This is the second part of a two-part article on traveling for photography. In Part One, I offered a few tips to ensure a better experience while flying with photo gear. Here, in Part Two, I offer tips related specifically to international photo travel. Before traveling overseas, ensure yourself a smoother experience by reading this
I’m writing this while sitting at the Budweiser Brew House in the Miami International Airport, killing some time before boarding an overnight flight to South America. This is the less glamorous side of the nature photography profession—I know you think it’s all champagne wishes and caviar dreams, but it’s also lots of idle waiting and
You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” This could apply to all seasonal photography but it is critical to taking successful photos in the winter. Here are some tips for winter photography to help you stay safe and comfortable while shooting and ensure you come away with some great
I believe that the three biggest concepts in photography are gear, composition, and post-processing. The smallest of those three is gear, the second smallest is post-processing, and the one that is most essential is composition. If I had to attach percentages to them, it would go like this: Gear: 10% Composition: 65% Post Processing: 25%
Whenever you include the sky in your photos, chances are your compositions will look better if there are clouds—the right kind of clouds, that is. Photographing clouds is really important for landscape photography in particular, but I find the presence of clouds to be useful with other types of outdoor photography as well. Look for
When I first took up landscape photography, I carried around a big, bulky pouch of filters that were constantly getting scratched, being dropped, or accidentally getting left behind. As digital technology and file quality has improved, the need for most of those filters faded away. Using a polarizer helped reduce the glare on the wet
Complementary colors—that is, colors opposite one another on the color wheel—can be used very effectively in visual art, including photography. When juxtaposed, complementary colors make each seem brighter and more vivid, creating a powerful visual effect. Artists have been using complementary colors, such as the oranges of the starfish and the blues of the water
I spend a lot of time in the field, in large part because I often have to wait out bad weather in the hopes of getting the occasional good conditions. Yep, I get rained on… a lot. Poor shooting conditions can strike anytime, anywhere. Over the years, I’ve developed several strategies for dealing with bad
It happens all too often: some random error message blinking on and off, or worse yet, your camera simply locks up and refuses to do what you want it to do, or anything at all. Digital cameras are amazing pieces of technology, but even the best designed system is prone to mechanical or electrical confusion
When shooting into the sun it is possible to create an attractive, eye-catching “starburst” effect. The starburst effect results from pointing your lens at a bright source point of light, such as the sun or street lights at night. The effect renders a source point of light not as a bright dot, but rather as
