Travel Photography How To

One key step in becoming a better Photographer is learning how to evaluate a scene and then make the most of whatever lighting conditions you confront. You may think that these means concentrating on the intensity of Light, but this tutorial from the Nifty Fifty Photographers YouTube channel demonstrates another consideration that's equally important consider.

There are times you see a great scene while driving across town, or perhaps during a vacation, and the only camera available is your phone. So naturally you take the shot.

I could hear the predawn call to prayer broadcast from minarets across the city as I climbed the stairs to my hotel’s rooftop. From there I enjoyed a magnificent view of the ancient city of Istanbul. Immediately below me, roughly facing north, was Sultanahmet Square, the city’s historic center, flanked by the Blue Mosque to the left and the Hagia Sophia to the right. Behind and to my right I could see the Sea of Marmara and Asia, while in the distance to the northeast I could see the Strait of Bosphorus. As I stood alone on the rooftop in this city of 14 million people, admiring the view all around, it occurred to me I should get out my camera and take some pictures.

Growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, I used to love playing in the Spanish colonial castles in Old San Juan, imagining I was a Spanish conquistador getting ready to do battle with foreign attackers. My interest in castles and history has never subsided, although the only shooting I imagine anymore involves my camera, not guns. I was therefore excited when I had the opportunity to visit and photograph a number of castles in Northumberland, a region located in England’s northeastern corner abutting the North Sea. Besides its numerous castles, Northumberland also features wide beaches and tall sand dunes, rugged cliffs, rolling hills, and quaint fishing villages.

We’ve all marveled at long-exposure landscape photos with soft feather-like clouds and cotton-candy water. The challenge when shooting during the day, is that light levels are usually too high to permit using the slow shutter speeds necessary,

One of the challenges with all forms of outdoor photography is that scenes often have a wide-range of tones—often beyond the density range of your camera. The best way to deal with situations like these is editing selective portions of the image.

Color is everywhere, so why would I be writing about finding and using it in photos? Why would this even be a concern?