Tom Hickinbotham submitted this photo taken in one of the Cinque Terre villages. Even though I’ve been to all the villages on many occasions, I cannot pinpoint the exact village location. Regardless, congratulations Tom! Your photo has been included in my 2014 Travel Planning Calendar which entitles you to a $100 discount off any 2014 McGuffin Tour to Europe.
Tom Hickinbotham – The Cinque Terre
When taking a photo where there is a primary subject, the primary subject should often occupy the central 60-80% of the total image with a little (10-15 percent) on the left, on the right, on the top and on the bottom. Keep the primary subject in that central area and the photograph will appear to be balanced and instantly signal to the viewer where attention is to be drawn.
Do not try to force too much into the image. If you have a lot you “must” capture, take a wide angle of everything then do a series of quality pictures of the highlights. (Recall the previous hints of putting them in a sequence of left to right, and of the wide angle shot followed by medium distance followed by close ups.)
On the other hand, do not allow the primary subject to become too small by leaving too large of a border. There is not usually much value in showing extra sky or ground when you have a primary subject being the reason you want to keep for your memories
Boldly fill the central three-quarters of the total image.
When taking a sequence of pictures that, for instance, a series of pictures scanning the horizon, I find it more natural to display the images arranged from left to right of how they exist.
When taking a wide angle picture and then various zoom or close up shots, I find it more natural to show the wide angle first and then zero in on the close ups.
When taking pictures of a type of object (flower, animal, sculpture work, streetscape scene, etc.) that occurs intermittently through the visited place, I find it better to re-organize the pictures to groups of the same type of object. Put all the streetscape images together, put all the flowers together, put all the dog pictures together, etc.
Then you might cull down the photo set for that visited place to the best handful of each type of shot. Three, four, five, or six is often okay, but soon the person you may be sharing your vacation pictures with is beginning to wonder if the dog pictures are ever going to end. (Now imagine being invited over to old George’s house to see his 400 random pictures of fall foliage along the Blue Ridge! Oh, I think I am feeling a little sick. I better go home!!)
There will be some exceptions, but most people will find these hints as a better way to create a good photo collection as their own keepsake, or to share with others.
-Dave Davis
One fall we traveled with another couple up the Blue Ridge Parkway. George had just bought a new camera as a gift for his wife. He quickly commandeered the camera for his own use and proceeded to take 5-10 shots of the view from EVERY pull off along the way! We would drive to the next overlook and George would jump out and start taking pictures – left or right, close-up or far away. Whatever caught his eye. This was back in the day of film cameras and he paid a pile of money to get the rolls developed. He was so excited to get the prints back but after looking at 10 or 15 pictures he realized he had made some major mistakes. What he had hoped would be a fine documentation of the great fall scenery along all the pull-offs on the Blue Ridge ended up being a collection of over 400 random pictures that all started to look alike. They, as a collection, became meaningless.
Digital cameras make the process of organizing your pictures quite easy and would have solved some of George’s mistakes. When one cuts away all the bells and whistles of digital cameras, their most basic functions are to take the picture, save the pictures and assign a number in the order in which it was taken.
Additionally, digital cameras are generally very easy and quick to download, only requiring hitting of a couple buttons or plugging them into your laptop, or another device. I try to download my pictures each evening and keep the digital copies in a separate file from that stored in the camera. At the same time, I usually do a quick editing job and delete unwanted pictures from the copy collection. Some cameras have the ability to organize on their memory chip. That is fine, but if your camera dies or goes missing during a trip, all the pictures you have taken might be lost.
When downloading my photos (or files) most systems allow you to “tag” or label the images/files. I simply use an “a” for the pictures taken the first day, “b” for the pictures taken on the second day, and so on. My individual photos will be then identified as “a001, a002, a003 . . .” Downloading usually only takes a minute or so to complete, and with it being done, I feel much better about having a remotely stored back up copy of my photos.
Usually, I wait until I return home to do the final organizing of my photo collection. Often it becomes a better collection if I re-arrange the order in which they appear. For instance, you might not take the introduction/identification picture of a visited place at the very beginning of the visit. Renaming the photo file is a very simple task on the computer. Just type in a new number/name and you are done! The renamed picture will automatically move into alphabetical/numerical order in the set.
-Dave Davis
Jump to Dave’s next article with more photo tips and tricks.
Aren’t photographs a terrific way to refresh your memory of people, places, events and things? And now with greater technology, it has never been so easy to produce a great photographic collection to memorialize a touring vacation. I am going to share a few approaches that I have developed over the years that might just help make your photo collection more valuable to you. It is really easy. Just let your photo collection tell the story.
I often start a collection with the photos showing the trip location/destination and primary people. Sometimes I use the tour brochure that led me to select the trip. Sometimes I use a map or a picture of the destination airport or famous landmark that identifies the place.
On a recent tour, I started my collection with a picture of David McGuffin, wearing his official tour shirt with bold letters displaying “IRELAND SCOTLAND” and with the backdrop being the Hogwarts Express viaduct memorialized in the Harry Potter stories. I followed that with a picture of myself, my wife and our niece in front of the rock formation at Giants Causeway, and that was followed by a map of Scotland. With just three pictures I have opened the story and set the stage.
From there my collections are pretty much day by day. I often take a picture of a map of where the day would be spent, and sometimes one of his handouts that told more of the location. It is so helpful to my aging brain cells to have the city names (or sites) pop out from the map and be further detailed in the handouts. Then the pictures follow through the day.
When we arrive at a city, cathedral, castle, or another site, I take pictures that identify the subject. It could just be the entrance sign or anything else that tells where we are at. Display boards at the site are often good to use for identification and more detailed information on what is being visited. Then it’s the fun shots of whatever there is to see, but the long-term important thing is that the picture collection itself will present where that pictures are taken.
I find that it adds to the collection to not limit myself to taking pictures of the special places visited but also the more seemingly mundane things. Take a picture of the bus, inside (with passengers) and outside with the driver. Take a picture of the motel front, lobby, and grounds. Take a picture of your room. Take a picture of the restaurant name, its inside, the food/drink as it is being presented, fellow diners from the tour and even the waiter. And you must take pictures of some the “unique” European bathrooms! I don’t know if it is legal to do so, but I have also taken pictures of the money used in different countries.
Following these tips will make your collection more meaningful to you and to anyone you share it with.
-Dave Davis
Jump to Dave’s second article: “Organizing Your Tour Photos”
Special photographs often depend on the perspective from where the shot is taken. The image that captures curves or disappearing paths is a way to break out of the typical rectangular shapes of most photos in a collection. It can accentuate depth. They entice the viewer to look deeper into the image, and, in general, will just be of more interest.
In the accompanying photographs, notice how the curve or the path pulls your eye. Also, notice how the curve or the path is located within the central portion of the picture. In essence you are taking a picture of the landscape feature, letting it be the central image of the photo for your photo collection story. Framing is still important but not as structured. More often foreground plays a more important role in the end product. Here are a few images that try to demonstrate the point.
