Holiday photo Tips

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 12:20:57 +0100

So we’re all packed and ready for our holiday. The last thing we remember is the camera. Of course, everyone is keen to show where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing and I wouldn’t be the first to pretend that what I’m being shown actually interests me. Can we change that... of course we can and you don’t need professional equipment. I shoot all my holiday snaps on a 6.2 MP compact camera which sits nicely on my belt in a case. I’m not keen on literally putting pocketable compacts in a pocket as they collect fluff around the built-in lens cover assembly and inevitably jam.

So what’s required? If you take your photography really seriously you can go to the expense of digital SLR’s and add additional lenses. These cameras are far more responsive than compacts so if you’re thinking of taking actions shots, this would be your preferred route. You’d be amazed however, at what can be achieved from a compact camera with a built-in zoom lens. All of my own holiday travel shots are taken on a tiny Fuji Finepix F31FD.

Here are some pointers:

Most of the time for scenes etc, you can keep the camera set to full auto when the sun is behind you or at the side. If you are taking a landscape or sea scape try and get your horizon as level as possible and about a third of the way down from the top of the picture. Think about what is in the foreground. You may want to take a step to the right to miss the unsightly bin. If the sky in front of you is very bright, your camera will tend to underexpose in full auto and the picture could end up quite dark since the camera is trying to expose correctly for the bright sky. In this case you will need a program mode that will allow you to add some
+ compensation to lighten the picture. Read the manual first and have a play with the settings.

When photographing people , it is alway best to avoid facing them into the sun. Turn them so that the sun is coming from the side. One side of their face will be in deep shadow so now you need to set the flash to force fire. This will fill in the shadows and is not as complicated as it sounds - again, read the manual. Many cameras have face detection. Wherever the camera is pointed within reason, the faces will be detected and the lens will focus on them. Remember not to place heads bang in the middle between the top and bottom of the picture. As a rule of thumb, if it’s a portrait you want to position the eyes so that they are about one third down from the top of the picture as with the horizon line. don’t be afraid to turn the camera on its side if this make a nicer composition.

If you want to take night pictures, alway use a mini tripod. I use a Gorillapod. Set the shooting mode to night and use the 10 second internal timer to alleviate any camera shake. If you take them hand held in full auto mode, the pictures may look ok on the back of the camera, but I guarantee you will be disappointed when you view them on a computer or television.

Try and take a variation of pictures. It’s nice to show our friends that we’ve had a nice time on holiday but they might find it more interesting if we include pictures of where we’ve been, that they may not have. So as well as the fun pictures, document what you’ve seen and the points of interest. Social media makes it so easy to share our experiences but remember, the attention span can wain rapidly if interest is lost early on.

Most of all, enjoy your holiday

Simon

If you wish to have a look at some ideas for holiday and travel snaps, take a look at the travel gallery on my facebook http://www.facebook.com/simonlanephotography

Chelsea Flower Show 2010

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:27:44 +0100

Photographing a host of celebrities at the award winning ‘Tourism for Malaysia’ garden on ‘Press Day’ of the Chelsea flower show was just part of the brief for the hottest day of the year so far. The garden, designed by David Cubero & James Wong (Amphibian Designs Ltd), was a gold medal winner at the show.

Working for Malaysia Tourism, the brief also included overall and detail views of the garden with the changing light throughout the day, and record photographs of the rare flora of the Malaysian rainforest. Working with the famous footware designer Jimmy Choo, Simon photographed a number of well known names including Jane Torvill, Paul Smith, Chistopher Biggins, Moira Stuart, Judith Chalmers and Piers Morgan amongst many others. To see more photos click here

Simon’s Blog

Holiday photo Tips

Chelsea Flower Show 2010