Travel Photography How To

In the world of photography, as with other artistic pursuits, the term “beginner” isn’t a dirty word. It just means there are a few things to learn if you want to take image making to the next level.

One of the most common ways to ruin a great scene is the failure to attain proper focus. Sometimes that’s due to incorrect camera settings, while in other instances you may have simply focused on the wrong portion of the frame.

One of the challenges with all forms of outdoor photography is that scenes often have a wide-range of tones—often beyond the density range of your camera. The best way to deal with situations like these is editing selective portions of the image.

One of the common pitfalls with travel photography is returning home, reviewing images on the computer, and discovering they don’t look as great as they did through the viewfinder. The same thing is true when shooting landscapes, even close to home, because it’s impossible to return and find exactly the same light.

It’s amazing how a basic tweak in Photoshop or Lightroom can make a huge difference in an image. Sometime all that’s required is a boost in saturation, while other times a bit more sharpness or contrast is what takes.

By now you’ve probably realized that some images look better in b&w than they do in color. You can always set your camera to monochrome, but most photographers prefer shooting in color, and making the conversion during the editing process, so they have a choice of which look they prefer.

Nothing spoils an otherwise great shot more than failing to achieve precise focus. You can compose a scene properly, nail exposure, and capture beautiful colors, but if the image is soft all is for naught.