DigitalGlobe has announced its 4th annual Top Satellite Images of the year contest and some of the contenders are pretty darn amazing. This year's top satellite photos were shot with the company's recently launched WorldView-3 satellite and include sky-high perspectives on a range of locations from around the world.
Back in the 70’s when I started my photography career as a street photographer/photojournalist we had some pretty hefty equipment. Protecting it from the elements and potential thieves was our main concern. We didn’t have much in the way of small photo bags other than pricey leather ones that protected the gear but screamed: “Take me. I’m expensive!”
The unsung hero of our age is the rechargeable battery. Can you imagine using a cell phone, digital camera or notebook computer without high capacity, long lasting batteries? The battery technology of choice for the past several years has been Lithium Ion. Here are five things you need to know about it—for your own safety and convenience.
The most important tip I would like to share about travel photography is never buy a new camera or lens before traveling to Bhutan or even Carhenge. The next most essential travel photography secret is that using your equipment has to be instinctive; when a photo op presents itself you may only have a few seconds to get a shot. There’s no time to think about what menu to use or how to turn on continuous AF, or what exposure mode you’re in. Using your camera has to be instinctive; you should see—or even anticipate—then click the shutter. It’ll make travel more fun, too.
I could hear the predawn call to prayer broadcast from minarets across the city as I climbed the stairs to my hotel’s rooftop. From there I enjoyed a magnificent view of the ancient city of Istanbul. Immediately below me, roughly facing north, was Sultanahmet Square, the city’s historic center, flanked by the Blue Mosque to the left and the Hagia Sophia to the right. Behind and to my right I could see the Sea of Marmara and Asia, while in the distance to the northeast I could see the Strait of Bosphorus. As I stood alone on the rooftop in this city of 14 million people, admiring the view all around, it occurred to me I should get out my camera and take some pictures.
Questions about the viability of travel photography as a way to make money are inevitable in my marketing workshops and classes. The allure is undeniable—it seems to be all about exotic places to visit and fascinating people to meet. While lots of photographers want to get into travel photography, it’s also one of the most competitive fields in freelance photography.
Everyone is insecure about getting the correct exposure. We have good reason to be insecure because too often we’ve experienced over- and underexposures when we didn’t expect it, and that leaves a lasting impression that exposure technique is a mysterious and elusive thing.
The picture of the Buddhist nun drinking tea in the Drepung Monastery in Tibet was going to be perfect. The light coming in through a window behind her was capturing the texture of her skin and casting a glow on the tea and the rising steam, and from my training in studio photography I knew how rarely light like this happens in real life. But by the time I’d asked for and received permission to take the photo, the moment had passed: she’d finished her tea and was about to move from the light. So now, along with permission to take the photo, I had to get permission to recreate it.
There are two ways to travel. You can go with a group or you can travel independently where you plan the itinerary and make the arrangements. One isn’t necessarily less expensive than the other because it depends on so many factors, but the main issue to consider is this: what will you gain by being part of a group versus traveling alone or with a friend or spouse?
One of the most wonderful aspects of travel photography is shooting festivals. The color is outrageous, the costuming is visually exciting, and there are a million things to shoot all at the same time. It’s frustrating that we can’t be in more than one place at a time (those darn laws of the Universe get in the way all the time!). If you can plan your trip to include some kind of festival or celebration, it will be a highlight of the trip. Virtually everywhere you travel where there are people, you’ll find some kind of festival. It’s just a matter of doing some research on-line to find out when they occur.
I’ve seen my share, and I expect you have too, of people who basically spray the area hoping to get a keeper. I’ve also seen photographers who wait…wait…and wait some more to catch that decisive moment. I’m neither of those types. I think of what I do as mindful shooting: I know what I want the photo to look like; I preconceive and previsualize the moment; I control the situation as much as I can to get that moment; and I’m prepared to work with what I’m given and what I can’t control in order to get a good result.
Seeing what was about to hit us I quickly grabbed for a table I knew was anchored to the floor, but it was too little, too late. Along with a number of other staff and passengers I was thrown to the floor and found myself rolling from starboard to port, bouncing off chairs and tables along the way. I knew the ship would very quickly start to roll in the opposite direction, so no attempt was made to stand. Instead I waited on the floor, arms wrapped around a table leg, for a moment of relative calm. Good morning, and welcome to the Drake Passage.
Early on I lived in Paris, shooting fashion photography. I saw all the iconic places and landmarks, of course, and observed hundreds of people shooting them. When I became a travel photographer, my initial thought was to shoot lots of subjects other than the icons; to make untypical, evocative images of marketplaces, shop fronts, and unexpected details. Pretty quickly I found out the icons defined a place, and even more important, the icons made the money.
Arthur Meyerson is an award-winning commercial, editorial, and fine art photographer celebrated for his control of composition and command of light and color. In 2012 he published The Color of Light, a collection of iconic, classic images that included this photograph.