Travel Photography Masterclass

So what images do you focus on when travelling? There’s the obligatory touristy type images, recorded more to prove that you were there than to showcase your photographic talent ~ and then there are images with common themes.

Images with themes are the ones you take when free of the concerns of the tourist or the commercial photographer, the ones that act as a visual conversation with your environment and are distinctly personal. As such, they’re often taken when you steal a few quiet moments away from the group and have a chance to explore the location you find yourself in.

To take successful photographs of themes is to ask yourself how you can capture a significant image of a certain space that goes beyond the likeness of the location. It’s to ask yourself how you can capture its spirit.

No degree of technical expertise with focus or exposure can guarantee the production of an image that echoes the substance of a subject. To do this, you need to merge the visual elements before you with the essence of your own feelings. How to do that? Start with the old adage that less is more.

Describing a subject or scene with clean crisp lighting and large depth of field make for great-looking images, but sometimes they provide the answers to a viewer just a little too quickly to make a lasting impact. Keep in mind that cameras can’t think. They’re much less discerning than the observer, and fully unable to focus its vision on the parts of a scene or subject that are important.

To capture outstanding images, your task as photographer is to gradually reveal the essence of a location by filtering unwanted detail from photographs through careful framing and thoughtful depth of field control.

In post-processing you can then aid this process with the aid of dodging and blurring techniques, as well as generous dashes of blur and texture.

With themed images, each on its own may seem oversimplified, lacking in context, even a little empty. It’s when they’re placed together however, that the complete picture is revealed. The idea is that each image strengthens the story of the one beside it.

On one of my travels in Africa, I was lucky enough to spend a day in an African village. Central to village life of course, is the preparation of food... and here the theme is the story of maize.

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