JOÃO MAIA TRAVEL. Tips AT. to THE. improve SPEED. your OF. travel LIGHT. photography. (Preview Version)

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1 JOÃO MAIA TRAVEL Tips AT to THE improve SPEED your OF travel LIGHT photography (Preview Version)

2 INTRODUCTION before we start I love to travel. Going somewhere, even if it s just driving a few kilometers away from home, is my greatest passion. And when I discovered that I loved to share that passion with others, photography quickly became my favorite way to do it. Eventually it evolved to a point where I can no longer draw a line between the two. Is it traveling that drives my photography, or is it the other way round? 2 Regardless of the answer, one thing I noticed early on was that light is the key element in photographs so if I wanted to take my traveling photography seriously I had to be able to travel at the speed of light. Not to travel as fast as light does, but to travel with the light, actively searching for it, understanding it, and using it to my best advantage in order to create the images that best expressed what I felt during my travels. This, then, is an ebook about traveling side by side with light, consciously thinking about it and trying to use it as best as I can. It is not, I m afraid, an ebook about some breakthrough scientific discovery to achieve warp speed, so if you were expecting to learn how to get to the other side of the galaxy, like in sci-fi movies, then I m afraid you re out of luck. Sorry...

3 INTRODUCTION Who is this ebook for? Plainly put, this is an ebook for people who love to travel and to take photographs when they travel. As I said, I started to photograph during my travels to share with my friends and family some of the amazing things I experienced while I was away. But in the beginning it felt that my photos didn t quite capture those experiences in full. Sometimes they were just a snapshot of a place and didn t capture the atmosphere at all. Other times they nearly nailed it but there was something missing. Being an inquisitive person, I asked myself why. I had the gear, I had some technical knowledge. Was it just bad luck? Or was there something I could do to improve my odds? 3 This ebook is mainly an account on what I discovered as I asked myself these questions. It contains some answers I came up with for myself in order to remove the element of luck, good or bad, from the equation. So if you have asked yourself similar questions, then I hope you can benefit from some of these answers. It doesn t really matter whether you are an experienced photographer or a beginner. I m not going to cover technical stuff like details about f-stops, shutter speeds, or lens choices. Lots of stuff has been written on those subjects by authors who are much more skilled than yours truly. It also doesn t matter if you own a top-of-the-class DSLR or just a compact camera. I might, sometimes, speak about some camera features, but most of the answers I m sharing are unrelated to any specific one. Instead what I want to share with you are some tips that I found useful to improve my traveling photography. Some can be useful for people who are beginning, others for more experienced photographers, and others you may not find them useful at all. We are all different and have different ways of looking at things. That is what makes photography such an appealing subject, after all. You can believe me in one thing, though: all these tips I m sharing here work for me, so there is a chance that at least some will work for you too.

4 INTRODUCTION How is the ebook structured? In structuring this ebook I tried to follow the same steps I take when traveling. There is a phase before the actual trip, there is the trip itself, and there is the (often painful) return back home. This is the same for everyone, for every trip, no matter if you re driving away for the weekend or flying around the world for six months. The only difference is that on this ebook I will approach each of these phases with photography, and particularly light, in mind. Therefore, the first section deals with preparation for a photo trip. My goal here is to try and show you how you can arrange things before actually leaving so that you can take advantage of the best light possible when you re actually on the trip. 4 The next section covers some things you can do during your trip to maximize the potential for bringing home good shots. Here is where the attention to light is most important, so I will try to share with you some of my tips to go after that light when I m on location. The last section covers the return home. Lots of people arrive from a trip, upload their photos onto their computer s hard disks, and that s it. It s just too much work to go through thousands of images and people just don t have the time. So here, I will go into what you can do to speed up those tasks. On some specific places in the ebook you may find some boxes called One step further. I will not go into technical details on this ebook, however, for those of you who are more curious and wish to take a specific issue a little bit further, these boxes are the places where you may find some info on how to do it.

5 CHAPTER I 5 Preparing for the Trip Unless you re going in one of those travel agencies organized trips, you ll have to do some preparation before actually leaving. This chapter deals with some of the things you need to take into account in order to make the most of your trip photographically. The tips I m sharing with you here assume that you are traveling independently and not on an agency organized trip. This is my preferred style of traveling and the one I m more experienced in. If this is not the case, you ll need to accommodate some of these tips to your particular style of traveling. Don t get me wrong, I do believe it is still possible to come back with great shots from an agency organized vacation, however you ll be much more productive photographically if you choose to do your traveling independently.

CHAPTER I PREPARING FOR THE TRIP choosing a destination 6 Most of the times, when you make plans for traveling, you already do so with a destination in mind.

6 CHAPTER I PREPARING FOR THE TRIP choosing a destination 6 Most of the times, when you make plans for traveling, you already do so with a destination in mind. Either because you re traveling with family or friends and you have agreed upon a destination, or because there is this particular place you d really love to visit. But this is not always the case. There are times where you might feel divided between two or three destinations and you re not really sure on which one to choose. When choosing a destination for a trip people normally factor in several things such as total cost, climate, safety, language spoken, among others. They seldom use photography as a decision criteria. But if you want to improve the images you bring home from your trip, then you will need to bring photography to the equation as soon as you can. want to think about the possibilities for photography on each of these destinations during the time of year you re traveling in, and factor that into your decision process. Try to understand what it is you love to photograph, and choose the destination that, on the time period that you choose for your trip, will give you the most possibilities of bringing home some good photos of your preferred subjects. If you re traveling in Autumn, for example, and you love landscape photography, consider going some place where you can have a walk in the woods and catch the changing color of leaves. Or if it is people photography that interests you, maybe you can choose a place where there is a cultural event so that you can shoot portraits of people that take part on that event. I m not saying you should decide solely based on photography (although you can do that, if you have the means for it). But if you have two or three possible destinations to choose from, you might Whatever your preferences are, starting to think about photography in the early stages of a trip preparation is the first step in bringing home some good images. Gerês, Portugal

7 CHAPTER I PREPARING FOR THE TRIP Expect the unexpected It s good to have a plan, but don t be too rigid with it. Especially if you re traveling with someone, trying to always do things according to a plan may cause some distress on your traveling partner, after all nobody likes to be told what to do constantly. 7 Also, if you do not allow for some flexibility, you may not be able to react to a sudden event that happens during your trip. And everyone knows that these kind of events are quite common on every trip. So leave some free time on your plan to adapt to whatever situation that might occur. During my last trip to Japan, I was planning to spend one of the last days shooting in Tokyo, but after being there for some days in the beginning of the trip, I was a bit tired of walking around in the city. I happened to look at the timetable for the trains and noticed that it was a three hour train ride to Yudanaka, where I could photograph some snow monkeys instead. So I changed my original plan, and ended up having a quite enjoyable day photographing the snow monkeys bathing in a hot spring. This would never have been possible had I decided to stick with my original plan, rather than being flexible and adapting to the situation. Yudanaka, Japan

8 CHAPTER II on Location Ok, you ve followed some of the tips on the previous chapter, you feel prepared for your trip and you have finally arrived at your intended destination after that long flight or drive. Now what? How do you start shooting? This chapter illustrates some of the situations you may find on location, and provides some tips on how to deal with them. Up to now you ve been preparing for the trip but not actually photographing anything. You ve studied the locations and tried to figure out what kinds of possible events and light you ll encounter. Now is the time to actively look for that light and travel with it. 8

CHAPTER II ON LOCATION go out in the rain 9 People often say to me it s a wonderful day for photographs when there is a clear blue sky and warm weather, to which I reply no it s not, it s awful.

9 CHAPTER II ON LOCATION go out in the rain 9 People often say to me it s a wonderful day for photographs when there is a clear blue sky and warm weather, to which I reply no it s not, it s awful. I hate clear blue skies. They re boring, not much happening. And besides, in the middle of the day, these skies make for high contrast situations which I normally tend to avoid, as I already told you. Instead of clear blue skies, give me rainy days anytime. Look at it this way: everything changes when rain falls. Clouds gather in the skies creating much more dramatic light for landscape photography, especially at sunrise or sunset. People change their behavior, often seeking cover from the rain, opening up their umbrellas, providing you with endless opportunities for street and people photography. Puddles form in the streets, giving you great surfaces for reflections. Plus, even though it gets a little darker when rain falls, the light is more even, and will provide you with less contrast situations which you can then explore to your advantage. The only care you ll have to take during rain is not to get soaked yourself, and to take care of your equipment as well. After all, if you feel wet and miserable, your photos aren t going to be much better. For myself I normally bring with me a waterproof (Gore-tex) hooded coat, that folds and packs neatly in my photo backpack. For the equipment there are special rain covers, that will still allow you to operate your camera, or you can use a plastic bag, or one of those shower caps hotels sometimes give for free. I carry one in my backpack and it has proven useful a handful of times. As long as both you and your equipment are kept dry and safe from the rain, there are no reasons why you shouldn t go out and take advantage of it for your photography. Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

CHAPTER II ON LOCATION ONE STEP FURTHER Rain means there will be water. Water almost always means reflections. So when it rains, it s good to have a polarizer filter handy.

10 CHAPTER II ON LOCATION ONE STEP FURTHER Rain means there will be water. Water almost always means reflections. So when it rains, it s good to have a polarizer filter handy. For example it can be used to enhance those reflections on a puddle of water in the street. Or if you re in a forest after a rainfall you can use it to remove the reflections of the little droplets of water on the leaves and allow their true colors to shine through. Arahiyama, Kyoto, Japan 10

CHAPTER II ON LOCATION what if? ONE STEP FURTHER Most of today s digital cameras have a feature called live view in which you can use your LCD rather than the viewfinder to compose your shot.

11 CHAPTER II ON LOCATION what if? ONE STEP FURTHER Most of today s digital cameras have a feature called live view in which you can use your LCD rather than the viewfinder to compose your shot. While this can be impractical in situations like street photography, where you have to react quickly to a situation, it can be an enormous help if you are photographing a landscape. I often use it to try out several ideas, because I m able to get immediate feedback on which ones work better. This is a question you must always be asking yourself when you are traveling and photographing. What if I try this angle? What if I take a few steps to the side or a few steps back? What if I get on my knees? What if I use a telephoto lens? What I if I try panning? What if I shoot from the ground level upwards? 11 Creativity usually means that to solve a given problem there are a lot of possible solutions, not just one. Some you see right away, some you don t and you need to spend a little more time on the problem. Why should photography be any different? Sure, some possibilities will lead you to a dead end, or to end results that you won t really like, but others may take you on directions you never thought of when you first raised your camera to shoot. You will never know if you don t try and these days, with digital photography, it s so cheap to take photos that you owe it to yourself to try out that silly idea you just had. If it comes out bad, just delete it. But there s a chance that it might get you to create a really unique shot that no one else has thought of. Isn t that a good reward? And make sure you don t delete your experiences right away in the camera when shooting. It has happened to me more than once that one photo I thought was nothing special when I shot it, has in fact become one of my favorites after I looked at it later at home, with more time. Lisbon, Portugal

12 CHAPTER III after the trip Now that you have arrived from your trip with a great set of photos, it s time to look at them and sort them out. Lots of people when they travel end up with a hard disk full of photographs, but then that s where they stay. Sometimes they don t even choose the best ones because it s just too much effort to go through hundreds or thousands of images for a selection. 12 I have that same problem when I return. So I came up with a simple workflow to choose my images and then have them processed to show up their true potential. It s meant to be simple, I don t like to spend too much time at the computer editing and processing images. The first step is to choose which will be my final images (and I do this in three passes). The second step is to do some processing on the images that I chose on the first step. All of my work at this stage (both choosing and post-processing) is done in Adobe Lightroom software, after I import my images to my computer. But you can use other similar software like Apple Aperture, Adobe Bridge / Photoshop, or even Picasa.

CHAPTER III AFTER THE TRIP first step: technicalities ONE STEP FURTHER My tool of choice, Adobe Lightroom, has a neat feature which allows me to flag images as rejected, and then it has a menu option

You can use other options such as color coding or star rating. My advice is for you to try out these options and decide on the one that you feel more confortable with, and that saves you more time.

13 CHAPTER III AFTER THE TRIP first step: technicalities ONE STEP FURTHER My tool of choice, Adobe Lightroom, has a neat feature which allows me to flag images as rejected, and then it has a menu option to delete all rejected images. This is the workflow that I normally use to sort through the images and immediatly decide which ones I should get rid of. You can use other options such as color coding or star rating. My advice is for you to try out these options and decide on the one that you feel more confortable with, and that saves you more time. My first step when choosing my images is to go through them all and delete the duplicates and the ones that have unintended technical imperfections. 13 Duplicates must be evaluated carefully, because sometimes when you look at a couple of images without magnification they may seem exactly the same (same light, same composition), but when you magnify them to real size you will notice that one is sharp and another isn t. This normally happens when you fire a quick succession of shots, in which the first one is blurry because of your finger pressing the shutter, while others may be sharper. They all look the same with no magnification, but when you magnify them and compare them side by side, you will notice the difference. By technical imperfections I mean blurry shots, underexposed or overexposed shots, or shots where I missed focus. All of these are also deleted on this first pass. Please note that I mentioned unintended technical imperfections. Sometimes there will be shots that will be technically imperfect, but that was my intention. A good example of this is a panning shot where I followed a moving subject with my camera at a slow shutter speed. This renders parts of the photo as a blur, but in this case it s done on purpose and therefore I leave these images. Alter do Chão, Portugal

14 CONCLUSION ABOUT THE AUTHOR I am a portuguese photographer based around Lisbon. I started shooting landscapes, with a particular emphasis on natural landscapes, and later on tackled other subjects like details, cities, portraits and street photography. My travels have taken me to some of the most beautiful places of my own country, such as Peneda-Geres National Park, Montesinho, Sintra-Cascais, or the Alentejo Southwest Coast, and to some far away locations such as Australia, Japan, Canada, USA or Iceland, just to name a few. Regardless of camera choice, I believe that what s really important is the final image. I think good photography can be done with a top of the class DSLR as well as with a small point and shoot camera, or even a mobile phone camera, because what really creates a photo is the photographer s vision and not just the tools he uses. Therefore, my commitment is to show the world I love in the best way I can, and hope that my work will inspire people to care more about this world they live in and see it for how beautiful it is. 14 I began by learning and shooting with film, and like almost everyone else, eventually moved on to digital. My camera of choice these days is a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, with a set of three lenses that always accompany me on my travels: a 17-40mm f:4l, f:4l IS, and 50mm f:1.8. Just for old times sake, I still take my medium format film camera, a Zenza Bronica SQ, for a ride sometimes. Even though I shoot mostly digital now, I still get a hell of a kick from seeing a well exposed sheet of medium format slide film in a lightbox. João Maia (Photo Cláudia Batalha)

15 CONCLUSION If this ebook got you curious about my travel photography, you can check my website, where you can find out more about each image or look at some other images from my travels. All the photos are for sale, both as prints and through rightsmanaged licensing. You can also contact me regarding any question about travel and photography on my personal I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. 15 Also, don t forget to check the Light Travelers website, where I am a regular contributor, both with images and blog posts about some of my travel experiences. And if you do, be sure to check out the amazing work of the other four photographers that make up this travel photography collective, which I have the pleasure and honor to belong to.

16 Written by: João Maia Graphic Design: Marco Reixa Travel at the Speed of Light - Tips to Improve your Travel Photography Version 1.0 Copyright 2013 João Maia All photos by João Maia unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. 16 This is a preview version of the actual ebook. To purchase the full ebook, please visit No part of this ebook may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the author, with the exception of inclusion of brief quotes for possible articles. You may store this pdf on your computer or tablet, and you may back it up. You may print copies only for your own personal use, but not for transmitting or selling to anyone else. Disclaimer: All information contained in this ebook is based upon the author s own experience, knowledge and opinions. Any mistakes are his own. The author will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this ebook.

If you re like most Americans (indeed, like most residents

Introduction If you re like most Americans (indeed, like most residents of civilized countries today), you own at least one digital camera. It may be an easy-to-carry point-and-shoot model, a fancy-shmancy