Most travelers love to take pictures. Even if you’re not a blogger, even if you never intend to publish them or share them past your circle of friends, travel photos preserve the special moments and memories of a trip and let you relive the beauty of a place long after you’ve left.
That is, if you do a good job. I can’t be the only one who has come home from an exciting and stunning trip to find my photos looking drab and boring. This happens less to me now with practice but I still do end up disappointed once in awhile. Sometimes photos can’t do a place justice, and sometimes we just don’t know how to make our photos looks as good as they can possibly be.
The problem, at least for me: cameras are freaking complicated! Try as I might, I just can’t get too hung up on the technical side of photography. F-stops, ISO, white balances, just makes my head spin. I love to take pictures, but I hate the technical aspect of it. Sometimes I feel guilty but to be honest: the majority of the time my camera remains exclusively in auto.
That’s a big part of why I really like this e-book: Capturing the Journey: A Beginners Guide to the Basics of Travel Photography by Darin Rogers. Darin promises that you don’t need an expensive camera or even much technological knowledge to take brilliant pictures.
His book is all about how to us the most important tool of all: your eyeballs. He explains the basic concepts of composition, subject and light to help you create more visually interested and powerful pictures with even a basic point and shoot camera. The book is about 50 pages long and contains a ton of helpful hints and examples on how to set-up and visually frame more interesting pictures. It’s a short read and fairly basic (photography experts won’t find anything new in here) but for beginners looking to spice up their shots it’s a great primer.
Should you still learn to use all the fancy settings on your camera? Probably. Definitely if you want to show your work commercially. There are some really terrific resources out there for learning how to use your camera settings which are worth checking out. However learning the basics rules of photography can help you improve your photos without ever having to learn what an f-stop is.
The Book: Capturing the Journey: A Beginners Guide to the Basics of Travel Photography by Darin Rogers.
Disclosure: Darin sent me a review copy of his ebook for free. The links in this post are affiliate links, so if you buy from them I’ll make a couple dollars. Nonetheless, all opinions are my own.
Really good info for us newbes. This book is well organized with concise information.
Thanks to the author.
I just bought a new Canon s95 p&s and have no idea about ISOs and F Stops and all that craziness…this book seems perfect for what I want to do!
Also, adding color to the foreground or on the third-grid in nature shots. That’s why it’s good to wear bright colors when traveling–or travel with someone else who does so you can add them to your pic every now and then!
Never thought about that but it makes so much sense! Will try to be a brighter person 🙂
beautiful photos with a canon p&s!!!
Looks like a great ebook. You can get some amazing photos even when shooting completely automatic on your camera. I’m always trying to teach friends how to take a better photo because it really isn’t that difficult. It’s just a matter of thinking for a moment before pressing the shutter.
My biggest advice when it comes to taking a good photo is asking the question why. Subject matter is the most important! Why am I taking this photo? Why is this specific shot of interest? Why would people want to look at this photo? Add that to some basic rules of composition and lighting and you’ll have a phenomenal photo!
That’s really interesting because that’s the same tact I take when writing: WHY would someone want to read this? Why is it interesting? What can people take from it?
Art!