How to take pictures while traveling - a ready-made scheme and typical mistakes. Are all travel photos the same? Looking for original stories

If you prefer more than just lying on the beach while traveling, you will most likely want to photograph the city and its buildings. The problem is usually that you always get there at a bad time of the day when the light is not right, there are too many people blocking the view, and other members of your family are asking you to put your camera away and go somewhere else. Of course, you could just buy a postcard, but if you are as passionate about photography as I am, this is by no means an option.

Although sometimes it is worth buying a postcard just in case - suddenly the photos are not good enough.

The best time of day to take photos of any scene on location is in the early morning when the sunlight has a reddish tint and the light comes from the side rather than directly from above. In the early morning, the quality of lighting is so different from other times of the day that I find it hard to put it into words, and there are usually fewer people around. Obviously, if you're photographing a building, the best time of day to shoot depends on where it's located.

This photo was taken around 7:30. I noticed this place the day before, but the lighting was not good, so since the building was next to my hotel, I decided to return to it the next morning.

As with any other kind of photography, you have to ask yourself which part of the building you would like to focus on. Sometimes you need to capture the whole building in the frame, sometimes you need to select a few details, and sometimes it's best to combine the first and second approaches. In the top photo, the tower at the top of the building caught my attention, but I found that it was necessary to photograph at least part of this building in order for the tower to be in some kind of understandable context.

framing

When your subject is buildings, especially the tops of them, you often end up with a bunch of boring sky photos. So it's a good idea to frame the top of the building with one or two nearby tree branches.

I was very lucky with this shot: the trees were close, you could say they were waiting for me, and all I had to do was go and position myself in the right place. But I wouldn't be hanging on to a branch to take a photo if I could use a little Photoshop magic.

It's best to look for a suitable tree before taking a photo, and with the telephoto zoom, it's easy to adjust the perspective to get objects in the frame right. However, it's not easy to achieve good scale and good lighting if you try to insert a tree into a photo with Photoshop after you've taken it.

Getting the Right Perspective

All photos on this page were taken when I was on holiday in Barcelona; there, among other pleasures, we admired the works of the architect Antonio Gaudí. The photo on the left is the building he restored in the 1920s. It is very difficult to photograph because the trees growing on the opposite side of the street interfere.

I wanted to photograph the entire facade, and the only way to do it without cutting down a single tree was to tilt the camera very far. In this photo, the image is quite dramatic, and using the wide-angle lens gives the impression that the building is falling backwards. When you point your lens up to capture the top of the building, you notice that the sides of the building converge upwards, so that the building appears to be tipping backwards.

In a shot like this, it doesn't really matter, but if you want the building to look straight (and I personally hate it when the vertical angles of buildings diverge slightly in different directions), then you need to shoot from a further distance, or apply some clever trick.

In the good old days when film was used, the best option was to use an anamorphic lens that could correct vertical angles. It was also possible to correct perspective when printing in a dark room by tilting the paper at different angles. But in today's world, we use the "perspective" or "distort" feature in Photoshop to expand the top of the photo until the vertical corners are truly vertical.

If you've already tried all of this with one of your photos and found that these settings don't change anything, it's possible that you're trying to apply them to the photo's background layer and it doesn't work. If you double-click on a layer in the Layers palette, an option to rename the layer will appear (default is "Layer 0"). Click yes, and the layer will no longer be the background, and all the perspective settings will immediately work. (Translator's note: We recommend making a copy of the layer and working with it, keeping the original intact).

Below you see three more photos of the same building.

In this shot, I corrected the vertical angles in Photoshop by stretching the top of the photo.

In my opinion, this method works very well considering that the program has to insert "fake" pixels into your photo in order to resize. My guess is that a tourist photographer wouldn't stretch the top, but compress the bottom and then crop the edges.

I usually take two lenses with me when I travel: one 28-80mm mid-focus lens and a 75-300mm telephoto lens. This set suits me for shooting, giving both a medium angle of view and the ability to shoot distant objects with a telephoto lens, for which you do not need to use a tripod. Both of the photos below are facade details showing "parts I like" shot with a telephoto lens.

And here is another building in Barcelona, ​​also designed by Gaudí. Residents of the city call it "The Quarry" - La Pedrera (La Pedrera). At first, the townspeople did not like it, and they joked that the building looked like a quarry for mining.

Night photography

If we shoot buildings at night, we have new problems, but we can get brilliant shots. The first problem is that there is much less light, so it can be difficult to get a clear image and stabilize the camera. It's best to use a tripod, but I couldn't pack my tripod in my suitcase, so I had to find other ways. A good way to get outside support is to lean against a tree or lantern. Positioned like this and keeping your hands very close to your body, you can get good shots at shutter speeds of 1/15 second or even less, 1/4 second.

Another method that works even better is to place the camera on a hard surface. If you are sitting in a cafe, you can get good shots by placing your camera on the table. I took this shot using a book under the lens to adjust the height and get a good long exposure photo.

Another problem when photographing at night in the city is the high contrast of the scene, which can drive the automatic exposure metering system crazy. If you managed to find a common language with bracketing on your camera, I assure you that this is the most convenient time to use it.

The meaning of bracketing is that you take the first shot with the "correct" exposure, and then a few more, without changing the shooting point and position, but using higher and lower metering readings. Most of today's best cameras have a dedicated button for this, so you don't have to manually set the settings. Just turn the exposure compensation dial +1, +2 or -1, -2, etc.

The main question is which configuration to use (which parameter to change: shutter speed or aperture) and how much the individual parameters should differ. For example, a professional working in a studio will achieve bracketing at 1/3 of the aperture, but we, looking at the results of his work, may not be able to notice the differences between frames. On the other hand, a one-stop aperture step may be excessive.

In a night scene, you will inevitably have a lot of black, and it often turns out that there are several lights in it that will be rendered as pure white, at least in the center. So the purpose of bracketing is to control the highlights so they don't get too out of control.

As you can see in the photo above, there is a halo around the patches of light, but in my opinion, its scale is under control. There are no general rules about how big a halo can be. It depends on your taste, but very large white spots in a photo can look very ugly. As a general rule, I don't recommend leaving a flare near the edge of a photo because it can take the eye out of the frame. In any case, I tried to take this photo with and without the flashlight on the left, and as a result decided to leave the flashlight. Rules are there to be broken, but it pays to know that you are breaking them.

Again, I chose a few details of the building.

This photo shows the color of the stone in the early morning.

And in this picture, I took a close-up of these magnificent and intricate balconies.

The photo below shows the same façade in daylight, and while it's still the same grandiose building, it doesn't capture as much as the night photo.

You can also see if you look closely that the vertical lines converge more strongly in daylight, even though both shots were taken from almost the same location. All due to the fact that I corrected the night photo in photoshop, according to my explanations above.

The pleasure of contemplating this building is not limited to this. Fortunately for me, visitors are allowed to go up to the very roof, where unusual and wonderful objects are collected, which you can see below on the page.

At the top of La Pedrera are these wonderful chimneys - inside them are ventilation hatches and flights of stairs. Although all of this has existed for almost 100 years, they all seem almost new.

As with any outdoor photography, you need to be in the right place at the right time of day. We came to this building in the evening, half an hour before closing. The guide did not want to let us in, because there was no time left to complete the entire tour. “But now there is excellent lighting for photography, and that’s what we are interested in!” we said. Nothing to do about! The next day we returned to join the tour. And we were able to enjoy it with a camera ... hidden in a case.

The direction of the sun's rays is key to your photography! When you walk around the building to carefully choose the angle of view and achieve the best lighting effect, these objects appear completely different from different angles.

Also, be careful with background noise. Watch the color of the sky as it also changes as you walk around the building. At an appropriate angle of inclination to the sun, the color of the sky turns out to be darker. It is worth spending enough time on such observations: after all, at dawn and before dusk, the light changes in just a minute.

It's a good idea to take snapshots of famous buildings. But even if your photos are good, they will look like thousands of other photos of the same place. What do you do to ensure that your photos are superior in quality to the mass, or at least be different from others? If you are going to take exactly the same photo of a building as others, it is better to buy a postcard right away and avoid all these complications!

The most "artistic" way to personalize your photos is to add some small element to the scene, like the shadow in the bottom left corner of this photo.

In the photo below, I managed to achieve the correct position so that the sun just peeks out between the chimneys. I love the golden sheen on the ceramic side of the chimney!

At first I was angry because I accidentally photographed some random passerby, but then I realized that his bag and his back, hiding behind the scenes, played a positive role in this photo.

Always avoid clutter in the corners of photos, except when the shot benefits from it...

One way to make your photos more personal is to ask your friends and family to pose in the foreground. In any well-known tourist spot, you can see groups of people queuing up to take photos like this. This has been done so many times by so many people that it has become a cliché and the main reason why vacation photos can be so boring.

You end up with a lovely collection of photographs of your children in front of all the major monuments in the world. I suppose they serve as proof that you really have been there, although in this age of information technology one cannot be completely sure.

Photo processing

Here you see photos of another Gaudí building. In fact, this is the most famous building, the Sagrada Familia. The photo is defaced by the cranes that are there due to the fact that 80 years after the death of the architect and about 100 years after the start of the project itself… it is still under construction!!! Spanish builders have never been famous for their speed.

With a little cheating in Photoshop with the "clone" tool, I quickly got rid of the cranes (well, not that fast, actually - it took a while). This tool is very easy to use. You simply select a part of the sky, making sure it's the right color, and copy it over the crane. To get it right, a little trick is needed: check if you are using the right brush size with the right "hardness".

Cloning should be done gradually, so devote a lot of time to it and take your time to finish it. After getting rid of the cranes, I used the "distort" tool described above to straighten the towers a bit. With the faucets gone, there's a lot more space between the top of the faucets and the trees, so I moved the trees down a bit by selecting them and using the move tool. Finally, I erased the resulting line on the sky with the clone tool and a large, soft brush.

The picture is ready! Now you know how to photograph the city while traveling.

When looking at pictures in magazines, do you ever wonder what drew your attention to a certain picture and made you pay more attention to it than to other photos? Perhaps the point is who was photographed or in a certain color or angle of shooting. What is the secret of photographers whose pictures are chosen for publication in magazines or newspapers? What is the secret of strong images created by a photographer?

The secret of a strong image lies in the ability of the picture to tell the viewer a certain story.

Since the beginning of time, people have gathered around the fire and shared stories with each other.

It doesn't matter what subject you choose to photograph. If you want to be a good photographer, you first need to be a good storyteller. A picture with a story will arouse interest in yourself and a surge of emotions and attract attention, make you look at yourself from many other pictures.

How to create a snapshot with history?

In most cases, this is a picture that evokes emotions: sympathy, curiosity, negative emotions, or even anger.

Here are 5 tips to help you find visual stories for your travel photos.

1. Preparation is required. The difference between a professional and an amateur in almost all areas is preparation. A professional photographer will start preparing for a photo shoot even before the start of the trip, while an amateur will hope for a random shot that will appear before his eyes. Professionals will collect the maximum information about what should be photographed in order to spend a minimum of time on this trip, but at the same time get an excellent result.

What should you pay attention to before leaving? Here are some classic examples. Will there be any festivals or other events that need to be captured without fail during the trip? Are there any restrictions regarding photography where you are going that you need to be aware of. For example, many tribes in Asia believe that photography takes people's souls. Find information about the culture and history of the country you are visiting. Try to learn at least a few phrases in the local language. Locals appreciate it when they try to speak their language with them (even if it looks funny to you). A couple of phrases of hello, goodbye, and asking permission to take a picture will work wonders and help to make an even more interesting picture.

2. Get closer. Long distance shots of people with a telephoto lens may be safer and won't spoil the spontaneity of the situation, but close up shots can be more informative and emotional. In order for close-up shots to be spontaneous, not staged and tense due to the fact that the subject is expecting you to photograph him - wait a bit, let the person go back to their business and forget about your presence. No need to immediately approach the person holding the camera ready to take a picture. Approach, say hello, make it clear that you have no evil intentions, and ask permission to take a picture. Treat the subject of photography with respect so that he does not get the impression that he is part of a show for you, an exhibit for shooting.

3. The best means to establish contact with people. Many photographers use an intermediary from among the locals who know what the photographer might be interested in as a subject for shooting. It is easy to find such an intermediary on the spot, but you can do it in advance. Find someone around your age, let them know that you want to come for some sort of cultural exchange. In this case, you can find a person who will advise where to go, and which places it is better to refuse to visit for one reason or another. His communication with the locals will take place in his native language, this will be the best way to "melt the ice" in communication. All you have to do is be polite, you can bring as a gift unique souvenirs that are produced only in your country.

4. Story generator. If you take pictures, but you don't like them, something is missing in them - look for a story generator. It can be any place with a lot of people: a market, a square, a festival. Just be careful, keep your eyes open and you will definitely see the story that you want to capture in the picture.

5. Last tip - get lost. We talked about all the preparations for the trip, but sometimes you should leave a guidebook and all your notes about what you should visit at the hotel and just go for a walk through the streets. Some great photographs are obtained with this approach. But even with spontaneous walks without a guide and a guide, do not forget that there are places to visit that would be better to refuse.

Why among the tens of thousands of photos that we come across daily in social networks and Instagram, we remember only a few? Why do most of them scroll through without emotion? And how do you make a good photo that you want to look at again and again? I will try to figure it out and give some practical advice on how to take better pictures.

Without claiming to be a masterpiece - I shoot with the simplest soap dish or a very simple smartphone, but I try to make the frame interesting in itself, and not be another faceless shot “I am in the background”. Especially in Travel.

1. Horizon. First, it should not be littered (unless it was your idea). Secondly - there is a rule of thirds - do not divide the frame in half. Try to keep the horizon line either along the top third of the frame, or along the bottom.

2. No need to "cut off" the hands, legs to the knee or ankle.

3. Hold the camera with both hands, hold it against your chest to avoid camera shake, or better yet, use a tripod or any pole near the self-timer. On trips, I always have to fend off those who want to help “let me take a picture of you” - because they will take it anyway - cutting off the main tower, legs and with a horizon blockage of 45 degrees. Feel free to run around with the self-timer.

4. Do doubles! Often a super-frame clicked on emotions, and then it suddenly turns out to be not sharp ... Or with someone's back in the background, which you did not notice right away.

5. Use processing, do not upload photos immediately. Elementary - download at least ACDC - the most primitive program, is in Russian. Just a few movements of the sliders and you simply won’t recognize your photo!
What is worth doing?
a) Level the horizon.
b) Frame. Trim off excess.
c) If necessary, correct the white balance. With just 1 click, your perennially yellow indoor photos will take on a pleasing hue.
d) Increase exposure, contrast, sharpness if necessary.
e) Increase the brightness of colors - the brain lacks saturation, beauty, which not every camera is able to convey. But everyone can add.

Even the most boring photo can be turned into something more interesting.

"I'm in the frame"
You seem to yourself, of course, super irresistible, but if the photo goes "to the public", think about who needs it. Of course, every woman on a trip wants to show off a new dress, a flower from a bush in her hair, and a tanned self. And to the man "I'm on the beach, I'm drinking beer." Yes, and such photos have the right to exist, but looking at an album with the name "Milan" and your face close-up in 40 photos and 50 selfies in the toilet of each eatery, by God, is just boring. Just like seeing someone's burnt face with a body in different poses in the album "I was in Thailand." Choose a couple of the best and show people something else.

Find yourself "sunbathing" in the corner.

Feel free to climb somewhere, depict something or lie down on the ground.

However, a banal shot “I’m on the beach”, made creatively, will look better than bodies on a sun lounger!

Family shooting and shooting with friends
Just more creativity and smiles! Get the kids laughing before the shoot! And myself too.
Use non-standard poses, places and ideas. Here, for example, we did not hesitate to lie down on the ground and turn this frame over. The photo causes a storm of emotions and at first glance it is perceived differently.

And here we are in the pool. A little creativity and it will look better than "I'm getting wet in this puddle."

Amelia and me

Photo of children
I repeat the main advice - please them, evoke emotions and do not demand that they “look into the frame and grab the dress!”

Don't look into the frame
You didn't come to get a passport. Look at each other. To the distance, to interesting things ... The sea ... Try to make the viewer a participant in the events, convey to him your feelings, emotions, feelings! As if he had been there too.

Check in advance before the trip, when it is sunrise and sunset in the cities, you can take gorgeous shots with a very simple soap box or phone!

"All the rest"
If you want to take beautiful shots on a trip, use what you find at hand. Sometimes even more interesting shots are obtained from garbage than the photo “this is the Louvre, I was here.”

Here, for example, the glass from broken glasses and the reflection of the bridge in it looks much more interesting than if I photographed just the bridge.

Look around. Look under your feet, create. Here is a wonderful photo of "my family" from our trip to Spain

My India

Look for colorful characters - they can tell more about the country than the streets and museums. Catch - what do the locals do? what do they live?

Foreword

Any camera has a “masterpiece” button, but manufacturers carefully hide its location.

Widespread misconception

I started taking pictures at the age of 14, when my parents bought my brother and me the first camera - Smena 8M. Many years later. My passion for photography has grown into a profession. I photographed anniversaries and corporate parties, directors of large and small enterprises and their products, christenings and weddings. For more than 10 years I have taught photography to beginners and not only to beginner photographers. And of course, I took a lot of photographs on my travels.

From my experience with my students, I know that many would like to improve their photos, but do not know how to do it. This seems very surprising given the abundance of information about photography that is available to us in the 21st century, and given that all the numerous textbooks, articles, lessons say essentially the same thing, and moreover, quite correctly ... But questions still remain. One gets the feeling that for most of the books these books are written in the same way as in Chinese. And if they understand something from these books, then topsy-turvy.

What kind of “laws” people have come up with to complicate their photographic life: that you can’t shoot against the light, that you must use a flash at night, that it’s bad to photograph white on white and black on black, that you can’t “cut off” the tops of people, the tops of trees and crosses near temples, that the horizon line must necessarily divide the frame in a ratio of 1:2, etc. etc.

In this article, I've tried to make it as simple and practical as possible to lay out some key tips on how to improve your photos. The article is illustrated with photographs taken by me in different years, as well as photographs of my students. Here are also the works of some eminent photographers, as well as their statements, which, I hope, reinforce my main theses, make them more prominent.

About the photo series

Any photograph may be of interest either on its own or as part of a series, essay, photo report. When we talk about photography while traveling, both the first and second options can take place.

In a series of photographs are important:

— completeness(disclosure of the topic);

— diversity, but at the same time wholeness illustrative series;

— subsequence.

Even a shot that is not very advantageous in itself can find its place and decorate the series as a whole. This is a plus. A series of photographs is a kind of storytelling, it is a kind of finished thing. And therefore it is perceived with great interest by the viewer. This is also a plus.

But I wish there were plenty to choose from. In any case, the series consists of individual photographs. And then we will talk about a separate photo.

What is a “good photo”?

It is interesting to shoot a sunset from the window of a city apartment only the first 135 times.

folk wisdom

In any photograph, it is possible to conditionally distinguish “what” and “how” – (1) “what is taken” and (2) “how is it taken”.

(1) “What is taken”, the content of the picture is some area, a corner of nature, a plant, an animal. Or it is a city, a building, a street, a square, a monument. Perhaps this is a certain object, a fragment of the interior, an architectural detail, or maybe it is people - local residents and visitors, an interesting event, a street scene, a well-captured moment, finally, we ourselves and our friends on a journey ...

(2) “As shot”, or in a scientific way - a pictorial, artistic decision of the picture is mainly the nature of the lighting and the composition of the frame.

Neuschwanstein Castle. Germany. June 2001

Fireworks on the Rhine. Taken from a moving ship. Germany. July 2001

The village of Glazovo Arkhangelsk region August 2003

Pushkin mountains. Pskov region May 2004

A photograph can be taken “very well” (how), but the subject (what) is completely uninteresting, even to the author of the picture. On the other hand, you can shoot something very interesting, rare, but so ugly, amateurish, that you don’t want to look.

We proceed from the fact that in a good picture "remarkable", or at least "very good" should be both "what" and "how". Do you remember Chekhov's soul and costume? But the first (what) is still much more important than the second (how). Without it, the picture becomes completely empty, and at best it is an exercise in lighting or composition, albeit brilliantly executed.

In practice, it is not easy to separate one from the other. So a dramatic state of nature, for example, a pre-storm state, can be considered as an object of shooting (that is, it is this state that we shot), but at the same time it is quite obvious that this state is at the same time a shooting condition that determines the nature lighting, which we usually refer to as “how”.

Nevertheless, from a methodological point of view, as well as from the point of view of assessing someone else's and, in particular, one's own photograph, it is very useful, and even necessary, to distinguish between the content of the photograph and its pictorial solution. This article will be entirely devoted to the content of the picture and the meaningful merits of the picture. We will talk about lighting and composition in other articles.

In former times, it was customary to illustrate the geography of the world by reproducing architectural monuments or by representing various ethnic types. Now photography has expanded the scope of depicted elements of human existence, shaking this tradition.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Our interests in travel can be very diverse. Some people want to take pictures of the main attractions and beauty, others are more interested in the local color and everyday life of people, and for some it is important to capture “themselves beloved” against the backdrop of historical monuments or make a report about the trip itself and travelers.

The genres of travel photography are as diverse as the temperaments of photographers. People who are calm, patient and prone to meditation gravitate towards the landscape, open and sociable people are good at portraiture, assertive and resolute “registered” reportage, genre and street photography.

But no matter what genre the picture belongs to, I really want the picture to be liked. At least to those to whom we show it. When talking about what a good photo is, many will say “beautiful”. But beauty is not the content of the picture. To photograph something beautiful in itself is by no means the merit of the photographer. Shooting something beautiful is a worthy task. And this refers to the field of pictorial solution, i.e. to the "how" aspect.

From a content point of view, it is much more important that the photograph be informative, informative, that it inform the viewer something new or revive the well-forgotten old in memory. Perhaps this is something famous and widely disseminated, well, say, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA, and then I would like to see more new details, unexpected colors or a special look. Or maybe it's something located literally under your nose, but little known, like the Church of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubrovitsy, near Podolsk, or a castle in the village of Muromtsevo near Vladimir.

If the picture was taken not only for yourself, your relatives and friends, but is intended for a wide range of viewers, then it is desirable that he tell us about something rare, inaccessible, unusual or even unique (no one has this, and never will) . True, the idea of ​​what is rare and unusual depends on the richness of our visual experience. And this experience, unfortunately, is not formed from reading the instructions for the camera.

Body archipelago. Karelia. July 2005

Three photographers. Island of Sidorov. Karelia. July 2007

Confluence of Chemal and Katun. Altai. 2003

Marble canyon "Ruskeala". Not far from the city of Sortavala, Karelia. July 2008

The canyon has been used for marble mining since the 17th century. Currently, a tourist complex has been created on the territory of the canyon - Mountain Park "Ruskeala"

Purple sunset. Kuzov Archipelago in the White Sea. Karelia. July 2005

Such sunsets are quite rare. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, but it illuminated the high clouds with pink light. The result was an extraordinary picture of a purple sunset.

Church of the Intercession on the Nerl in the flood. Not far from Vladimir. 2005

Local residents on motor boats transported tourists to the temple. My colleague and I asked to be dropped off on an island opposite the temple. So that you can take a general view.

Tree in the water. Marble canyon "Ruskeala". Karelia. July 2008

Sometimes, as time passes, photography acquires additional value: houses are demolished and built, trees are cut down, and new ones grow in their place. And only in the photo everything remains the same as many years ago.

Passage tower of the Nikolo-Karelsky Monastery. Kolomenskoe. October 2005

Unfortunately, in 2007, the tower was moved to a new location - further deep into the park, to an open area - on the territory of the Museum of Wooden Architecture. Therefore, such a picture can no longer be taken.

The unfinished palace in Tsaritsyno. October 2004

Grass, bushes and trees grew on the walls.

The emotionality of the picture

When the photographer aims the viewfinder, the line of sight passes through his eye, head and heart.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Look closer at the world around you and believe in your feelings and emotions. Ask yourself the question: if I take a photo now, will it convey my emotions and feelings, will I be able to convey them to the viewer?

Ansel Adams

A photograph has a stronger effect on the viewer, is better remembered if it evokes a spiritual response in him, touches, catches. In a word, if she is emotional.

Emotionality in a landscape is a state of nature that is present in the frame along with the image. This is a gust of wind that bends trees and rips off leaves from them, these are heavy and gloomy clouds hanging over the forest, this is the mirror surface of the lake, emphasizing complete calm.

Emotionality in the event is precisely the moment caught, these are open smiles, burning tears and characteristic grimaces on the faces of the participants, this is a clear and vivid reflection of the essence of what is happening.

A photograph of a beautiful view will not become a landscape if it does not convey the state of nature, its moods. A snapshot of a domestic scene will not become a true genre photograph if the author was unable to catch the climax of the event or, as Cartier-Bresson said, the decisive moment. The image of a person cannot be called a portrait if it does not retain at least a little bit of the character of this person.

White lake. Belozersk. May 2011

Spring. Neighborhood of Kashin. May 2005

This is what it is - the White Sea. Kuzov Archipelago, Karelia. July 2005

Glare on the water. Big Solovetsky Island, Arkhangelsk region July 2005

Sunset on Solovki. Arkhangelsk region August 2006

Pezhostrov. Karelia. July 2007

Vologda. 2003

The builders are resting. Tsaritsyno. 2006

Photo by Sergey Khritov.

Valera. Pezhostrov. Karelia. July 2007

Max. Pezhostrov. Karelia. July 2007

Olga. Quarry near Lytkarino. March 2008

Painstaking path or luck

“It seems that in photography-landscape the factor of luck is not so great as it is commonly believed. After all, the more often you are in nature, the more likely you are to be lucky.”

Tom Till

“Although I travel a lot, I never travel light. Even if I leave the car for a short trip into the forest, I have a backpack with photographic equipment weighing 25 kilograms behind me, and I have a tripod in my hands”

Theo Allofs

So, we want our photos to be interesting, as unusual as possible, better - unique, and also emotional ... Well, at least 2 points out of four ... Well, at least one.

But, as they say, art requires sacrifice. Or better this way: you can’t even catch a fish without difficulty ... In short, if you want to get something, you have to pay something for it.

You need to get to places where you can't go by car. You need to shoot when almost no one is filming - in a downpour and in a blizzard, in continuous fog and in severe frost. You need to walk more and drive less. You need to get up early and wander around longer while the streets are empty. You must not forget about the evening walk and not be too lazy to go for night shooting, be sure to grab a tripod. You need to take the optimal shooting point and, only having heard, “young man, you can’t shoot here”, answer “sorry, I won’t”, knowing that you still managed to press the shutter button a couple of times. Even better, meet someone who will take you to places where mere mortals can’t go, and show you views that few people have filmed. It is necessary not to be shy and remove the expressive face of a passer-by or a funny scene. If you think this is tactless, no one bothers to get prior consent to shoot. Or, smiling stupidly and shrugging, show the camera as if asking - is it possible? If the problem is not tactlessness, you can use a very strong lens.

And you have to do all this, not really counting on the result. Indeed, there is one unpleasant pattern in photography - the more effort you have spent on a particular photograph, the more valuable it seems to you during the subsequent selection, the psychologically more difficult it is to reject it. So in our reports there are obviously unsuccessful shots that we got at too high a price. So you need to shoot a lot, and select strictly.

Boulder. Photo by Jack Dicking.

“I brought this image from Joshuatri National Park in Southern California. In anticipation of optimal light conditions, I had to visit here three or four times”

Waterfall Kivach. Karelia. Photo 2006.

Usually there are crowds of tourists scurrying around the waterfall, so it’s not so easy to take a “clean” shot. You have to wait a long time, or even negotiate with the tourists, asking them to “wait a minute”. In such cases, the help of a friend can be very helpful.

Forest mist. Switzerland. Photo by Katherine Ames. 1994

“Especially I like to get into the car and drive, looking for the right kind. Sometimes, exploring a certain area, you have to live for weeks in a car, and I really like this lifestyle, which allows me to climb into corners untouched by civilization, leaving human paths far behind.”

Island of Sidorov. Karelia. Photo 2007.

In Russia, you will most likely meet virgin nature only in places where it is impossible to reach by car. And vice versa, if you can get to some place by car, then very soon you will find heaps of garbage, plastic bottles and other traces of the “master of nature”.

News of the world. Yankee Boy River Basin, Colorado. USA. Photo by Ken Duncan.

“I came across a pretty place in the Yankee Boy Basin, but the morning light was too sluggish. The matter was aggravated by the mass of other photographers who joined me and trampled through the fields ... Therefore, I left there, deciding to unwind a little. When I returned to the place I had chosen again, it was dull and cloudy there ... And then it began to rain ... I opened a colorful umbrella and sat down on a folding chair under it ... So two hours passed ... but then the clouds parted, the rays of the sun flashed, and over the field appeared amazing rainbow."

Reflections. Photo by Jack Dicking.

“I walked about five kilometers from the road before I got here; after a hurricane with a downpour, a lake formed in the depression, in the center of which one could see a dried, curved root. I tried to photograph it, but the first time I had no luck with the lighting. I returned to this place for the next two weeks. And then one evening I came here again and got a job in the parking lot. At 4 am, with the sun rising, I was already on my feet - the conditions were great, and the result was this photo”

On the way back

The desired moment arises both after a long acquaintance, and suddenly.

Henri Cartier Bresson

If the photographer only searched, waited and seized the moment, his productivity would be extremely small. In fact, most pictures are taken along the way, or on the way back.

In general, in the piggy bank of every photographer there are photos obtained in two ways. Some have been obtained painstakingly, other by chance. In the first case, the photographer came to the same place day after day, or even year after year, in different seasons and at different times of the day, waiting for the optimal moment, trying to achieve best result. In the second case - just saw and removed.

However, this kind luck, according to some law of photographic justice, lies in wait mainly for those who often walk the first, painstaking path. Or maybe it’s precisely for this reason that we shoot the same thing several times on different days, under different lighting and from different angles, in order to shoot our best shots on the way back? Maybe we just didn't see them?

Suppose we found a cool place and filmed it this way and that and that, but everything is not right. “Now, if the pinkish rays of the morning sun shone from that side ... That would be a fairy tale. I'll have to come here early tomorrow." And we get out of the tent at four o'clock in the morning, take a sip of warm tea from a thermos, brewed in the evening, and somehow reluctantly head to the place of our choice on the go, rubbing our eyes ... We find our plot exactly as we wanted to see it, slowly do a few frames, trying to achieve the best composition and go back ... And on the way back (vision has become sharper), we accidentally make our best shot of something completely different ...

It is not surprising that among photographers (like fishermen) tales are popular about how someone saw something absolutely amazing ... and did NOT take it off (there was no camera, there was no tripod, it was corny not in time).

A photograph is the only result that counts, it is proof, otherwise we would be left endlessly describing ruined photographs that exist only in our own imagination.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Kuzov Archipelago, Karelia. Photo 2005.

Kuzov Archipelago, Karelia. 2005

Sunset on the rocky shore. Sidorov Island, Karelia. 2007

Wind. Pezhostrov, Karelia. Photo 2007.

Self-portrait in profile. Behind (on the right) - a photo backpack, on the stomach - a light meter, on the head a hat, a beard. Sidorov Island, Karelia. Photo 2007.

Flowers and stones at sunset. Pezhostrov, Karelia. 2007

Sand Dune. Photo by Jack Dickinga.

“This image was taken in the eastern Mojave Desert as part of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley project. The light did all the work for me, and I attribute the result to pure chance.”

A subsiding storm over the rock Captain. Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Photo by Galen Rowell.

“I stopped near Captain Rock in order to quickly photograph the Cathedral Spiers emerging from the darkness, and took a few shots. As I was about to drive on, I realized that my car was stuck in the snow. I was sitting in the car, cursing my bad luck and waiting for help, and then the clouds parted. The fog over the rock dissipated, the sun came out. I saw an amazing picture I had never seen before.”

The photographs that make up our travel reports are always too episodic and fragmentary to be able to capture the fullness of the impressions of the trip. “This one was not filmed, but from this one there is only one picture, and it does not convey completely ...” - we recall with annoyance, looking through the brought catch.

On the other hand, there are too many of them to show all of them to friends and strangers. We have to choose the best. And then - the best of the best. And after many years to choose from the very best. And if you don't choose, don't sort through, don't arrange by folders, by years, by countries, by genres, then gradually they "die", turn into old trash.

Still, more needs to be done. And you can shoot anything.

We not only see the world with our eyes, but also hear it (the world is filled with sounds), touch, inhale the aroma of flowers, trees, nature. How to convey these feelings in photography? Most people don't even try to do it. Instead, they snap everything they can get their hands on, or film themselves and their families against the backdrop of memorable places. The task of a creative photographer is to make others want to visit this place too, to convey the atmosphere and smells of the city or country they have visited.

Here are some tips for photographers who go on a trip:

1. Learn your technique.

If you don't know how to use your technique, then it is the technique, not the composition of the shot, that will take all your attention and time on the trip. Make sure you know how to operate the camera before you travel. Forget about automatic and semi-automatic modes. The problem is that in automatic mode, the camera decides for you how your picture will look. She tries to average all the values. The camera doesn't know how to take a creative photo, and when you shoot in auto mode, you hope it does it for you. Believe me, the camera does not know how to take good photos on its own and there is no “masterpiece” button on any camera. In order to take an interesting picture, you need to learn your technique. If you have a SLR camera and you shoot on a machine, you have a powerful Porsche driving along the autobahn at a speed of 30 km per hour. Read the manual or take a course for beginner photographers and learn what shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance are and how to use them. Apply this knowledge to solve your creative problems.

Before you travel, play with your aperture and see how the depth of field will change in the picture. With an open aperture, your main subject will be in sharpness, and everything else is blurry, with a closed aperture, everything will be sharp.

Try shooting at different shutter speeds, freezing and blurring the motion.

Use different focal lengths and see how your shot will look. Put something in the foreground and shoot at different focal lengths. See what will change.

Experiment before the trip, not during it.

2. Write a plan

Plan ahead. Look at pictures that have already been taken in these places, such as photos taken by professional photographers or postcards of these places. On them you will see many shooting points and angles. As you look at photographs and postcards, think about the light, the composition, and when and how the shot was taken.

Think about the scenes you would like to film. Imagine that you dream of going to Paris. Most people wish they could come home with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, but Paris is full of other interesting motifs and details that can capture the mood of the city. Take pictures of shops and bakeries, cafes and people resting there, a bottle of champagne or a cup of coffee ... Each city has its own sights, but the soul of the city is in the details, and not tourist sites shot a hundred times from all angles. Shooting unusual details, you, looking back, will be able to remember many small stories that happened to you in this city - otherwise you will simply forget a lot of your trip. Even if the detail seems insignificant or silly, take it off so that it remains in your memory.

3. But don't forget about the overall plan.

We must not forget about the general plan. Shoot from different shooting points (from below, from above, etc.) and from an angle. You can take long shots of landscapes, city streets, squares and much more.

4. Document your journey.

Your journey starts from the moment you get on the plane (train, car, bus...). Film the beginning of your journey and show the mood and excitement with which you set off on your trip. Take a couple of pictures of the hotel where you live, cafes and restaurants where you had lunch and dinner.

5. Work with the location

There is one thing worth understanding. You will take bad photos.
Don't worry. Everyone takes bad photos. There is not a single photographer in the world who does not take bad photos. Once you've found a location, look for a composition that captures the essence of the location. Try shooting it from different shooting angles:

Walk around
Try shooting from different angles
Get off the ground
Find a shooting point from above (for example, a bench, a window of a house opposite, etc.)
Film from afar
Shoot at close range
Don't forget the foreground - it shouldn't be empty
Change depth of field (open aperture)

6. Remove everything that gets in the way

You have probably seen pictures that did not evoke any emotions in you and in which the photographer could not convey the mood of the place he was shooting. You see a beautiful place, but you do not know how to convey its charm to the viewer. First, trust your instincts. Something made you stop and look around. Most likely there is something in this place that gives it a certain charm, but if you are in doubt, there is most likely something that interferes with perception. Maybe something is distracting you. A lot of people, objects that interfere, etc. Remove everything from the frame that interferes. There are several possibilities for this. Change the shooting point and angle. Get closer and fill the frame, blur the background, etc.

Photographers do not come to any place, shoot one “golden” frame and leave. Good photographers come to the place and start thinking. First of all, about what made this scene interesting for them. Was it form, color, light? Focus on the main thing and remove everything secondary from the frame.

7. Stop! Don't leave the location.

You found an interesting scene or object, walked around and maybe already took a couple of interesting shots. Is it time to look for something else?

Not so fast. Take time to look at your photos. Evaluate what you have filmed and think about whether you missed something.

You may not be coming back here soon. Make sure you film everything before you leave the location. Do you like light? Think about the possibilities you have. Shooting in a different mode, additional details, long shot?

This is a good workout. But don't shoot mindlessly. Think! Imagine that you have a limited number of shots and you need to take one good shot before you run out of them. In addition, when you select frames, many identical shots will be unnerving and you will not analyze and process them.

If you don't have a camera in your hands, train your eye. Think about how you could shoot this place, from what point of shooting and from what angle. General plan or details? Take it on your phone. There are many good photos taken with the phone. If the scene is really interesting, you will be able to return to this place with the camera and film it.

10. Watch the light and shoot at the “right” time.

If the light is flat and uninteresting and the shot (especially the landscape) is likely to be boring. Light can make photography unusual and interesting. If you arrive at a place and the light is not interesting, do not despair. You can return to this place again, for example, at dawn, at sunset or during regular hours.

We have already written about this many times. A series can become the calling card of a photographer, distinguishing him from others. The viewer always willingly considers the series.

Shoot fonts, draw, road signs, etc. Have you ever noticed that road signs look different in different countries? It could be a different language, a different system, etc. Labels and signs can be interesting and funny (on purpose or by accident). Here, for example, is a sign on a store in New Zealand “Bait + Ice, Hot Pies” (“Bait, ice cream and hot pies”).

Signs are not only visually appealing, but can also be useful for remembering where you've been.

And one more tip: If you want to make a photobook or a collage of photographs, images of road signs, signs on hotels, shops and restaurants after a trip, posters and symbols are very important. They help tell the story.

13. Look for color, texture, and repeating elements.

If a certain color regularly appears on your way, shoot objects, details, etc. in this color. Later you can make, for example, a beautiful blue collage. Each place has its own special colors or details. For example, the mosaic in Morocco, or the intense contrast of white and blue that we encounter in the Greek islands, etc. You can also capture unexpected things that are not typical of these places, surrounded by typical landscape or other details.

14. Don't forget the foreground.

Pictures that do not have a foreground are not expressive. Be sure to look for the foreground, such as rocks, benches, trees, lanterns, other objects.

15. Look for the play of light and shadow and rhythm.

The play of light and shadow, repetitive forms always attract the viewer's eye.

16. Don't forget composition.

Learn the basic rules of composition. They are not complex and there are not many of them. For example, the rule of thirds, which says that a significant-important object in a photograph should be in one third of it, and not in the middle of the frame. The horizon should not be placed in the middle of the frame either. If you want to show the sky - place the horizon at the bottom of the frame, if the earth - at the top. Etc.

17. Include people.

Photos of people tell more about a country than pictures of landscapes or architecture. How to shoot people on a journey, we have already told in our magazine.

18. Look for interesting, non-touristic places.

Here, on LiveJournal, there are many magazines in which different people talk about different countries. Going on a trip, read magazines around the country, there you will find a lot of useful information. We show such places in our photo tours. Join now! You will definitely bring great photos from the tour. We have special educational tours for beginners, as well as interesting, exciting tours for amateurs and professionals.