Photo Tip of the Week: Travel Photography – Capturing the Details

When you’re shooting travel images it’s important to see the details as much as the grand vistas, says Robert Keeley.

Most photographers love to travel. The opportunities that present themselves for creative photography increase dramatically when you head around the country or overseas. It’s as if your senses become heightened, and your instincts for capturing a different environment and its people are intensified.

In fact, often travel provides an overload for our photographic senses, and it can be hard to separate exactly what subjects we should be aiming to cover. The most obvious ones are usually dealt with directly. Photographers love to shoot landscapes when they travel, and most people also look at grand historic buildings and architecture. The more adventurous amongst us may also aim to photograph the locals.

If you’re overseas, their cultural artefacts, clothes, and dispositions can make for great subject matter. But arguably there’s one other area of photographic coverage that travellers should consider when they cataloguing their adventures. The missing link can often be in the details.

PAUSE A MOMENT
Whatever your means of transport, different environments often overwhelm us when we’re travelling. We turn a corner and see dramatic valleys or distinctive man-made structures and automatically reach for our camera. It’s instinctive, and by no means a problem. Make sure you grab a shot of the scene before you because you might not come that way again. But after you react to the scene in front of you, if your schedule allows it, it’s worth pausing for a moment.

Invariably the first image you shoot won’t be the best. If you take a minute or two (at least) to survey the scene, you’ll usually find other more interesting and relevant viewpoints to shoot from, even on a tight schedule. If you have the time to come back later in the day (or early the next morning) you’ll often find conditions far more favourable to photography. Importantly, though, you might also start to discover some more interesting elements in the scene.


It helps your photographic travel coverage if you can isolate elements of bigger scenes and thus offer different perspectives. This lion in Trafalgar Square, London, made a stronger composition when it was isolated from its surroundings.

CONCENTRATE YOUR VISION
Imagine you reach a spectacular lookout or a busy main thoroughfare in a major city. The scene is worth photographing, even if just as a record of where you’ve been. But if you have to time to explore a bit more, chances are you’ll find some other interesting elements. You might see an unusual plant or tree, or a distinctive sculpture of fountain, or even some unique signs or objects for sale. But make a point of concentrating your vision, and bringing it down to a small scale, so you notice these things. Lower (or raise) your eyes away from the hubbub or drama of what’s directly in front of you. A tighter focus on small details can train you to notice interesting stuff more quickly. When you’re travelling you don’t always have the luxury of time, so that training can pay off.


Signs add some colour to your travel story, as well as acting as reminders of exactly where you went and what you saw.


Occasionally foreign signs can add some humour to your photo essay, which never goes astray!


Keep a lookout for interesting trinkets for sale in local shop windows. These carved Spanish soccer player chess pieces made for a different and very local subject.

EQUIPMENT AT THE READY
One of the key characteristics of experienced photographers is the ability and instinct to be ready for action. Part of that is having your camera primed to shoot. Details can be captured with wide-angle lens so you can shoot in tight on the subject, or with a telephoto lens if you want to isolate something you’ve noticed a distance away from you. Whichever way you have your camera prepared, you should be alert to subject matter that will suit your set up.

So if you’ve already fitted a telephoto zoom to an SLR, watch for small details in the middle distance, far enough away that when you zoom in on them you’ll capture a tightly cropped image with compressed depth. But if you’re shooting wide-angle images, stay alert for subject matter close to where you’re positioned. Scan your immediate vicinity and be prepared to get down low (or climb up higher) and in close if you see something small and interesting. Wide-angle images can benefit from great depth of field, especially if you have to shoot rapidly, so make sure your camera is appropriately set up (an aperture anywhere between f/8 and f/16 should work well).


Iconic subjects can add depth to your photographic coverage of your travels. In London, red phone boxes are instantly recognisable as part of the city. By combining this phone box with local post cards the details explain a bigger context.

HONE YOUR INSTINCT
It’s surprising how much better your instinct for a good image will become once you start regularly hunting for details. These types of images might never make great wall-sized prints (though a collection of them can), but if you’re travelling to parts your unlikely to visit again, they can add great depth to any photographic essay you’re aiming to tell about your travels.

And more than that, they’re a great aid in teaching you to explore with a photographer’s eye. The more you search in this way, the better your photography will become. Whether you’re travelling or not, that can only benefit your skills as a photographer.


As well as subjects like local signs or buildings, people can broaden your travel portfolio. You can approach locals and shoot close up, or you can shoot from a distance with a telephoto lens. The advantage of this approach is that you can crop in and isolate your subject, and leave them undisturbed by your approach. Here a Chinese monk was involved in signing prayer slips.


A close up of some some dramatic Gaudi architecture in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Details can help add context.


Here some fridge magnets advertising the Spanish city of Barcelona created an interesting pattern.