1. *Remove film from box and canister and place in a plastic, zip-lock bag in your carryon so you can have it hand-inspected as you go through security at the air terminals. More than a couple exposures to the x-ray can damage your film. It will not damage video tape. Just do NOT walk with film or tape through the security 'doorway.'
2. If taking a camcorder to another country, you can use the razor
points found in the bathroom for recharging the batteries. They are much handier than trying to find an outlet in the room and you normally don't need a converter using them.
3. When shooting through glass or there is a window behind the subject, stand at an angle so you will get a picture of your subject rather than a big, white reflection of your flash.
4. *Carry plenty of film. It is usually much more expensive in other countries than in the U.S.
What is left over can always be put in the freezer when you reach home. It
keeps for a year or two. Just be sure when you remove it from the freezer,
you do not open the package until it warms up - about an hour.
5. Frame your pictures to make them more interesting. If possible, stand where a tree branch close to you will appear in one corner of your picture. Take shots through an archway and have part of the arch show as a frame. Through windows the same way. Whatever is available, use it.
6. If the sky is beautiful, get low and take your subject (not necessarily
a person) against the sky.
7. When it's gloomy and overcast, do NOT GET THE SKY in the picture. In fact, when it's raining and gloomy, DO take pictures. You will end up with some very good shots. Just avoid the sky like the plague.
8. Reflections of buildings in water make interesting pictures.
9. To pep up the pictures, try to have something either bright red or
yellow in the foreground. I carry a red or yellow scarf for someone
to drape over his shoulders in the foreground if necessary.
10. Take shots of buildings from the corner as it get two sides in the
picture and makes for a better composition, rather than straight on.
11. When taking pics of people, come in close for a tight shot unless the
main focus of the pic is the background . So many
pictures are taken of people who are fifteen, twenty feet away and their features are a blur.
12. Do NOT center your subject. Try to have it off center a bit to make the
final picture more interesting - whether a person, animal, whatever. If
scenery or a portrait of a person, of course, this does not apply. Use a
little judgment.
13. Try to keep camera and film out of hot sun. I will drape it with a white
cloth to reflect the heat when I can't avoid the sun. Also, keep out of hot
car, bus, whatever. I would rather carry it with me, than leave it to roast and ruin in a hot vehicle. That goes for exposed film, also.
14. I like to take shots of the hotels I've stayed in to refresh my
memory. Also, interior shots of hotel rooms when particularly
interesting. So often, people concentrate on the tourist highlights of the trip, when the more mundane things, like hotels, restaurants, airports, shops, etc., are more fun to look at later.
15. If you can slow down the speed of your camera, waterfalls are more
interesting at a slow speed. Experiment. There are other subjects that
are very good when taken at slow speed.
16. Register your expensive equipment at the airport before leaving the
country. Better to take a few minutes at this time rather than have your
cameras and lenses confiscated on your return because they thought you bought them overseas. (Or have a duty placed on them.)
17. If your travel photographs mean as much to you as they do to me, you will carry an extra, inexpensive camera just in case the other one fails you
EXTRA!! EXTRA!! A mini course in travel photography.
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