those techniques don’t change wherever in the world we go.
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Photographing people in different cultural settings can be interesting.
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In short, different modes of travel require different techniques in addition to considering the special settings that may be required by the nature of the subject. Independent travel affords you the time to set up, take multiple test images and tweak your settings for optimum result. Clearly, here you’re going to get the best image and also, you’ll have the time to wait for the exact conditions you want. If you’re in a group, you’re constantly on the move and have to generally set your camera to be ready on a moment’s notice to take your image. So, you need to practice your hand-held techniques as well as having an instinctive nature of composition so you can frame and take your image quickly and have it turn out the way you want. You can bring a tripod but in every group trip I’ve taken (except to photograph the Northern Lights), I’ve never had time to set up a tripod because of the constant fluid movement of the group. That is not to be taken that you’re constantly rushing through sites; just that the time you spend at one site and the number of images you may want to take, make the time spent setting up and using a tripod inconvenient.
As to equipment, take only what you need and nothing else. Knowing where you’re going will allow you to take only the lenses you’ll likely need. My bag always includes a selection of ND filters (needed because I don’t post-process), both full and partial. And of course, sufficient extra cards. What I leave home is my computer to download the images each night. Conventional wisdom says to bring one and download each evening to preclude potential loss, and all the pros on their independent shoots do so. I take the risk because traveling light is a fundamental requirement. Many people are now using Wi-Fi to send their images home regularly, even from their camera; many of today’s cameras are WIFI capable. Many hotels have free WIFI and that makes this option feasible.
Here are some general suggestions for settings you will probably use for certain subjects:
ANIMALS AND WILDLIFE – These don’t stand still. In addition to setting your camera for the lighting of the scene, set your camera for continuous AF (autofocus), and for burst shooting. You’ll need those settings if the animal moves quickly, and even if it doesn’t, nothing is going to prevent you from taking a single image or if the camera is too quick for you, deleting all except to one you need.
LANDSCAPES AND SCENERY – Here, lighting is important. You will need to pay special attention to your metering, compensation, and white balance. I generally compensate all my images to -0.3 EV, because that setting slightly underexposes the image, but not enough to make it appear underexposed, but what it does is enhance the colors. But you can compensate to your taste.
PEOPLE – The most important thing to remember has nothing to do with photography. It has to do with etiquette. Always get the permission of individuals of whom you are going to take an image. Many foreigners have learned the value of a dollar and may want you to pay for the image. That will be up to you, but never take a picture of someone of whom you have not asked permission. After that, composition and lighting are important to remember.
So, there you have it. Happy traveling and good shooting.
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