Longtime
Plain Dealer photographer and frequent traveler Thomas Ondrey offers these tips
on taking better travel photos:
1.
Try
to set aside some time each day just for your travel photography. Get up a
little earlier or stay out a little later than your travel companions. The
light probably will be better during the first two and last two hours of the
day, and you won’t have the distractions of family or friends if you are on
foot by yourself.
2.
Don’t
carry too much gear. Small cameras attract less attention and are lighter
weight to boot.
3. By all means take photos
of travel companions standing in front of significant sites. But remember to
shoot the landmarks, monuments and scenic vistas for their own sake as well.
4. For more interesting
compositions, keep your main subject off center in the frame. And don’t always
place the horizon line across the exact middle.
5. Remember to check your
backgrounds. The camera lens sees everything without discrimination and will
put that telephone pole that you didn’t notice growing right out of the top of
Aunt Irma’s head.
6. Bring enough memory
cards or have a place to download them when they are full.
7. Don’t spend every single
minute photographing. Remember to enjoy the place you are visiting for
itself, not solely as a possible photograph.