TRAVELER’s Photographers:
Ed Kashi | Bob Krist | Gail Mooney | Jim Richardson | Mark Thiessen | Bill Luster | Macduff Everton | Brooks Walker

Additional Tips:
Learn more by peering into our Camera Bag in the Photography section.

TRAVELER’s professional photographers blaze trails across the globe in search of inspired images that capture a sense of place. Ever wish you could ask them for a few pointers to improve your own photographs? Well, we did it for you!

• Work with confidence and know your equipment—your subject will subsequently feel more confident and comfortable.
• Shoot in warm light, around dawn or dusk.
• Take in what you learn on the scene and revise your shooting plan accordingly. Find an interesting church, enclave, or character? Come back and document.
• Wear clothes that don’t stand out but convey competence if someone closely surveys you.
• Use positive body language. Move slowly and with assurance. Hug a wall, lamppost, or object to anchor yourself in a scene.
• Conversation sometimes breaks the spell—try communicating non-verbally with subjects. Smile, nod, make eye contact.
• Finger your camera or move it to chest level. Your subject will say it’s O.K.—or isn’t—to photograph them.

• Pay attention to the quality of light and not just the subject.
• Shoot in warm light, around dawn or dusk.
• Always take a look at the edges of the view field.
• Shoot plenty of film.
• Include a dominant element in the image.
• Always carry a polarizing filter and tripod with you.

• Be an observer. Be patient and watch life as it happens—then be ready to capture the right moments as they present themselves.
• Don’t bog yourself down with all the latest gadgets. The real art is being able to communicate and to understand what the message is.
• A lot of amateurs make the same mistakes: not thinking about what they’re shooting; not considering the light; staying on the outside and not getting in where the action is; using a flash in a big interior where it won’t do any good.
• Never leave home without lots of extra batteries, a small flashlight, a compass, a magnifier, and a weather radio.

• Shoot more pictures and throw away the bad ones. You’ll try more things: angles, exposures, and so on. The one way to get the photo right is to try lots of different approaches.
• The human eye sees differently than a camera, so try to imagine how that image will look in a photograph.
• Don’t just point the camera at the scene. Try to create a sense of depth and put things in the image for scale.
• Get up early and stay out late.
• Force yourself to “think little” and to “think big” by doing close-ups and long shots. You’ll gain a lot in the process of looking for details and grand-scale images.
• Try carrying a right-angle viewfinder and put the camera on the ground or up high on a ledge and experiment.
• Meet the people you are going to photograph and establish a rapport before you begin shooting.
• Use wide-angle lenses for close-ups, because it’s easier to create a sense of perspective.
• Carry a compact folding reflector to illuminate objects in the foreground.
• When you are traveling, go to a souvenir shop and pick up a bunch of postcards for the place you’re visiting. It will let you see how others see each place so you can try to approach it more creatively. Invariably, you will also find something that you didn’t know was there!

• Try to get close enough to your subject to capture the important details.
• Experiment with different types of film in different lighting conditions. For example, try using tungsten film outdoors, perhaps using a fill-flash with a daylight-to-tungsten gel taped over the head.
• Try using a fanny pack rather than a camera bag. It is not only lighter but safer while traveling in foreign countries.
• Take a tripod, which allows you to use slower speeds and longer lenses during twilight.

• Be as basic as you can in your equipment. Try to use just a camera, a couple of lenses, and not much more. It keeps you thinking about what you’re shooting.
• Try to include people in every picture you shoot.
• Make sure you’ve got film in the camera, set the ISO dial, and don’t shoot into the sun.
• When shooting horses, putting pebbles in an empty film canister and shaking it really gets the animals’ attention. They think it’s food so they respond to it.
• Always have a sturdy tripod handy and never leave home without duct tape in your camera bag. Tape around the camera to keep out dust and water. You can also write notes on the tape to organize caption information at the end of each day.

• Take a minimal amount of equipment, particularly on all-day assignments where you have to lug your gear around
• Trade in the tripod for faster film.
• Shoot all day long, depending on the weather and light. In some places the light is fantastic at noon; other places it’s impossible.
• If it’s raining, shoot inside or try to make the rain interesting
• If the sky is overcast, aim elsewhere

• Learn as much as you can about your subject before you begin shooting
• Get close to your subjects—in actual distance and more importantly in spirit
• Look for what is intrinsically significant, beautiful, and unique in a situation or subject and think about how you will communicate this visually
• Shoot heartfelt and honest images
• Visual separation helps define your subject as well as creating depth. Often moving one inch to the left or right, and/or up and down can make all the difference in a picture.
• Be patient.
• Have zen fun. The best pictures will come when you are enjoying what you are doing and you are at one with your subject