Top five tips for travel photography.

Travel Photography is my main passion - and it's an attitude that can be applied to taking pictures wherever you are. My favourite trips are just two days - keep the costs down and put yourself under some pressure to get the shot!!

However you can still take stunning photos on your family holiday, or the town where you live. Here are my top five tips to get the best from your snaps

• Get up early! Sorry but this will reap benefits in more ways than one - the family is still in bed so you don't bore them witless while you stop every two minutes for a picture, plus there are fewer tourists - for example my shot of Venice's Campanile and pigeon's in St Mark's Sq. was taken pretty early to make sure the pigeons outnumbered the tourists!! More importantly though, the light is much better at this time - especially in hot countries where the sun rises high and fast in the middle of the day - this is the time to put the camera away and head for the beach!! Have a look at my travel photography site for more examples of early morning shots.
• Straight horizons - it's a simple thing, but nothing ruins a picture of your favourite holiday beach quicker than a wonky horizon. Stand square, or at least fix it later on the computer, if you're shooting digital. Top Tip - If using Adobe's Photoshop, you'll find a Measure tool under the colour picker - select this, draw along your horizon, then go to Edit>Rotate>Arbitrary and you'll find the right amount filled in for you for a perfectly straight horizon.
• Think outside the box - everyone has seen the standard "This is me in front of..." shot. Find the unusual angle or viewpoint and your pictures will really stand out.
• Turn around! You know the shot - a lovely sunset in whatever beautiful part of the world you are in. Well, you'll get as good, or better, pictures if you turn around and use the evening light in a creative way, rather than just snapping away at the sunset. If you are shooting sunsets look for foreground interest - trees, rocks, people, buildings, anything to lead your eye into the picture.
• And finally - research. If you want your travel pictures to stand out, do a few Google searches on where you are going, check out a few guide books and have a rough idea of anything you may want to photograph before you go, as well as, if possible, the best time of day to be there. Which way does it face? North or East facing is great for early morning mist, South or West is often best seen later in the day.

Hope you find this useful, and feel free to let me know how you think my pictures could be improved!

All the best,

Mickie

http://www.mickieimriephotography.com/
PR, Commercial, Travel and Wedding Photography